ear lobe streching
How often should I stretch; how long does it take to heal?

Stretching is a very individual activity, and there is no set time frame that will work for everyone. You should only stretch when your ears are completely healed. As a general rule, most people feel that their ears are healed after approximately 1 month. When you feel that your ears are healed, then wait another 2-3 weeks before stretching. A good rule of thumb is one stretch every other month.


Gauge Inches Millimeters
16ga 1.3mm
14ga 1.6mm
12ga 2.0mm
10ga 2.5mm
8ga 3.2mm
6ga 4.1mm
4ga 5.1mm
2ga 6.3mm
0ga 7.9mm
00ga 9.5mm
000g 11.1mm
1/2" 12.7mm
9/16" 14.2mm
5/8" 15.8mm
11/16" 17.4mm
3/4" 19.0mm
13/16" 20.6mm
7/8" 22.2mm
15/16" 23.8mm
1" 25.4mm

Dangers of acrylic / improper materials:

An entire book could be written on the dangers of acrylic and other improper materials being utilized as long-term body jewelry. There are many different types of NOVELTY jewelry that are produced out of a wide array of materials. This jewelry is just what is says: a novelty. There is no great danger in wearing them for a short while, but they should not be the primary jewelry worn as they are not of the same high quality as the other materials available. Acrylic is a porous substance and its use can lead to infection. It also begins to react with your skin over time - breaking down tissue and releasing toxic chemicals/fumes to be absorbed by your skin.

Sea Salt Soaks: Sea salt soaks are the #1 most important and best thing that you can do to heal a fresh stretch. To perform a sea salt soak, first dissolve 1 teaspoon of sea salt (available at most grocery stores) in 1 cup (8 oz.) of warm (slightly cooler than shower temperature) water - preferably deionized or distilled water, but tap water will do. Then submerge your ear in the solution for 10-15 minutes. This should be done 2-3 times per day & soothes your piercing while drawing out impurities from your piercing, thus allowing it to heal faster. Note: Do not overdo it on the salt - too much salt is extremely bad for your piercing.


Healed Piercings:

By far the two most important things that you can do for healed lobes are oil massages and relaxing your lobes. Relaxing your lobes is described above. For massaging your lobes, the two most popular types of oil to use are jojoba oil and Vitamin E oil. Jojoba oil is good because it is an extremely close match to the oil that your body naturally secretes, and it therefore much less likely to irritate your skin. Vitamin E oil also has an extremely beneficial effect, as it breaks down scar tissue. In stretching, scar tissue is the enemy, making future stretches much more difficult and making your lobes less supple. By doing Vitamin E oil massages, you help enable the breakdown of any scar tissue that has formed and keep your ears as healthy as possible. Another benefit to oil massages is that it helps to promote blood flow throughout your lobes, thickening them up (often substantially) over time.
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Stretching Methods:

Before even discussing stretching methods, it is important to discuss proper waiting periods. When stretching, you need to only stretch one size at a time (14-12, 12-10, etc.) - and you MUST wait until your ears are completely healed before stretching again.

Tapering

Tapering is the most effective way to stretch your ears with minimal stress. To taper your lobes, you first need to procure a taper (a metal or acrylic device that tapers from your ending gauge down to your starting gauge - for example, the large end would be a 10 gauge & the small end would be around a 12 gauge). Once you have the taper, lube it up with some water-based lubricant such as KY Jelly and slide it through your ear in one fluid motion. When you get to the end of the taper, butt your jewelry up against the end of the taper so that it looks like an extension of the taper, and push the taper the rest of the way through with the jewelry. This entire process should not take more than a few minutes at longest, and is usually just a few seconds.

Note: This process should never be painful! There might be a slight discomfort from the pressure, but there should never be anything more than that. Your ears should NEVER bleed while tapering!

Tape Wrap

The “tape wrap” method of stretching is an alternative method of stretching for larger gauges where tapers are less available and significantly more expensive. To use this method, purchase a roll of PTFE (Teflon) tape at any hardware store. Once your lobes are completely healed, take out your current jewelry and put one wrap of tape around it, then reinsert the jewelry in your ear. You can do this every few days as your ear adjusts to each new wrap of tape - thus gradually stretching your piercing up to the next size.

While this method works quite well for many people, some people find that the Teflon tape gets stuck/attached to the inside of their ear after insertion, thus making removal of the jewelry significantly more difficult. If this happens, you can also try bondage tape, which is available online and at most adult stores.


4) After stretching my lobes are very sore / bleeding - HELP!

If you are experiencing any of these problems, then you have stretched your lobes too quickly. Unfortunately, this means that you are going to have to backtrack to heal your lobes before you can consider stretching again. Downsize your jewelry to at least your previous size (if not farther) and treat your ears as if they are a fresh piercing or fresh stretch (refer to information above). Once you think that your ears are completely healed, wait another two weeks and begin doing vitamin e oil massages for at least another month prior to stretching. Properly healing your piercing after a damaging stretch should take 2-4 months to be safe.

this should not be to bad of a pain.Just remember go slow and be patiet.

for jewely and other body piercing information and pictures email me at atticus112233@hotmail.com