Earstretching.net

I went from an 8 gauge to a 6 gauge last night by means of a taper. The initial stretch was painful, and then putting in my steel captive ball rings hurt badly too. There was no pop, no bleeding, no puss or discharge. There is only some pretty severe soreness. It's been about 16 hours since the stretch. I've been cleaning the jewelry regularly. The pain seems to have gone down only a little. Is this pain typical with the 8 to 6 stretch? I haven't had this pain with any other size. Thank you for your time.

The longer you wait between stretches, the less it will hurt. How long were you at 8G? I'd suggest downsizing and waiting longer. I tried stretching to 6G after 8 weeks and it was impossible; I ended up waiting like three months and even then I felt like I rushed it, honestly. It's the first full millimeter stretch so it might need more time than the others. Honestly I think there should be more widely-available in-between sizes.

Also, you really shouldn't be using the captives at that size. Same with circular barbells, pinchers, even tapers. They're perfectly fine to wear in healed stretches, but right after a stretch it's going to put lots of pressure on your lobes and put you at risk for a blowout.

If I were you I would go back to 8G, get some plugs/tunnels in 6G, and try again in a month or two.

Pain should never be associated with stretching, if you feel pain stop what you're doing.
I'd suggest downsizing to at least 8g and doing sea salt soaks to help your ears heal from the forced stretch.