At midafternoon on any given day, patrons of Captain Tattoo and Piercing will find Tom Sweet behind the front desk.

The phrase "stay true" is inked across his fingers in capital letters — the owner's mantra in life and business — along with colorful designs that stretch from his neck to his feet.

Up close, the stars on Sweet's neck become more apparent, as do his black hollowed-out earrings — known as ear plugs, or gauges — which are more than a half-inch in diameter.

All facets of Sweet's look invoke those two simple words: "stay true."

The California native opened his Columbia Avenue parlor in October 2010 to change preconceived notions about tattooing and piercing.

That's no easy task.

"People look at you and automatically think bad things," Sweet said, referring to the tunnels in his ears. "They don't take you seriously."

Sweet began wearing gauges — a type of jewelry made for people who want to stretch their ears — eight years ago because the jewelry was more versatile than his standard earrings. He also liked the way they looked.

Walking into his piercing room — a sterile white compared to the shop's rich reds and black, he opened a drawer at his piercing counter, brimming with gauges of all shapes and sizes.

Some were adorned with white stars. Others were hollow. Some glinted in the flourescent light, reflecting Sweet's face.

"You know, I can change them out all the time," he said, reaching up to his ear to push out the existing black tunnel.

 He reached for a new tunnel, black, but shinier than the old one, and pushed it into place.

"It doesn't hurt or anything," he said. "I can stick my finger through the holes when I want to freak out my mom. She hates them.

"But I get bored. I need to make changes. And I like the way they look. I'm only doing this for me."

While ear stretching has some members of older generations cringing, the practice is nothing new. People the world over have been stretching their ears for thousands of years. The practice took root domestically in big cities in the 1990s.

Steve Lowry, owner of Transcending Flesh in Lancaster, sees the trend growing among his clients, and on the streets of Lancaster.

"When I'm out and about, I notice [ear plugs] more," he said.

Gauges aren't a trend for the uncommitted. People who wear them are often asked to explain themselves.

Mark Marafioti, a college student who teaches guitar lessons on the side, hears all about it from his clients' parents.

"They ask why I'd do this to myself," he said. "But I like the way they look."

Marafioti started stretching his ears when he was 13. The process began with a simple ear piercing, which Marafioti allowed to heal before stretching. Then with a slender taper — a cone-shaped point inserted into a piercing to stretch the skin — Marafioti made his first stretch, one of many in his journey to the nearly half-inch plugs he wears now.

Marafioti, 20, didn't always let his ears heal between stretches. Impatient and ready to move to the next size (tapers increase in increments of 2 mm), he would often skip sizes, advancing his ears 4 mm or 6 mm at a time.

"The stretching itself doesn't really hurt," he said, absently touching his current plug. "My ears would definitely bleed sometimes."

Marafioti also has a tattoo and a pair of dermal piercings — bars through the skin on his wrist and neck that hold jewelry. Again, because he likes the way they look.

People who wear gauges say that a lot: They like the way they look.

But looking toward the future isn't always as easy, said Marafioti, who currently attends Millersville University for music education.

"I'm not too worried, but I know they're going to have to come out someday," he said. "Some of my college professors wear them, but I don't think I'll get away with it anywhere else."

Marafioti believes his holes will close with time, and even if they don't close completely, he's okay with that.

What's cool about gauges — the holes — is also the biggest complication: It can be hard to go back.

Jake Shaika, of Lancaster, stopped wearing his 00 gauge (10 mm) plugs about a year and a half ago, and there are still holes of about 3 mm in his ears.

The holes are barely noticeable to someone sitting down with him. The tips of his blond hair trail down, partially covering his ears, but Shaika knows what's underneath and isn't happy.

Most piercers say the point of no return is anywhere from a 2 gauge (6.5 mm) to a 00 gauge.

As a teen, Shaika played in a hardcore band and said the gauges just went along with the scene, as did the girls' jeans he regrettably wore at the time.

But tastes change.

At 22, Shaika has ditched the girls' jeans and the hardcore music and would like to be rid of the holes in his ears as well.

"I've grown out of that now," Shaika said. "I don't find them to be a necessity anymore. It's something I did when I was young and stupid.

"Plus, they smell like feet. You can clean them, but they're still really gross."

When Shaika first took out his plugs, his ears began closing immediately, shrinking the most in his first few months after removal.

But when the holes hit 3 mm, they stopped closing altogether.

"They're never going to close," Shaika said. "I know that now. It's just something I don't want anymore."

To close his ears permanently, Shaika's got options, but they're not cheap.

Cosmetic Surgery Center of Lancaster charges $350 to rebuild an ear, but, according to a spokeswoman for the center, insurance companies have deemed the procedure "superficial" and do not cover it.

Dr. Richard Levin, of Lancaster Plastic Surgery, said he charges up to $1,000 per ear for the outpatient surgery, depending on the condition of the earlobe.

And while earlobe reconstructions aren't dominating the plastic surgery market just yet, aside from the earlobe reduction included in face-lifts, Levin said it will be only a matter of time.

"It's a momentary fad that is necessary to reverse," he said. "Right now everyone thinks they're young and beautiful and want to be recognized for being different."

Ear stretching isn't anything new to Levin. He recalls as a child seeing images in National Geographic of African tribal piercings and stretchings.

"Maybe they're becoming more tribal, more authentic," he said.

Authenticity might be exactly what the wearers of the often-bulky ear jewelry are looking for.

Rachel and Jeff Easter, of Richmond, Va., own Onetribe Organics and make a living creating jewelry from organic material.

The Easters make ear plugs, spikes, tunnels, spirals and coils, as well as lip plugs and septum plugs, for the skin between the nostrils.

And now, with a customer base of 20,000 compared to a customer base of 50 when the business began in 2003, Easter said there is an obvious demand for these "adornments."

The Easters don't refer to the practice of ear stretching as body modification, as many in the field do. They believe "body modification" is too vague, a term that could be applied to weightlifting or dieting.

"We ask our customers how do you choose to adorn yourself," Rachel said, "because that's what it is: adornments."

The Easters design pieces of all sizes, including plugs up to 3.25 inches in diameter. And they aren't made for show.

"We just finished up a beautiful pair of 3-inch plugs," Rachel said. "There is actually a lot more people with really large stretched ears, but they're scattered all over the place.

"It's a very personal decision as to why they do it because it's a much more aggressive decision."

Whatever their individual reasons, gauge wearers continue to stand by their decisions. Many feel their adornments are indicative of the most true art form — the body as art, ex-gauge wearer Shaika said.

But that jewelry itself is not a defining element.

"It's not something that defines you as a person," Shaika said. "Its just how you look."

Contact Sunday News staff writer Brittany Horn at bhorn@lnpnews.com.