Earstretching.net

Hi y'all,

I'm new to this forum and to stretching, so hello!

I've had my ears pierced since I was 3 months old, and I spent most of my junior high and high school years wearing very heavy, dangly earrings. I was, however, also very meticulous with ear care and would always be cleaning my jewelry and such.

When I started to stretch, I started at 16g, and the taper slid right in with a lot of room to spare. No resistance, no pain, no nothing. I had 16g studs in for about a week, then decided to try 14g - I know you're supposed to wait a month, but considering that my piercing was actually bigger than the 16g. The same thing happened - no pain, no resistance. There was a little room to spare but not much. It felt the way that my 18g earrings felt when I was 4-5 years old.

After a week, I figured that I could try 12g, considering that I haven't actually "stretched" yet. The 12g came with a bit of resistance and very little pain. It took about 10 seconds to slide in. I put in the 12g studs.

They're a little sore and maybe a little red (nothing very noticeable), and the studs are pretty tight. However, there's no pus, blood, etc, and it hurts about the same as when my 18g piercing got a little infected from wearing crappy Claire's jewelry without cleaning it. (oops)

Because of all of the posts I see like "STRETCHING SHOULD NEVER HURT EVER", I was wondering if this was normal. I stretched only about an hour ago, so I think that it's okay, but I'd like some opinions.

For the record, my tapers are acrylic (I don't leave them in), my studs have all been surgical steel, and I've been using jojoba oil to stretch and Holey Butter for aftercare. I disinfect everything with witch hazel, but then I thoroughly wipe it off so my ears don't dry out.

(long post, eek, sorry)

I understand what you mean about your ears being bigger than 16 to begin with because they had been pierced so long( your probably right ) , this same thing happened to me in fact I had been wearing two 14 ga hoops in each hole for years ( probably not the best idea but then I hadnt intended to stretch I just liked the look of it ) and would often times slip some dangly hooks in along with them and there was plenty of room to spare .. so when I first started "stretching" my ears I didnt really have to " stretch" they were already an 8ga ..they had no pain at all and no resistnace and were loose from the get go , but going to 6 I waited over 3 months .. point of my story is your ears were probably 14 and I personally dont see a prob with going to 14 ..( other openions my differ) but if the 12 feels sore at all I would say take it out and put the 14 in for another month , they probably were not quite 12 ...and always wait at least 4 -6 weeks in every future stretch . some people may reccomend you go back to 16 ..so I guess its your choice Good luck

I took out the 12s and put in 14s - turns out that I had an itty-bitty blowout in one ear. Lame. The blowout seems to be gone after a few days of salt soaks and wearing the 14s "backwards" to encourage the tissue to go back in, but I'll still leave those in for a month or two. The 12s fit into the other ear no problem today with no pain or redness.

Thanks, and I absolutely love your sig pic!

it seems you skipped 14g. put the 14s back in for a couple of months then stretch up to 12g and you should be fine

Sounds like you're on the right track! The only thing is, I'd recommend not using the Holey Butt'r immediately after stretching. Oils, lotions, and such are meant to care for healed stretches, not brand new ones. Painless, trauma-free stretches should really just be left alone for about a week, then you can start using the oils. If you have a wound that needs healing treat it with sea salt soaks, which are a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon sea salt per one cup water. Soak for 5-10 minutes and make sure it's not too salty.