I'm at a 20g :(

[Narci]

Sorry I was originally reply to the poster above me who said that they never soak their piercings and don't need to.

But it still does need to be treated like a new piercing.

[Hardware]

To be fair on both levels, it really is up to the person (hopefully with a brain in their head, haha), hopefully they know their body well enough to know on what level they should be cleaning a fresh stretch. I like to think that most people keep a good regular cleaning regiment on their piercing and ear lobes. I totally freak out if I don't have any Q-tips in the house.

I had a major problem with the 4G in my right ear falling out constantly in my sleep or when I was on the phone. I did not want to go to a 2G so I left it out for a week hoping it would shrink down a bit. When I put it back in everything was fine but after a week it began doing it again so finally I just slid a 2G in, there was no tension or pain, I was kinda pissed I had to go up a size to be honest.
I kept up with regular maintenance but gave it no special attention, everything was fine until 2 weeks later I woke up and it was profusely bleeding as if it was cut. In the end the irritated area was near the lobe, but not inside of it. I did sea salt soaks for a week and switched the O-ring to something I know didn't freak my skin out just to be safe (believe it or not I have weird skin allergies to junk metals and some plastics). I don't care if it's in the piercing or not, anything undesirable near my piercings I will take special care of. Even if some people view it like killing a mosquito with an oversize cartoon mallet.

[Narci]

I agree.

It was just that the above posters who were both saying that stretching doesn't create wounds or require aftercare are definitely giving the OP incorrect information.

It would really suck if people believed that they could stretch and then just let it alone. It could get infected or just gross.

[leighmarie]

If you read ANY of my other posts, you'll see that me and corazon are both pretty over cautious when it comes to stretching. And neither of us have ever given any advice about not cleaning at all.

Yes, I'm aware stretching causes micro tears, but my point is: if your piercing has stretched itself like mine and Hardware's did, then it's not AS sensitive as a fresh stretch.

Like I said, I wash all my piercings on a daily basis regardless of how healed they are, but I wouldn't say do daily Sea Salk Soaks on a piercing I considered healed. Get my point now?

[corazon_de_oro]

There's really no need to soak a stretch. If you wait long enough between sizes and don't skip any, you should NOT get any open wounds. That's not incorrect information, at all. I've never soaked any of my stretches (except when I soak other ear piercings and can't avoid it). I've also never had any open wounds with my stretches. It's a lot different than any other piercing. A piercing is a brand new puncture wound, a stretch is a series of micro-tears that shouldn't produce blood, lymph, or anything like that.
I clean my plugs with antibacterial soap and do oil massages, and that's really all anyone needs to do unless they're stretching too fast.

[leighmarie]

If you wait long enough between sizes and don't skip any, you should NOT get any open wounds.

+1