History of Ear Gauging in Tribal Civilizations

A study of the history of ear gauging indicates the practice to be as old as recorded human history. For males, this form of ear piercing has been a symbol of status, while for women, in addition to being used as means of bodily decoration, it has also been employed to signify the attainment of womanhood.

Ear gauging, which is also referred to as ear stretching, is the stretching of ear lobe piercings to larger diameters than that of the original piercing. It is a form of body enhancement or beautification that many young western people adopt to look 'different' from the usual crowd. However, this is not a modern form of body piercing, since it has been around for as long as archaeological records exist.

In many cases, ear gauging has been used historically to indicate the standing of members of a specific tribe, and in many respects this is still the situation today. Stretched piercings have been, and still are, a reflection on the individual's sexual capability and also their superiority over other males in the tribe. The larger the stretching, the more important the individual.

Otzi the Iceman is a prime example of mummies known to have stretched ears. This is the earliest known example of ear gauging, Otzi having 7-11 mm ear piercings during 3300 BC. It has been suggested that the stretching of the ears noted in depictions of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddha, may have been caused by the weight of the gold jewelry he wore, but this is mere supposition.

It is supported, however, by the fact that the Masai tribe of Kenya and the Lahu and Karen-Paduang people of Thailand use this 'gravity' technique to stretch their piercings. Let us have a look at the ear gauging practices used today by various cultures.

A. Mursi Tribal Women

The Mursi is an Ethiopian tribe where the women are obliged to wear plates in their gauged ears and on their bottom lip. About a year prior to her marriage, or at about 15 years of age, a Mursi girl's lip will be pierced by her mother and a wooden peg pushed through the incision.

Once healed, the peg is changed for a larger diameter one. Eventually, the peg is replaced by a plate of clay or wood, and this plate is successively changed for larger diameter ones until the required diameter is attained - from around 8 - 22 cm in diameter (3 - 9 inches). Once these plates have been secured, she receives a higher degree of respect than those without them, and is known as a 'Bhansanai'.

These lip and ear plates need not be worn permanently, but are an expected adornment during special occasions such as during weddings and other celebrations, and when they serve food to men. Today, young women can generally make their own decision as to whether or not they follow this tradition.

B. The Masai People of Kenya

The practice of ear gauging has been common among Masai men and women for thousands of years. In recent years, however, most young men have not been following this custom, although you will still find many Masai women wearing ear decorations made from stones, cross-cut elephant tusks, wood and animal bones.

The original piercing is carried out using a thorn, sharpened twig or a sharp knife point. Once healed, ear gauging is then carried out by wearing increasingly heavy jewellery that pulls the lobe down and stretches the piercing. This is the traditional way of gauging ears in the more primitive cultures, although many Masai today will use proper ear gauging techniques, such as their own versions of insertion tapers or taper spikes. Beads are a common form of ornamentation, although plugs made from bone, tusks and wood are also used.

C. The African Fulani Tribe

Fulani women from Nigeria and Central Africa tend to use smaller diameter ear gauges, and decorate them using large gold domes or hoops carrying earrings. A Fulani child will have her ears pierced at around 3 years old, although they may not be stretched until she is older. The gauges used by Fulani women are relatively small compared to the Masai and Mursi, although the jewellery can be larger.

D. Asian Hill Tribes

Of the various hill tribes, the only two known to practice ear gauging are the Lahu from Thailand, and the Karen-Padaung (Longnecks) from Myanmar (Burma) and also the Phrae province in Thailand. That latter tribe are best known for their neck rings, offering the appearance of long necks, but both cultures believe the ear to be sacred and the more jewellery they can wear on the better. By gauging their ears, they are able to wear the maximum amount of jewellery they believe possible.

E. Mexican and Central American Civilizations

In Mayan and Aztec society, ear gauging was regarded as desirable for males. There are many Mayan representations of men with flares and ear plugs (ear spools) in gauged ears, and the material used was indicative of the social standing of the wearer. Jade ear plugs were worn by the higher classes, while the rest would use bone, stone, wood and other materials. In central Mexico, the craftsmanship of the Aztecs is evident in the ear gauging plugs and ornaments of gold and silver, though the lower classes would adorn their stretches earlobes with shells, copper and wood among many other imaginative materials.

