Q&A for How to Stretch an Ear Lobe Piercing

If you go past a 00 gauge, it is possible that it might not. However, some people have gone up to a half inch and back down to regular earrings. It likely depends on your skin's personal level of stretchability.

Ask them politely if you have parents who are prepared to listen without judging. It is a good idea to explain the process, the risks and the outcome, as they'll want to understand what you're doing. If they disagree, it's for a good reason, usually out of care for your appearance and well-being. If you disobey them, use hair or a beanie to hide the stretching. However, they will see it soon enough and they'll be disappointed in you.

Use a metric ruler to find how many millimeters it is. The look up a chart of millimeters to gauge.

Acrylic kits are much cheaper but they harbor a lot of bacteria and are not recommended. Steel kits are in the region US$10 to $20 online.

If your piercing is already at a 10 gauge, trying to use smaller gauge jewelry won't do anything. If you want to stretch to bigger sizes, go ahead and start with 8 gauge jewelry; it won't cause any damage because your piercing is already ready for that size.

Going from a 20g hole to a 16g hole is such a small amount that it would only be irritated for a few hours. It would be the same guidelines as If you had just gotten a new piercing and should be treated as a new piercing. You should wait about a month and up to a few months between each stretch in the larger sizes.

Each time you take out your jewelry and let your piercing close it usually would still be somewhat open still after only 24 hours. But any time you have a fresh piercing and decide to take it out and put it back in is going to create more scar tissue and that affects how the earlobes heal. You can also get keloids from irritating your earlobes by doing things like taking out and putting back in a fresh piercing, as well as getting bacteria in a fresh wound. So yes, it is a bad idea for those various reasons.

Yes, they will have become more pliable.

Yes you can, it might look a little odd, but you can stretch it. Just make sure everything is clean.

If you just pierced your ear, you should wait 6 weeks or more for the piercing to heal before stretching. Make sure your ear is comfortable with the size it's in before moving to the next one. It does take time for ear stretching to heal, anywhere from 1-6 months. If your ear is comfortable with the current size, you can take it out at night to prevent thin ear lobes. Use coconut oil to help with the stretching.

Normally you would stretch them as if they were new piercings. This depends on elasticity and how well your lobes heal. You might want to also be careful about built up scar tissue which might give you a harder time when stretching.

It depends on your skin elasticity. Usually once you're past a 00g, it is harder to have a normal size piercing look.

You want to get your ears pierced first if you don't have holes in your ears. You can get them pierced at a 16g/14g. Once you get them pierced, let them heal for at least six months, then you can start stretching.

Preferably surgical-grade metal. Plastic, wood and bone are porous and may trap in infection-causing bacteria.

Yes, but don't leave the acrylic tapers in your ears for too long. They're carcinogenic and harbor bacteria.

Not very much. It just feels like a pinch, then your ear is a little irritated for a few hours. It's not much worse than getting an actual ear piercing.

If you have just used a taper, don't take the taper out before putting the plug in. Make sure you're using your preferred lubricant on the plug and line it up with the end of the taper. Without pulling on the taper, push it through using the plug and just let it fall. Sometimes it helps to leave the taper in for a few minutes to let the ear adjust.

Acrylic tapers and plugs can harbor more bacteria, leading to a higher rate of infection but many people use them with no issues. The best tapers/plugs you an use, however, are made of surgical steel.

Yes. You can find circular barbells that are the same gauge in some online stores. They are just a bit tricky to find.

No, you need to stretch the holes gradually to prevent your ears from ripping instead of stretching.

It most likely started in or near ancient Eygpt. Some of their gods had stretched ears, and it became a sign of high class.

You can, but a bigger jump like that can be more painful. It's best to size up incrementally, being sure to wait the appropriate amount of time (a month+) before sizing up and making sure to use the proper tools. There are 7mm's available online with certain websites.

Don't touch your lobes with dirty hands. Keep them moisturized with some kind of oil. Do sea salt soaks. Take out your plugs before a shower and clean them before you put them back in.

This all depends on your own skin's elasticity, but tearing is incredibly uncommon and typically only happens with bigger sizes. If you feel your earlobes starting to thin, you should be worried, but otherwise, you should be fine.

The minimum time you must leave then in for is 1 month. The bigger your piercing gets, the longer time you should give it to recover.

You skipped a size, so you'll be in more pain than usual. It's recommended to only go up one size at a time. If your ears are leaking, you may have an infection. See a doctor ASAP.

No, but ask your parents. I got mine done when I was 10 years old.

Most standard ear lobe piercings are a 16 or a 14-gauge, and the lower the number, the larger the hole. Before you start stretching your ear hole, think about how far you want to go. Start by moving up 2 guages at a time. So if you have a 14-gauge, move up to a 12-gauge. After a few weeks, move up to lower gauge. Wait at least 2 weeks to allow your ear lobe to heal. Avoid jumping up too many sizes at once or you could rip or damage your ear lobe and potentially cause an infection.

In order to properly repair a torn earlobe, you need to see a cosmetic surgeon. They'll administer local anesthesia and use a scalpel to shave away the skin lining the hole. Then, they'll add stitches to hold the skin together. As the wounds heal, the tear will close up, though there may be some scarring.

It depends on how far you stretch them. If you go to 00-gauge (double-zero) or smaller, then yes, in time, your stretched earlobes can return to normal. It could take several months or even years for them to fully return to normal. Larger holes may need to be surgically altered by a plastic surgeon in order to look like unstretched ear lobes.