How did you get interested in ear stretching

[Hardware]

That is an awesome story TwoSharks!!!

[Keep it funky]

In 4th grade, when the all that ive got music video from the used came out, i remember watching it and the bassist dude had his ears stretched, and i was like "OMGOMGOMGOMGWTFWTF!!!! HOW DO THEY DO THAT! WHUUUHHHH LIKE DID THAT GUY LIKE CUT HIS EAR OPEN AND PUT THAT IN WHHHAAAA?" I thought it was like the coolest thing ever, after that I started noticing people with their ears stretched and started to want piercings, there is this like alternative shop around here, and i hate them now, but my step mom used to bring me there, and everyone there had piercings and tattoos and stretched lobes and awesome clothes, this one dude pretty much had all of his face pierced, it was awesome, and that made me want them even more. but i didnt start actually stretching until not too long ago, even though ive wanted to for years

[Acacia]

I have always been deeply fascinated by various tribes that stretch their ears and do other mods. I read and watched a LOT of National Geographic and such when I was a kid and was very inspired.

I moved to Africa with my familiy when I was 8. Met the Maasai people and have wanted stretched lobes ever since. Put it off for years and years and years due to work (midwife) etc, but finally realized that I cannot be what others want me to be, I must be myself, so now I finally have the dreads I always wanted and am stretching my ears.

[Hardware]

Awesome Acacia

[Acacia]

Awesome Acacia

Thank you

[joniponi]

i've had my right ear pierced for like 2 or 3 years, and one day i was looking for new "regular" earrings, but i just couldn't find anything cool that would have fitted me. then some day i was just hanging around in the town and went to some kind of a "heavy metal store" that sold band merchandise and jewelry, i went to look at the jewelry showcase and noticed a 2mm buffalobone-crescent and asked the clerk about it. it cost 7 euros and i bought it! and after 4 days the crescent couldn't stay in my ear cuz it was stretched so fast and then i had to buy more jewelry and that was how it began! no regrets ;PP

[Empathy]

hmm , i think i saw a person with something like 1/2" stretched ears back when i was 13, around that age it mustve been . and i was like so fascinated that there was an actual hole in that dudes ear, at first i tought they just scalped the lobe away so i was like, absurdly fascinated, but nevermind, dont want to do that to my ear. then i kind of got with other friends as my music taste changed and well, they too had these ears with holes in, yadda yadda they explained how to, it was love at first sight when i went to a piercing store and saw all those shiny plugs, tunnels, crescent's, spirals, so i bought my first spiral, i think it was something like 18 to 10 gauge, i did everything as slow as possible, went from 10 to 4G after like 2 months, then i set my goal for a 0 gauge, to end there, had my 0 for about 5 months untill i had a really good feeling to go further, went from 0 to 1/2 quite fast, made some scar tissue, was a spiral again and i couldnt afford to get a 0 to 000 , but after it healed i just didnt do anything untill i stumbled onto this board, with buckets of information, went to a gig, saw a person with 1" gauges, fell in love, looked like an ideal size, not to big not to small , so here i am now really healthy lobes one at 9/16 the other one still at 1/2" all the materials to get to 1" next to me, and im really stoked to get to my final goal size

[alliZILLA]

Your stories are all rad! (:

Mine pretty much happened in 8th grade when my friend had 00g plugs. I thought it looked really cool and I didn't really know how to do it, so I asked. He wasn't exactly the most helpful and he told me to just shove straws through my ears until they were big enough to put jewelry in.

My parents of course, would never allow their 13 year old daughter to start stretching her ears, so I tried other things. Even I knew then that putting a straw through my ear would hurt, and look stupid, so I found pretty much anything else: barbells, wearing 4 earrings at the same time, and I think I tried to put a 0g taper through my ear once, didn't even go in xD

I've been in love with body modification for a long time. It's hard to say where it really started. Perhaps it's just the fact that my body is a canvas, and I can express myself artistically however way I want to. There are some things I wish I hadn't have done (piercing my own bellybutton with a safety pin, tattooing my wrist with india ink) but nothing is truly forever, and when I'm 18 (in a year -.-) I'm sure I'll get a tattoo to cover up my janky homemades and pierce my nose professionally.

I just started stretching my ears yesterday and I'm already elated with it
I think I'll go do my first sea salt soak in a little while (: