Tried putting in machine head into freshly stretched ear.

[AshleighLynn]

My mistake! I had stretched my ear to a 14g, I wore a taper for about 3 days and then I figured out I can't wear them as jewlry. The lady told me I can put in a machine head (14g) and that it won't cause any damage or anything. When I tried, it really hurt and so I took it out and it was swollen.
There was no bleeding but I think it got cut up a little from the threading. It was swollen for that one night and the next day it was fine. So then I put in an actual plug (14g). I do sea salt soaks twice a day and clean them. My ears heal pretty fast.

The only thing I want to know is;
How long should I wait for it to heal for a new stretch?

[Aoric]

Most anywhere on the site, I've seen people say 6 weeks, if not longer.
I'd wait atleast that long, and if you feel it needs more time, then it needs more time. I think that you should be fine to go bigger after that amount of time if you're taking good care of your lobes.
Just if you're going bigger, wait longer. There was a post on here (I couldn't find it right now, but if I do I'll come back and post it for you), that had a basic healing time for between the stretches.
Good luck

[Aoric]

Annndddd I found it! If you want to read the whole post (which is actually kindof informational? It's peoples stretching experiences/pain levels during stretching), it's;
http://www.earstretching.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=395

And the post I was talking about was;
"16g to 14g - 1 month
14g to 12g - 1 month
12g to 10g - 1.5 months
10g to 8g - 2 months
8g to 6g - 3 months
6g to 4g - 3 month
4g to 2g - 3 months
2g to 0g - 4 months
0g to 00g - 4 months"
This was posted by Acacia.

[AshleighLynn]

Thankyou so much! It's exactly what I needed to know and the extra info helps a lot too(:

[corazon_de_oro]

I don't know why people think they don't need to wait as long between smaller sizes. They're just as important as larger ones, if not more because they set the foundation for all of your future stretches.

[Aoric]

I would just assume they think it needs less time because it's a smaller wound. Kindof like getting scratched by a cat takes less time then being cut with a knife.
I can see why you think it's more important though, I think that aslong as it's healed and not just "Oh good enough", you should be fine if you do it right. I waited way more time than was written there, but I had no idea about not going more than 2 sizes up D: so I'm pretty lucky that way I guess. Definitely a lot smarter about it now.

[corazon_de_oro]

Well, the actual stretch might be smaller, but it's the same proportionally. Like if you go from 1.6mm (14G) to 2mm, (12G) you're increasing the size by 25%, but if you go from 10mm to 11mm it's only 10%. That's why skipping the smaller sizes is so bad; if you went from 14G to 8G you'd be making the hole twice as big. Also, stretching shouldn't make any wounds (other than microscopic painless tears) if you're doing it right.

[Aoric]

I think I could have picked a better word than wound, but oh well haha. You're right, I didn't really think of it proportionally speaking. xD

[loiselisabeth]

I waited a month or 6 weeks between each stretch, my ears heal fast. And one time I waited much longer because my ear wasn't ready.

But it's safer to wait 2 months, so you're sure about your healed ear and yo ushould be just fine :3

[Deano]

I'm sorry, but WTF is a machine head? I've completely no clue what I'm supposed to be picturing here, all I'm able to think about is an early 90's heavy metal band.