Ear gauging has been carried out worldwide, and among other notable areas involved in this practice are Japan, where the Ainu used ear jewellery made from shells, bone and a ball and ring known as Ninkari. There are many other cultures worldwide where ear gauging was a part of their life, and even today many people regard ear stretching as a fashion statement and a way of expressing their own personality and individuality.

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Tips on Stretching Piercings and Gauging Earlobes

The following tips on stretching piercings are specifically aimed at gauging earlobes, where earlobe piercings can be enlarged to very large sizes to incorporate many different types of ear jewelry including awesome flesh tunnels.

Stretching piercings has been popular in many civilizations throughout history, taking many forms from gauging earlobes to stretching labret and septum piercings. In the very early periods of history the materials used were wood, stone, bone, horn, shells, claws and talons, shaped and carved to facilitate stretching piercings.

The oldest known incidence of humans gauging earlobes was discovered in 1991, in a glacier in the Otztal Alps between Italy and Austria, where a 5,300 year-old mummified body was found with tattoos and an earlobe piercing of between 7 mm and 11 mm diameter. Although the method used was known for definite, this may have been carried out by a method known as dead stretching, where progressively larger ear jewelry is forced through the hole that gradually increases in diameter.

Preparation

In preparation for gauging, make sure that you have a good anti-bacterial soap without perfume. Then you will need a sea salt solution - make it using three tablespoons salt in just enough water to dissolve it, and at least enough to bathe your earlobe in. Never use hydrogen or any other peroxide as antiseptic - the soap and salt solution are enough.

You will also need some warm water to bathe your ear with before each phase of ear stretching, or you could alternative have a warm shower first. This softens the ear and helps prevent tearing of the skin/scar that could lead to bleeding.

Finally, you will need some lubricant: avoid Vaseline or any other mineral oil or petroleum-based lubricant. Most tips on stretching piercings recommend emu oil and jojoba, each of which offers gentle antiseptic and skin conditioning properties while acting as a perfectly adequate lubricant.

Gauging Earlobes

When stretching piercings, the two recommended methods are the taper method and the Teflon method. The taper method involves inserting a tapered rod or pin into the piercing, the narrow end being of the same gauge as the piercing, and the broader end one gauge down. The size of the taper is that of the desired gauge of piercing. So if your piercing is 16g, the taper will be a 14g taper, ranging from 16g to 14g. These are equivalent to 1.2 mm to 1.6 mm.

Never use a taper any more than one step down. However, since piercing gauges are always even numbers, one step down is 16g to 14g or 12g to 10g. Also, as the gauge figures drop, the actual diameter increases. So while 16g is 1.2 mm, 10g is 2.4 mm.

There are a number of different types of taper, including a tapered pin on ear jewelry, so you simply insert ear jewelry tapering from your current gauge to the new one. The problem here is that a fully tapered pin will not stretch your ears evenly - the pin has to be of the same diameter all the way through, or your piercing might also be stretched with a taper.

To overcome that, you can use an insertion rod, which is a tapered rod of about 3 inches. After warming your ears with the warm water or shower, and washing them with anti-bacterial soap, apply the lubricant to the taper and slowly work it through. Once it reaches the thicker end, follow it through with ear jewelry of the new size, and you are done. Wipe off excess lubricant and clean the ear with anti-bacterial soap and then some of the salt solution.

An even safer way is to wind a layer of non-adhesive Teflon tape round the pin of your ear jewelry and push it through the lobe. If you can see any space at all when you pull on the ring, then you can safely do this. Wait until the ear has accepted it then do it again, and so on until you have reached the new size, when you can use larger ear jewelry.

If there has been any severe pain or the piercing bleeds, then you must stop immediately and allow the piercing to heal properly before trying again. If you try stretching piercings too soon, before they have fully healed, then you can tear the skin and even have a blowout, both of which will make it difficult to stretch again.

Gauging Earlobes: After-Care

After-care when gauging earlobes is fairly straightforward. It should not be so much a matter of tending after a piercing until it heals, but more keeping it clean, and turning the new sized jewelry now and again. You are waiting until the ear has accepted the new size of hole permanently so that you can perhaps change the hole diameter once more. The stretched skin has to be allowed to thicken and get harder - give about three times longer than your original piercing took to heal. If you want to use a flesh tunnel, then you can continue stretching piercings until the diameter reaches an appreciable size.

