Ear Gauges

We all are familiar with ear piercings and the standard jewelry that goes with it. It is practiced all over the world and has been a part of the human culture for thousands of years. In some parts, it has become a religious custom and in others, the practice of ear piercings has precipitated in giving birth to ear gauging. Trend is picking up a momentum in countries, like USA, where it is being done in a systematic manner with the help of ear gauges.

Ear Stretching

When one gets his or her ears pierced and wears a jewelry, after some time, the staffs of the jewelry acts as ear gauge and the weight of the jewelry causes the ear piercings to enlarge or stretch. The wearer, then, has a choice of going for larger gauged jewelry. On the other hand, there are some followers of the art of the body piercing who cannot wait for gravity to set the ball rolling for them. These individuals, who believe in taking this age-old fashion to new heights, use cheap, or custom ear plugs and gauges to force the ear piercings to enlarge, so that, they can use trendy and large jewelry. Before this came to be known as ear gauging, the followers of this practice use to refer it as ear stretching. If you are new initiate to the ear gauging and hasn't yet progressed too far, then by referring to a ear gauge size chart, it is possible to know the ear gauge sizes one can go for.

Ear Plugs and Gauges

How to gauge your ears? Normally, a ear piercing is done with a 18-20 gauge needle. After giving the piercing enough time to heal, standard jewelry is inserted in the piercing. An individual wanting to indulge in ear gauging must choose the ear gauge of proper size to start with. One is better off by taking ear gauging tips from veterans. A taper of 10 gauge is considered as a small-sized gauge well suited for the first piercing. It is inserted as far as it can go, in a completely healed piercing and is allowed to settle. The piercing should be watched for swelling, probable infection and, if needed, proper care must be provided to ward off the infection.

It depends on the individual's pain tolerance, how early can one graduate to the next gauge size. Sometimes, the piercings are reluctant to the treatment and stretching they are subject to. On the other hand, some of the individuals have high tolerance to the pain the ear gauging may cause. Some individuals, because, they are in a hurry, try to stretch the piercing too much and ends up with infected piercing and high level of pain which they could have avoided by being not to greedy. When this happens the piercing has to be rested, by removing the ear plug, for a considerable length of time, and proper care must be taken to heal the infection. Removal of gauge or plug leads to the shrinking of the ear piercing and the individual may have to start with a taper of smaller size. Well, whatever the case, it is important to let a gauged ear to heal properly, before progressing with your plan.

Reference to the chart reveals that one can use tapers from, as small size as, 16 gauge and work through the size chart step by step. It also gives '00 gauged taper' (10 mm or 3/8'') that can be used to stretch the ear. It is believed that this is the largest size of taper one can go to, without disturbing the flexibility and the recuperative power of ear piercing. If one is having second thoughts about the use of large jewelry, all he has to do is to stop using it, to step down to the lower gauge size jewelry.

After achieving the desired size, one can use, depending on personal inclination, cheap or custom-made gauges or plugs for ear. These objects are made from different materials and different sizes. Some of these items come studded with diamonds, while some like plastic rings are simple and cheap. On the other hand some individuals prefer to use organic gauges, made from wood, to those made with metals and plastic.