Let's Stretch! Time to talk about BodyMods' tapers
Ready to stretch your piercing? Then it's time to talk about BodyMods' tapers .
A taper is, well, a tapered post that you push through a piercing to stretch it out. Tapers come in a variety of different materials. We recommend using steel, titanium, or Lucite (a high grade acrylic) to stretch.
Tapers made of wood, stone, or low quality plastic are porous and can scratch. Both those things create the perfect home for bacteria to grow. Once you're all healed up, you don't have to worry about this, but keep it in mind while stretching.
Tapers come in 4 basic styles:
- Straight: This is pretty self explanatory.
- Curved: This is a straight taper that starts to curve off at the end.
- Crescent: Also called pinchers, this style is a semi-circle that tapers at both ends. Of the four styles, this is the most abrupt stretch.
- Spiral: Picture a straight taper, make it a spiral - this is the spiral taper. Fans of spiral tapers claim they're more comfortable than other tapers.
To stretch with a taper, you want to have a hot shower or press a hot compress to your piercing. With clean hands, generously apply StretchAide to the piercing and the taper. Push the taper into the piercing until you feel resistance - if it hurts, you've gone too far! Don't worry if you didn't get the full taper through - this is a slow process. Put some o-rings on your taper and let it heal. Once the redness and swelling subside, you can repeat the process. Keep repeating until you hit your goal size.
Once you're healed up, you can wear the tapers for the aesthetic or switch to plugs and tunnels. At this point, you're good to wear jewelry made of stone and hard woods.
Not sure about stretching with BodyMods' tapers? Click here to read our full guide on how to stretch.