How to Select a Gauge Size for an Ear Piercing

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Kerri at Zebra in Berkley and I'm here to help you select a gauge size for your ear piercing. When going to a piercing shop and trying to choose what gauge size is right for you you are going to want to seek the advice of an experiencing piercer. If you are afraid to ask then ideally go smaller rather than bigger. You can always gauge up more later and with time but you can never go backwards if you accidentally rip your ears so it is very important that you don't go up too fast or too quickly. Normally if you come in with a normal size ear hole meaning you have gotten it pierced when you were a little child or even at a piercing shop but with a normal size ear stud you are going to be currently wearing a 16 gauge piece of jewelry in your ear. When you go in we usually recommend that you don't try and stretch any larger than up to 8 gauge on your first jump or stretch. After that we usually recommend two weeks time between each stretch and only going up 1 gauge at a time, so 8 to 6, 6 to 4, 4 to 2, 2 to 0, etc. Some of you might get very excited and want to skip more than one gauge at a time but you are definitely putting yourself at risk for an ear blow out or a torn ear which usually ends up scarring and not looking very pretty if and when you should take your ear gauges out. So just remember go up slowly and try not to get ahead and of yourself."