Gauging Your Ears

[Coleman]

Ok so this is probably the most un professional thing to do but i dont think i will have to worry about that. I may in later years but honestly I was told but a guy at the skatepark "If a job doesn't want you for something like that thats not somewhere you want to work" (Gary). So I have thought of gauging my ears out and I now know the size i plan on getting. Im going to either stop at 1" or 7/8". I was wondering what those of you who either have gauged ears or want to gauge them would be willing to go to. I feel Like 1" isnt to big, I mean atleast I cant stick my whole fist through my ear haha. But Post what sizes you would be willing to go to.

[thatonethere]

Imho, For starters, I think it depends on what career you want. Sadly, the corporate world is still stodgy, old, and stuffy, especially depending the area you plan on working in.

Some have really strict guidelines for dress code meaning men :
can only wear only 1 understated ear ring (no facial piercings)
a trim hair cut (no extreme colors, or styles (depending on what they classify as extreme) allowed.
1 ring /hand
Tie
White shirt
Suit (must be ironed, or pressed)
Slacks
Shoes (no open toed sandals, or sneakers)
No polo shirts or t-shirts allowed
a watch or bracelet is allowed as long as it is understated

Women:
Blouse (no revealing cuts)
Skirt (can be 1' above the knee minimum)
Shoes (no open toed sandles, stilletos,or sneakers)
Jewelery "(same ring requirement for men) No facial piercings. Understated watches and bracelets are allowed. One pair of understated earrings allowed.
Makeup: basically don't look like you work on a corner. Avoid extreme colors at all costs (green or magenta, etc)
No extreme hair styles (again, it depends on what they classify as extreme)

I see you live in San Diego, so it may not be a problem for you, but in a lot of places, gaged ears are frowned upon. I don't have gaged ears, but I do have 5 piercings in my ears, and dreads. I work in a corporate environment, and I do okay (I guess) as long as I keep my dreads neat and clean. The only trouble I get is from people trying to touch my hair <shudders>.

That's my $0.02 for what it's worth.

[Amn_sinclair]

Just like Thatonethere said it all depends on what you want to do. as for me i have my eargs gauged to a 2 so not nearly as big as you are talking about wanting to go to. obviously because im military I can't wear them to work and I'm not supposed to wear them on base. I see a lot of people thought outside of the military that have trouble finding a job because of the gauges they either have or had in their ears at some point in time because some places still find it to be unprofessional until recent years visible arm tattooss were a big no no and now they are becoming more accepted. my cousin has his ears to an inch of course he's never really been the professional job kind of guy. Now he works for the high school doing maintenance on the school and construction for his dad during the summer and during off time from the school. If your trying to get into something corporate someday i would say stay away from the larger holes but if you plan on something else i'd say go for it but you may have consequences later.

just my thoughts on the matter

[Chreees]

Think long and hard about it before you do it. If it's going to hinder you from getting a job or starting the career you want, don't bother.

That said, I have mine at 8G (big enough to stick a toothpick through). I started at age 14, with my sister piercing my first holes at home with a needle then I got the second holes done at Wal-Mart roughly a year later. So obviously I can't go too big, as having two holes won't allow that. But I feel mine are fine for the career field I'm going into (TV Production). Not sure if I'll ever take 'em out. I've thought about it at times, but I endured a lot of pain to get those first holes done, haha.

Here, I found an old pic. I've had the same 8G plugs for about three years now.

[img]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Chris/DSC00548.jpg[/img]

But yeah, mine have prevented me from job opportunities. That's when I got smart and got these: [url="http://www.bodyartforms.com/productdetails.asp?keywords=hider+plug&button=Search&RecordDisplay=&Filter=Yes&ProductID=2705&index=6"]http://www.bodyartfo...ID=2705&index=6[/url]

Bam. I got a job with them and wore them for about the first year of working here at the hotel then stopped cause I didn't really care anymore. Boss hasn't said anything about my regular ones that I wear now. Note: These are not guaranteed to match your skin tone. But for mine, they're perfect. And obviously, they're more noticeable the bigger your gauge.

[Coleman]

Well when it comes to jobs im still not sure. I've been continuallly writing poetry lately which I actually enjoy so I wish to write more and attempt publishing it. If not that its culinary school for me. I will probably become a pastry chef If I go to culinary school. I have learned a few culinary things from a pastry chef and she was all tattooed up hahaha.

