Earstretching.net

Per the Guide :"... simply take your jewelry off for a few hours each day."

If I take my earrings/plugs out for more than a few minutes they shrink, forcing me to wear a size smaller for a bit. So, should I take it out a few minutes at a time? Or should I then take the 10g out for say an hour and work my way up to 10 within the next hour or so?

Well I guess I answer this to myself

I have been taking them out to massage my lobes ( I use Vitamin E oil) and then let them rest. My lobes get nice and warn from the bloodflow, its actually kinda cool. I tried yesterday to see how long I could go with the plugs out and I managed two hours and they still went back in like nothing. I did it twice. My lobes are feeling so much better now doing this, hopefully this helps prevent any more stretching problems in the future.

I never really take my plugs out for more than a few minutes. I think the longest I've ever had them out was the length of a shower. That's really only important at larger sizes; at 10G don't worry about it. Take them out for oil massages and that's really all you need to do.

Everyone is different, and the warnings about stretching works both ways. Your ears may not stay the same size if you take your jewelry out, and the newer the stretch the more your ears will want to return to the last size. If you wait at least a month after a new stretch before taking the jewelry out at all, and your ears are happy then you should be able to have jewelry out for at least a few minutes, and ideally long enough for a shower, before it feels tight. But some people's piercings shrink quickly, and take longer to naturally loosen.

The massaging will help, and gentle tugging or heavier jewelry will help them loosen faster as well. Ideally, you should eventually get to a point where you can leave jewelry out overnight, which is good for your piercings. But if your ears are so resistant you can't go that long, taking short breaks without jewelry will still be beneficial.

I remove them each night and put them in next morning. 1 inch plugs under jaw is uncomfortable for sleeping haha.

@twosharks - My ears have always been very resistive. Even months after a stretch I couldn't leave them out for long. The massages have helped though but I definitely can't leave them out overnight.

@magalo - I can only imagine how uncomfortable that might be. maybe I get to find out some day