Earstretching.net

I started gauging my ears 2 weeks after they were pierced. first gauged to 14g, stayed there until my ears healed completely (2 months or something?) i just hated the claires ear studs i had. lol. stretched up a size every couple or few weeks until this summer i stopped at 00 for a month or so. my mom didnt know i had gauges, and didnt want me to have them. and even though i am 18 i don't intentionally disappoint my mom. she didnt notice until i had 1/2 gauges, which i stretched to from 00 to 7/16 to 1/2 in 2 days with moderate discomfort, but no bleeding or scarring. the reason i did this was to hide it from my mom since wearing tapers around the house is a dead giveaway. my lobes have always been healthy and i have never had any blowouts or had any scar tissue show up. at 00 i had perfectly round lobes, but after stretching to 1/2 in my left ear is a more slitted shape? perhaps an ellipse or something of that sort. i stayed at 1/2 in for 3 months or so until recently i decided to go up to 5/8s simply because i love the look of them. i am right now at 9/16s i used electrical tape (couldnt find the ptfe tape in the plumbing section at walmart. i was too lazy to go to home depot or something.) and i wrapped 6 layers around my saddle gauges and put them in. my ears felt a little warm but there was no discomfort at all (like stretching should be) i guess because myy ears were just ready. the next day my left ear was irritated so i took it out, and my ear was slightly red on outside bottom area. its been a few days and its not irritated anymore, but i have just regular 9/16s gauges in now. is it the tape irritating my ears? or just stretching them with saddles?(bad idea i know lol) opinions and expert advice please should i use e-tape to stretch to 5/8s? or is that where the problem is at.

I'll just start out by saying that I'm not trying to lecture you at all, but you should have researched stretching a lot more before you decided to go through with it. Also:
*You should've waited about 4-6 MONTHS after having your ears pierced to start stretching, probably more because you had them done with a gun which causes more trauma than a needle piercing.
*You didn't leave long enough between sizes (which should be about 6-8 weeks or until you can stretch with no pain)
*Electrical tape is horrible for stretching. Try plumber's tape; you can get it at a hardware store for like 98 cents.
*Six layers of tape, especially electrical tape, is WAY too much. You should only be using one to two layers of a thin tape every other day or so.

Try browing around the bodyjewelleryshop.com forums, especially this thread: http://www.bodyjewelleryshop.com/forum/ ... garding-It

You may not have had any major problems yet, but you're setting yourself up to seriously damage your ears, so be careful!

wow you managed to tell me everything i already know, and nothing about what i asked..... thanks.
* who doesn't know this? i just wanted better jewelry than my studs. didnt expect to get up to where i am now.
* i have never had any pain, my ears were always ready, i supposed i have stretchy skin.
*i asked if i should take the electrical tape out and get some ptfe tape at home depot or something instead. you managed to tell me to get plumbers tape (ptfe if you didnt know) at a hardware store(maybe like home depot as i asked?)
* i didn't force the six layers. my ears were basically that sizefrom having 1/2in in for a while.
i was asking if electrical tape causes problems aside from the stretching. now that this is clear can someone please answer?

To answer your question, yes using electrical tape can cause problems if you use it to stretch. Simply because of the adhesive on the tape. It can cause redness, irritation, inflammation, discomfort etc.
While there are some people who can use it without any of these affects, most people can't use it.
I'd suggest switching to either PTFE or Bondage tape. Out of everything, they will be the best for your ears.

~Zack

Sorry if I didn't read your post thoroughly enough; I was in a hurry and just skimmed through, but I saw where you made some major mistakes with the electrical tape and early stretching so I thought I'd warn you. You didn't need to be rude.