I got pierced at 8 gauge in December and I've tried to stretch up to 6 gauge over the last month but have stopped every time because it hurt. Maybe I'm a wuss. Maybe I'm being overly cautious. Maybe I'm just not fully healed. Whatever the reason, I'd like some advice on the subject. I've done some internet searches and haven't found much in the way of good advice on the subject. My process has been: 1) Take a shower 2) Further soak the area in hot water for ~5 minutes 3) Apply water based lube (what I have on hand) to my existing jewelry and rotate it around to lube the inside of the piercing 4) Push a lubed taper through the piercing until it hurts 5) Without removing or retracting the taper, wait for a bit then attempt to push further. 6) Stop when I don't feel like I'm making progress. I've wondered about using a different lube, possibly something that works better in water and attempt to do the stretching and all while in a bath. I've thought about buying some sort of numbing cream and just making it happen, but ignoring what your body tells you is usually a bad idea and god knows how much it would hurt once it wore off if it isn't ready. I've read about something called the taping method where you wrap your jewelry in increasing increments of tape so that you end up slowly stretching your piercing possibly without ever using a taper, but I'm not sure that is hygienic in something like your penis compared to an earlobe or other cartilage piercing. If anyone has any advice or details of their stretching experience to relate, it would be appreciated. If all else fails, I can just wait a bit and go to the person who pierced me and have them size it up, but there are a few reasons I'd just prefer to do it myself if possible.
You should be healed by now. Be patient and keep trying slowly. persist. I had the same distrust of taping. I do not recommend numbing cream! You have read up but here’s another resource. https://infinitebody.com/pages/ways-to-stretch-piercings Mine stretched pretty easily. I did get a taper for 8ga to 6ga. It did take time. I also bought a BodyCircle weighted ring to stretch slowly. I did mine myself. But going back to the piercer might be a good idea if you want real advice. At some point it got much easier and self stretched for me.
Hmm. 8 to 6 should not be that bad. I recall that the worst for me was 6 to 4. What kind of tapers are you using? Are they long?
I went from 2.4mm to 3.2 then 4, then 5 in 6 months They are easier in the smaller sizes. Just add a little weight to the ring which will encourage the stretch before you try and change rings
Put another ring on the ring in the piercing. You Jen 2 rings hooped together with only one in the piercing
I did use numbing cream to stretch from a 6 to a 4 and 4 to a 2. I was really careful. Didn’t hurt much when it wore off.
After way too long, I finally stretched my piercing up to 6 gauge. In case anyone is interested for who knows what reason: I did end up buying a numbing cream. When I used that, I was able to push my taper through with very little difficulty or pain. The problem then became that when I tried to follow the taper with a new piece of jewelry, I couldn't really get it in very far. I tried a few times over a few days and decided it wasn't worth the hassle and invested in an insertion taper that I could screw to a piece of jewelry and pull it through. I suppose if I had a straight barbell I could have managed with my initial taper, but even the slight curve of a curved barbell proved too much. The numbing cream has worn off and I'm a little sore though not in serious pain.
When I stretched from 8 to 6 I used a stainless screw on ball ring with a large ball. It looks like a captive but the ball screws on. From the weight in about a week it stretched naturally and the 6 slipped right in. I’m doing the same thing now to go up to a 4 ga.
I liked these from BodyCircle to stretch my piercing. It felt heavy but good. https://www.bodycircle.com/index.ph...cle-designs/weight-rings-stainless-steel.html Ball Size: 1" Ball Weight: 68.3 grams All gauges have a solid #2-56 threaded post (sturdy!) Or through the excellent shop BodyArtForms https://bodyartforms.com/productdetails.asp?ProductID=9435 And
Next week is the 8th week since I stretched to 6 from 8. Not sure if I want to give 4 a try or wait a bit longer.
I've had a PA 6 yrs.. Up until about 3 months ago, I have been at 8G horseshoe 3/4 ID.. I purchased on amazon a curved taper of a 4G . The O-rings they supplied sucked cause they were already were sized for the largest diameter..I found smaller O-rings to use as backer from sliding back out.. Inserted the ring and pushed until it stopped.. Slid backer on and went about my day...Periodically I checked the backer and pushed it farther up the taper next to the gland.. 2 days later with little pain... I put on my 6G
Closer to soreness. I've been taking it slow, so I'm not going to rush things just because the finish line is in sight. I'll probably wait a month. Since I'm currently using a captive bead ring, I might attach another ring to that to give it some extra weight to help with the stretching in the mean time.
I stopped having issues with soreness at night, so I decided to stretch up to 4 today. I followed my normal procedure (shower -> soak for 5 minutes in hot water -> rubbed numbing cream on existing jewelry to spread through piercing -> repeated the previous with lube -> used a lubed insertion taper) and had even less of an issue than I did when I went from 8 to 6 and that was super easy once I figured out what to do. Now the clock starts on time before I can wear a PA attached device. I'm thinking I'll start evaluating after 2 months.
Glad to read Im not the only one with this issue. Piercedat 8g 12 weeks ago. Tried to go to 6 and just couldnt. I was even having trohble getting my 8g back on. Glad the piercer gave me the taper he used because without it, I wouldnt have gotten the original 8g back on.