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How to take care of gauges?

So me friend and I just gauged our ears yesterday. We went from our normal piercings to a 14g. We got acrylic tapers, she took the long pointed ones I took the short ones. I want to know how to clean them if I should take them out to clean them etc. When should I move up a size? What would be the proper care? Just tell me what I need to know about guages

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Answer #1

Generally you should wait 1-2 months between stretching/gauging to allow your skin enough time to adjust, toughen up, etc. Also, as time goes on you need to allow more healing time in between gauges as the piercing becomes larger since there is more skin tissue that has to toughen and heal. If your guaging your ears on your own without the help of a professional I would wait atleast 2 months in between stretching/guages to be on the safe side and avoid tearing and scar tissue.

The easiest and most comfortable way for most people to guage their ear lobes are by using tapors. They come in different sizes and are shaped and designed to be pushed through the hole of your piercing and slowly stretch the piercing as it goes through.

Whether your using the tapors or just gauging your lobes with jewelry it really helps to massage your lobes with extra virgin olive oil in the days prior to you stretching them and right before you stretch them soak them in hot water to help circulation, soften the tissue, and

Answer #2

Idk why it cut off half my answer….anyways here’s the second half.

….relax the tissue in your lobes. When stretching/guaging your ear lobes do NOT use water based lubricants (they tend to absord and liquify too quickly) or petroleum based lubricants (the are very hard to clean off of piercings and will harbor bacteria). All you need is a tad bit of mild non-scented liquid soap to help slide the larger guage in. Some people prefer to change guages while in a warm shower to help them go in more smoothly also.

Its normal for them to slightly burn or be a bit painful - but it shouldn’t be unbearable. If you take ibuprofen (not tyelenol) one hour before stretching it will help with the pain and the ant-inflammatory properties in ibuprofen will help with any swelling. If you tear your lobe tissue remove the guage and place your smaller guage back in until the tear has completey healed…then you can try again.

All you need to clean any piercing jewelry, guages, or tapers is an anti-bacterial soap and hot water.

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