[jorlyfish]

[font="Arial"][size="2"][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif][size=3]
[font="Arial"][size="2"][size=2]Your buddy Gary might be right that if a place doesn't want to let you have visible piercings, you might not want to work there. However, you might [i]need[/i] to work there, y'know? [/size][/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"][size=2]
[/size][/size][/font][/size][/font]Although a lot of culinary people are heavily pierced/tattooed, there's still a code in a lot of restaurants. My boyfriend went to pastry school and works in a desserterie now, and can't have visible tattoos in pants and long sleeves (basically no face, neck, hand, etc. tattoos but he could get sleeves if he wanted to) or visible non-ear piercings (he said getting his septum pierced with a U-shaped ring and flipping it up for work would be okay), and I think there's some kind of limit on ear piercings - lobes are alright, but he can't go and get a ton of stuff done. Of course, he works for The Man, and if you work in your own restaurant or a buddy's restaurant things might be different, but that's just something to consider. [/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"]
[/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"]Also, it is possible to heal stretched ears down to a regular piercing size - there's some info on that online or you can ask a piercer about it. I think 0g is kind of the point of no return - once you go past that, you have to have them surgically sewn shut.

[/size][/font]

[font="Arial"][size="2"]P.S. I know this drives a lot of piercers and those really involved in the piercing world nuts: You don't gauge ears, you stretch them, and the jewelry you put in your stretched ears are plugs. Gauge just refers to how big the holes/plugs are. [/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"]
[/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"]As for me -- I've thought about stretching mine, but I have a lot of (regular-size) earrings that I'd like to be able to continue to wear, so I decided against it. [/size][/font]

[mustang67n]

I've had my ears gauged for years. The biggest I've gone is what I'm at now and that's a 0. I may go to a 00, but that's the most.

I definitely agree about the jobs though. I've only worked at auto shops, where it's really not a big deal, but they are specific about the kinds of jewelry I can wear. For safety reasons, I can't wear hoops or anything that hangs.

[TheyCallMeDave]

I've been to a 00, but over time, I just lost interest in the size of the plug I was wearing. I like earrings. I want to be able to wear them. So I sized back down to 10 hoops.

Just to agree and add some points...

- You're going to find out that unless you are working at home or runnin gyour own business, you will find yourself in a position where you will be sucking up a lot to people above you. Is having gauges worth the job?

- Earrings are becoming more and more accepted in the work place. If you have a gause that is a ten or higher, you should be able to wear even plugs just fine.

- I wear 10's now, and can easily take them out and put them back in for work. As long as you keep them lubricated, there shouldn't be an issue as far as removing them for work. However, if this is on a personal level about being ABLE to wear them if you want, not much to say there but pick your battles.

- I can't speak for the large size you would like to go to, but as far as my 00's I had once had, I came in very well dressed, in a suit, spoke with respect and articulation, and impressed. [b]Show people that their assumptions on the plugs in your ears don't corrolate with your professionalism.
[/b]

Food for thought.

[mitchard]

[quote name='INCUBUSRATM' timestamp='1300616460' post='502179']
long and hard
[/quote]

[claytronmeans]

[quote name='jorlyfish' timestamp='1300651483' post='502208'[font="Arial"][size="2"][font="arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="3"][font="Arial"][size="2"] [/size][/font][/size][/font][/size][/font]
[font="Arial"][size="2"]P.S. I know this drives a lot of piercers and those really involved in the piercing world nuts: You don't gauge ears, you stretch them, and the jewelry you put in your stretched ears are plugs. Gauge just refers to how big the holes/plugs are. [/size][/font][font="Arial"] [/font]
[/quote]

This is what I was going to say.

Saying that you're going to gauge your ears is the equivalent of some hookah noob saying, "Hey what flavor of hookah is that?" Obviously, to the people involved strongly smoking, we know that the hookah is the pipe and doesn't have a flavor.

[Lucy Ford]

I've thought about doing it a lot. i want to, but again the whole job thing. If i did it i would probably go to 1s or 0s.

[Coleman]

[quote name='TheyCallMeDave' timestamp='1300808083' post='502398']
I've been to a 00, but over time, I just lost interest in the size of the plug I was wearing. I like earrings. I want to be able to wear them. So I sized back down to 10 hoops.

Just to agree and add some points...

