Earstretching.net

Is it alright to use pinchers to stretch through your first few sizes? Buying a pair of stainless steel pinchers(around $10 at Spencer's where I live) seems cheaper and safer than buying acrylic tapers and plugs. Some of the tapers come with plugs but they're usually acrylic so I'd have to buy a whole other pair (around $15 a pair by themselves!) and it also would seem kind of a waste since I'd only be wearing them for a few months. Pinchers would also be less associated with ear stretching (Honestly I had NO idea that people who wore these were stretching until I really started studying.) The only thing that might be a downsize is that theres less length and therefore less of a gradual taper to them. Any thoughts? I was thinking of going to a size 14-8g using these (no worries, not all those sizes at one time lol)

i used them from a size 16 to a size 10 i believe. the ones i got came in a cheap-o little package (they were acrylic, glad to see you're using steel!) from hot topic or spencers or something. as long as you stretch properly and slowly and listen to your body i dont see the problem with using them. make sure though to get some single or no flare jewelry if that doesnt come with the pinchers, because pinchers have an uneven wearable surface.

I was actually thinking about wearing them throughout the healing process. Would it ruin the piercing because of the curvature it'd heal to, even at that small a size?

I went up to 00g with a pincher, currently in my ear at the moment, I personally don't like they way they sit in my ear, they are also annoying to sleep in and I don't like the way they look, for smaller sizes they're better though, in my opinion of course.

Pinchers stretch unevenly because they're curved, and leaning on them can cause problems. Just like wearing CBRs as initial jewellery, they sort of ...twist sideways[?](makes sense in my head, lol)

If its just a matter of money... These are plenty cheap. And (apparently) deliver pretty fast in the US.
http://www.bodyartforms.com/products.as ... Filter=Yes
Stretching with acrylic tapers isn't bad (but acrylic jewellery is). But stretching with steel is SOOO much easier, once you've used steel you won't go back XD