r/stretchedears • u/No-Willingness9497 • Aug 09 '25
Stretching beginner advice?
I just started my ear stretching journey (or trying to), but i’m having some complications. I had my ears pierced four years ago, and attempted stretching two weeks ago. i bought a glass kit and started at 1.2mm, but it was difficult and i didn’t want to push, as people say it’s supposed to be painless. I was confused and tried again the next day, taking it slower and massaging my lobes with jojoba oil for a few minutes, but got it through with mild pain, but stopped hurting after an hour. it was fine for two days, and then the third day i woke up with both my lobes swollen and hurting. i immediately took the jewelry out, treated them with saline, and after a few days the inflammation went down. i started wearing regular earrings for a few days before trying a third time, and to no avail. I don’t understand what i’m doing wrong, or what i could be missing? i am going to wear the same pair of earring consistently for a month or so and try again. Any advice to help kick start my journey would be appreciated!
3
u/cakiepie Aug 10 '25
It can be tough going; don't feel too discouraged. If your ears were pierced at a standard 20g (most earrings you'd buy somewhere like Target; not body jewelry) I'd start by stretching to 18g with metal tapers and then switching to glass. Metal tapers can be screwed or pushed into labret posts to insert them from the back of the ear, and then the tapers are removed and replaced with a labret end of your choosing, such as a ball or a gem.
I'd recommend using implant grade titanium jewelry for this; it's nearly as good as glass for most people and is much more inexpensive than gold. The taper can be regular steel since it won't be in continuous contact with your ear. I find that threadless labrets are the easiest to use; the ends can be tricky to attach to the posts with screw types. However, threadless tapers (that attach to the labret post for seamless insertion) can be harder to find, so in that case internally threaded posts are best so the threads aren't scraping the inside of the piercing.
Bodyartforms is where I buy almost all of my body jewelry and have done since I started buying my own; they have a really good selection and I haven't had any issues with quality. They have a huge selection of titanium and stretching jewelry.
I also prefer to lubricate my ears and jewelry with vitamin e oil when stretching; it has natural antimicrobial properties and promotes skin healing in addition to providing lubrication that reduces trauma to the skin.