- You're going to find out that unless you are working at home or runnin gyour own business, you will find yourself in a position where you will be sucking up a lot to people above you. Is having gauges worth the job?

- Earrings are becoming more and more accepted in the work place. If you have a gause that is a ten or higher, you should be able to wear even plugs just fine.

- I wear 10's now, and can easily take them out and put them back in for work. As long as you keep them lubricated, there shouldn't be an issue as far as removing them for work. However, if this is on a personal level about being ABLE to wear them if you want, not much to say there but pick your battles.

- I can't speak for the large size you would like to go to, but as far as my 00's I had once had, I came in very well dressed, in a suit, spoke with respect and articulation, and impressed. [b]Show people that their assumptions on the plugs in your ears don't corrolate with your professionalism.
[/b]

Food for thought.
[/quote]
Those are some mighty strong words for me to think about. But I think your fairly right it may not be worth it. Hopefully any career I go in to wont be bothered by it....

[bolt in blue]

I have 14s in my ears. I haven't ever worn anything in my holes to work but continually debate starting to wear my rings there. I wear them everywhere else I go and have decided that they're staying in next time I need to interview for a job. I see guys with pierced ears all the time around my office building and at the places to eat around my building. I would definitely start wearing them at work if there were other guys in the office with their ears pierced.

Back when I got them pierced, I thought about stretching them but ended up only going from 16g to 14g. Of course, I got mine pierced after I was done with school so I might have done it differently if I had gotten pierced faster. If I could do it over again, I would have gotten them pierced years faster since I wanted them back then and just never did it. As long as you don't stretch too fast or go too big, there's a very good chance they'll shrink back down to a normal earring size if you decide you don't want them later, so I would say go for it. If you're not sure, maybe stay on the smaller side of things but you can get some pretty sweet plugs at the smaller sizes.

[dizzbizz]

I stretched my ears and went to 00's. I wanted to go to 1/2 inch but I'm really glad I didn't. I've taken them out last december and they're almost completely closed up. honestly it just depends on yourself. I have a friend who went to an inch and took them out. his ears look fucking nasty and he needs to have them sewn shut to look almost normal again. You just have to ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" In my personal opinion, yes, I think stretching to 00's was worth it, because my ears are almost closed up and I had them stretched for about 4 years before I closed them. And I closed them out of my own free will, I just didn't like them anymore. You have to think hard about your future and where you plan on going. Things like visible tattoos and stretched ears WILL affect how people see you. It'll make getting more professional jobs a lot more difficult.

[mustang67n]

definitely agree with bolt.. I usually take my jewelry out for work (i also have two labret piercings) and as long as you give the piercing proper healing time, there's no problem with taking the jewelry out for a day and just putting it back in when you get off work.

after about a week of having my gauges out the holes do start to close for me, and I've been at a 0 for a few years now. So even if you decided it's not for you, you can always take them out and let them shrink back.

Just make sure you take your time and only stretch a little at a time.. I skipped from a 16ga to a 10ga.. ended up taking about 3 months for my lobes to heal enough to stretch again, and now even one size is very painful because it's now scar tissue.. i suggest small increments for sure

[DRT]

It's impossible for me to get a job most anywhere as I have 1" tunnels. Thank god for college and tattoo apprenticeships until my insurance kicks in so I can get these sewn up.

I started gauging at 14, and I told myself I was gonna stop at 6s. Then I was gonna stop at 00s. Then 1/2". 5/8". 7/8". And now I finally reached an Inch where I've been sitting at for a year or two. Thank god I work in a tattoo shop.

I loved mine for aesthetics at first but if i could go back in time and prevent myself from getting all my piercings (snakebites, angelbites, septum, nostril, everything that was pierceable at one point or another) I would smack the shit out of myself.

I still love mine to death, and if it was a perfect world we wouldn't be judged on our physical appearance right out of the gate, but sadly they'll still deny you a job because of it...

[jorlyfish]

[quote name='mitchard' timestamp='1300811279' post='502401']
[quote name='INCUBUSRATM' timestamp='1300616460' post='502179']
long and hard
[/quote]
[/quote]


xD

[Cole.]

I'm at a 2g, which is what I've been told is the largest you can go and still shrink them back down to normal size. Plus, most of my plugs look like normal earrings when I have them in. Most folks don't even know they're stretched. My parents didn't until they asked if I wanted some earrings for Christmas a couple years back.