Earstretching.net

now, I'm not talking about STRETCHING to a 6 or 8 gauge, I'm talking about actually starting off by getting your ears pierced with a high gauge needle such as 8, or 6. For all those people saying this is worse for your ear then stretching, it's really not. It doesn't affect scar tissue as much. I talked to my piercer about it. Anyways my piercer said he'd pierce my ears with a 6 gauge needle (NOT a dermal punch) although he usually doesn't pierce above an 8. So people who have gotten their ears pierced right off the bat with a high gauge, how bad did it hurt? How much worse did it hurt than getting other piercings? I plan on stretching mine, after my ears have completely healed, to a 4, then to a two. I'll probably stop there. How long did it take your ears to heal after this piercing? I was thinking about 3 months?

My friend got her earlobe pierced with a 8g needles. She said that it almost didn't hurt.
She started stretching 1 month after. That's fast, but she's ok with it.

I had my lobes pierced at 10G which isn't that big, but it's bigger than what most people start with.
It didn't hurt that badly... it was more painful than my eyebrow, first nostril, and conch, but less painful than most of my other piercings. They bled a lot, too.
Mine were fully healed in a little less than three months (I'm a bit of a slow healer... they usually heal about as quickly as normal lobe piercings) and I stretched them after 6 months. You should wait 6 months (or at LEAST 4) after a piercing to do your first stretch, as it gives the tissue time to heal completely AND be ready to stretch. Healed and ready to stretch are different things.