Done properly, and following the above tips, stretching piercings is safe and relatively easy to do. Many extend the diameter of their piercings this way, and gauging earlobes is likely the most popular form of pierce stretching carried out at the moment. Take your time - waiting is difficult, but if your ear is not ready for the next stretching it will likely be damaged.

More tips on stretching piercings can be found on Flesh Tunnel where you will also find a selection of Ear Stretching Tools and some great ear jewelry and flesh tunnels.

Original article

Gauging Ears With Stretched Piercings

Stretch piercings in your ear lobes can be obtained by gauging ears to a specific piercing size, either in one go or by means of several successive earlobe stretchings. A lot depends on how large you want your piercing to be, and anything that one gauge more than the last will involve more than one stretching.

Gauging ears is carried out using 'gauge numbers' that refer to a specific diameter of hole. For example, gauge 20 is written as 20g, and that refers to a piercing of 0.8 mm in diameter. 18g refers to a piercing of 1 mm in diameter, so as the gauge numbers drop then the diameter increases. Also, gauges drop in twos, so that there are no odd gauge numbers. Thus, the sequence goes: 20g, 18g, 16g, 14g and so on to 00g. Therefore one gauge step down is from one even number to the next and from a lower piercing diameter to a higher.

When gauging ears you should stretch piercings by only one gauge step. So, if you want to change from 16g to 14 g (1.2 mm to 1.6 mm) you can do so in one step. However, if you wanted to go from a 16g to an 8g (1.2 mm to 3.2 mm) you would have to do that in four steps, involving four stretched piercings, each of one gauge level.

When you have your earlobes pierced with the intention of increasing the gauging to a fairly high diameter for some gorgeous large-diameter bars you have seen or even a cool flesh tunnel, then first consider the initial diameter - the greater the initial diameter then the fewer ear lobe stretching steps you will have to undergo to reach your preferred diameter. Do not have your ears pierced in a shopping mall with a gun because these generally pierce at 20g or 18g at the most.

Start With a Professional Piercing

Have the initial ear lobe piercing carried out by a professional using a needle. It is well worth the extra expense, and a pro will pierce your earlobes to 16g, thus saving yourself a whole step of gauging ears to your target size. Let the professional know your intention and you will be given some expert advice, and you might even agree to have the pro do the gauging for you.

It is possible for people to do their own stretched piercings themselves, and most do to be honest, but only once they are certain that the initial piercing has completely healed. If you begin too soon you might blow out the piercing or split the skin, and any attempts to gauge your ears after that might be impossible. Gauging ears is a skill that has to be learned, so follow all the advice you find if you want to be able to wear these fabulous barbells you have seen.

It is also essential to wait until each stretching has properly settled, the skin thickening and hardening properly, before going onto the next gauge. This will take about 3 times the time for the initial piercing to heal, but don't rush it.

Ear Jewelry: When Gauging Ears and After

The ear jewelry available for stretched piercings is fabulous. When choosing the jewelry to wear during the process of gauging ears you should keep potential infection and allergies in mind, and surgical stainless steel and titanium are best. However, once you have reached your target gauge and your stretched piercings have fully healed, you have a wonderful world of amazing jewelry in materials too brittle to be used in high gauge pins or barbells.

You can use bone, horn, wood, stone and even amber and glass, many of which also help the piercing to stay clean and not get clogged with oils from your skin. You can also use metal and acrylic ear jewelry in many shapes and sizes. Many are happy with large studs, while others prefer large diameter hoops, barbells and regular earrings. Others love to wear solid cylindrical plugs, either flared or held by o-rings and ear weights made of any material under the sun, though silver, bronze, brass and copper are common. The really wealthy have theirs made in solid gold.

Flesh Tunnels Are Popular

An alternative to the regular type of ear jewelry is type of hollow plug known as a flesh tunnel. These are particularly used for the larger diameter stretched piercings, and when gauging ears this is often the ultimate objective. Flesh tunnels are available in many different materials and are held in place in much the same way as the plugs: with flares, o-rings or with a screw on back piece. Some people have beaded or other forms of decorative elements threaded through their flesh tunnels, and they are frequently worn as a mark of just how far a person has managed to go with their stretched piercings.

Gauging ears with stretched piercings is therefore carried out by people both for their decorative effect and as a means of displaying their ear stretching skills. Whatever your reason is, keep in mind the gauge of your initial piercing and that everything involved in gauging ears must be sterilized and kept clean and free from germs. Make sure each stage is fully healed before starting the next, and you should have no real problems.

More information on gauging ears with stretched piercings can be found on Flesh Tunnel where you will also find Ear Stretching Tools to help you do it yourself, plus and some funky flesh tunnels and ear jewelry

Original article

Earlobe Stretching - Earlobe Gauging The Safe Way

It could be argued that earlobe stretching has been in fashion for millennia since it has been common in many civilizations for thousands of years. Some don't just leave it there, and have made stretching of lips and even the fleshy parts of nose into an art form. However, in Western civilization today, it is the next logical step after tragus and other forms of cartilage piercing have become commonplace.

In earlobe stretching, or earlobe gauging as it is technically known, the original ear piercing is allowed to fully heal while remaining open, and then increased in diameter, or gauge, in small increments, each step being permitted to heal before continuing with the next.

The 'gauge' reference begins at the highest figure, 20g, for the smallest size hole, 0.8 mm and goes all the way down to 00g, or 9 - 10 mm. So as the diameter of the piercing increases, the gauge drops, and after 00g any further increase is expressed in the diameter of the pin, the step after 00g being 11 mm. So, increasing the size of the ear piercing is referred to as 'gauging down'.

So how is earlobe stretching carried out in practice, and must it be carried out by a professional? In fact, gauging earlobes is not difficult, and you can do it yourself, or have a friend do it for you. However, there are some rules that you must obey strictly, or you could end up damaging your ears. Here are the basic procedures involved in stretching your earlobes.

1. Cleanliness

It is very important to keep your earlobes and hands clean when doing this so as to avoid infection. First wash your ears and your hands with antibacterial soap - preferably the non-perfumed type. Then soften your lobes a bit by soaking them in warm water.

2. Lubrication

It will make it easier to insert the taper if you first lubricate it. Use a water-based or emulsified oil, such as jojoba oil or emu oil, and smear it over the taper. Never use a petroleum based oil such a petrolatum, or Vaseline, because that can harbor germs.

3. The Taper

The normal way to increase the diameter of your piercing is insert a taper that increases in diameter from one gauge to the next. You should begin with the thin end being no greater than your existing piercing diameter and the thicker end no more one that one step lower, e.g. from 16g to 14g. For some reason gauge seizes go down in steps of 2, so they are always even.

You have a number of possible choices in the design of the taper. An 'insertion taper' is about 3 inches long, tapering from your normal size up to the next, and as you slowly work it through your ear piercing you follow it up with your choice of ear jewelry, also lubricated, right behind it so it is practically touching the wide end of the taper when it enters you ear lobe. Thus the new size ear jewelry enters the piercing easily right behind the taper.

A 'taper spike' is shorter, and intended to stay in the earlobe, secured by elastic bands, until the expansion has healed. It is inserted in the same way as the insertion taper, but there is no need for the ear jewelry. Finally, a 'taper ring' is ear jewelry with a tapered pin that works the same as the taper spike, only it is more decorative.

Wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap immediately after completion. In each of these cases, the piercing should be left until it has fully healed before going to the next gauge down, or next size up. The procedure should not be excessively painful, and there should be no bleeding. It may not feel comfortable while you are doing it, but it should be bearable. If the pain is severe, or if bleeding occurs, stop immediately and wait until your piercing has thoroughly healed before trying again.

Earlobe stretching can be uncomfortable for a day or two, and also while sleeping, so you might want to consider doing both earlobes at the same time. Gauging earlobes looks cool when it has been completed, but it takes a long time to get to those really large piercings with the big hollow rings or flesh tunnels through your lobes. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to do if you are patient and allow everything to heal up between stages, and keep everything thoroughly clean.

More information on earlobe stretching safety can be found on Flesh Tunnel where you a selection of Ear Stretching Tools and some great funky ear jewelry and flesh tunnels are also on offer.

Original article