Stretching lobes: best method?

well i was going to make a new post but its right here anyway....

first i was gonna see if gradually stretching is OK because i was trying to find out online and i read that its bad or something.... (to leave it in for days or how ever long)

right now im at 12g and i want to get to either a 8g or 6g im not sure which yet. But i was looking at hottopic and i dont wanna buy a $14 set of crap for each size up... (all ive read is that your supposed to buy the taper for one size up...) which is kinda bull because at the shop where i got my ear pierced the lady just said you can buy the next size up and stick it in. and i have.... so if that was the case theres no need for a taper if it only does 1 size up...

can pinchers be used as a taper or is it just the style of jewlery thing....
12g to 6g isn't what i wanna do to fast... and i dont like the idea of walking around with a taper sticking out of my ear. how long does it take?

 

I bought a thing of 2 tapers and 2 plugs of 8g from hot topic... $14... i have the plug in already. using the taper wasnt even bad. lol. now i might go to 6gauge idk. but i never planned to actually gauge my ear. and have big holes

 

I continue to insist it is completely ok to pierce and stretch right off the bat to 6g, some poeple can do it to 4g but thats because they heal nicely, actually a girl in school stretched to 0g right off and shes ok, no blow out or stuff

 

i agree with you there. stretching immediately after piercing (like following the needle, before the skin swells etc.) works well. i pierced and stretched to 8g and i think my piercer will do it up to 2g.


legal rasta: do what you want, but just to let you know, stretching like that is what caused my dual blowouts. read up and educate yourself unless you dont care about having ugly (in the eyes of knowledgeable people) lobes.

 

How can I get my lobes to stop rejecting at 9mm? I've read about the tape thing...But I've never seen anyone use it and I'd be hella worried about using it. I've been stretching for six years now... I always make sure my jewellry is cleaned. But my ears always reject at 9mm [I don't understand gauge sizes and neither do local piercers]. Any help would be cool.

Sorry for hijacking just thought it'd be better than making a new thread.

 

what do you mean by reject? my lobes get pissy, red and swollen seemingly for no reason at all. i usually get annoyed (read: pick at them till they hurt a lot) and take the jewelry out till they heal back up, but that only works for me b/c my lobes are at almost the smallest size they will shrink.
hot soaks of salt water or chamomile tea have always helped me heal fresh and irritated piercings. that might help you, or you may need to keep them more oiled. try applying oil at least once a day if you dont already.
another thing you could do it tug on your jewelry all the time throughout the day or wear heavy stuff for a week or so before you stretch to loosen them up before putting the next size in.
tape is really great though, and not hard to use. you could just buy a roll and try it out, youll get a feel for it in no time.

 

Weepy red and swollen. So I wash them, let them air and try putting the last size in but they hurt so I have to go back to 6mm or something like that. I didn't know about oiling so I shall start doing that. See if that helps.

With the tape would I need to tape it through the lobe? Or with the jewellry? Sorry, I've never seen it done.

 

yeah it could definitely be a dryness problem then. you can just use olive oil or whatever like that.
for the tape, you use ptfe or plumbers tape. cut a piece off (a few cm long) and wrap it around the plug, pulling it as you do so. it doesnt have adhesive so you need stretch it for it to stick to itself and the jewelry. just add as much tape as feels comfortable and add another layer in a week or so
its hard to wrap it at first, especially on smaller sizes, but you get the hang of it.

 

well. i got it pierced at 14g, then it got loose after wearing and the 12g fit in pretty easy. then that got loose, just from being in for a long time. And i just did that to 8g... 2 sizes up... at first i didnt think i would be able to. I had it half way through and was like. ok i dont think i can fit anymore.... then i just did the rest. it didnt hurt much at all so i assume that it wasnt that bad on my ear.

now i wanna get my other ear pierced too because i can see a size difference lol.

I have a plug in now but i think im going to go to 6g and get something else to put in.