Weddingbee boards

the recent post has got me curious! who has them?

EDIT: To clarify, I mean stretched ears as in the permanent body modification and process of purposefully making a piercing larger for aesthetic purposes.  Some people call them "gauged" ears, while that term isn't exactly the professional name-- I'd rather not get into that argument here... though if you're curious I'm certainly willing to clarify further!

@Future Mrs. Martin: I mean like plugs? Sometimes called "gauges"... I've never heard spacers? (Regional thing perhaps?)

@firsttimemom: I don't mean like your ears dangle after heavy earrings, I mean permanent body modification, just to clarify!

I dont but I always thought they were "cool" and wanted them growing up

@MrsOliveBird: It should definitely be considered a permanent procedure, though I've downsized mine to appear totally like traditional earrings.  I had mine to a 4g (5mm if memory serves) though took my plugs out before college graduation as I assumed I'd be entering the workforce.  I didn't expect them to shrink too far, but they closed up to the point of normal post earring-- my SO couldn't believe I'd ever had stretched ears.  Now that I'm in graduate school and entering the world of professional academia, I haven't decided whether I'll be stretching back up or staying traditional.

They look so painful.... They are permanent, right? They dont go back to normal after you take them out?

@totheislnds: If you do it gradually or just a little bit, I don't think it hurts.

My FSIL recently gauged her ears (haha I just commented on Waffle's post!)... it's not a huge gaping hole, hers are very subtle. I think they look awesome, but I really love my boring ole traditional earrings, so I won't be gauging mine anytime soon. :)

@MrsOliveBird: I had mine done and they are back to completely normal now. 

@firsttimemom: They must have been infected or something because mine never smelled and neither do my SO's!!  That would be disgusting.

@HoneyBear: Mine did. 

@firsttimemom: they certainly don't all smell awful, please don't make generalizing statements.  if you don't take care of them, like any body part, they can get nasty! everyone I know takes proper care of them and they smell like clean skin!

@HoneyBear:

@totheislnds:

They don't hurt if you do them correctly.  The idea is that you stretch them very slowly over an extended period of time-- less than a millimeter every few months.  A lot of young kids I've known have gone extremely quickly, shoving different sizes into their ears and ignoring their body and assuming pain is part of the process-- it's not supposed to be.  When done correctly, stretching is never even uncomfortable-- just a very slow process that results in a clean (but larger) hole. You can generally see when someone stretches too quickly when the hole is infected, wrinkled, torn, etc.  (Though, in the interests of total transparency, sometimes larger holes can appear wrinkled when someone is dehydrated-- just like normal skin, earlobes can get wrinkly, pimply, etc based on other factors, not just a history of stretching.)

@JBelle7757: A tattoo is a great comparison-- and just like tattoos, there are right and wrong ways to do them.  Some tattoos get infected, some look bad, etc.

Shrugs.  I guess it's different for some people but my ears are 100% back to the size they were before I stretched them, and my SO's ears shrink back up from 1 inch if he takes them out for a couple of days.  They definitely should not smell either, that means you're doing something wrong and not taking care of them. 

@firsttimemom: yeah, stretching should definitely not be a daily thing. I waited at least three months, sometimes longer, between stretches to make sure my ears were fully healed and happy from the last one. even though it doesn't hurt, you can't keep stretching right away! the point is to make a very slight incremental change that then shifts and adjusts as more skin grows and the slightly larger hole becomes the "normal size" if that makes any sense.

For the people unsure about what it is:

@firsttimemom: one of my friends in highschool was sitting in the backseat of a car, stuck his finger in his stretched ear, wiggled it around, and then stealthily wiped his finger under the drivers nose (from the back seat). We almost swerved off the road he was so disgusted. Then stuck his head out the window for fresh air.

@Bella88: This post was started because of a Bee who had commented that she thought stretched ears were gross/disgusting.  I made the poll because I was sure there were some members of this community who had stretched ears.  While you're entitled to your opinion, please be respectful, as you're commenting on an aesthetic choice that some of us have on our bodies. 

@Bella88: I'm sorry, I scrolled up and assumed you were talking about the picture. 

However I don't think what I said deserved your response?

Edited because I saw you live overseas so I'm going to assume English isn't your first language and just leave this one be.