How to Start Stretching Your Ears

  

Welcome to The Plug Store South Africa’s how to guide for stretching your ears. 

In this guide you will learn how to stretch your ears safely using tapers from a regular ear piercing (16g/1mm ) to 00g/10mm.

 

 

 

Starting Out, Piercing your lobes.

 

Most ear piercings are pierced with a 16g needle and the same size jewellery is used.

 

If you haven’t had your ears pierced yet we recommend doing your research and finding a reputable piercing studio to pierce your lobes with a needle.

Needles are a lot better for your body and especially stretching your ears as they push the tissue aside (like a stretch) instead of blasting through the tissue with blunt force like a piercing gun does, and causing trauma to the tissue.

 

Once you have your lobes pierced follow your piercers care instructions and if you have any questions or problems please do not hesitate to contact your piercer for advice.

 

You should wait 4-6 months for your ears to heal fully before starting to stretch them.

 

 

Your First Stretch 

 

Once your lobes are fully healed you are ready for your first stretch.

 

You will need:

14g Tapers (or the smallest size in your kit)

14g Plugs (or the smallest size in your kit)

Some type of lubricant we recommend our Ear Balm or Jojoba Oil

Alcohol swabs

 

 

The first thing you're going to want to do is use the alcohol swabs to disinfect the tapers and plugs, this ensures there isn’t any bacteria going into your piercing.

Open up the swabs and make sure to wipe the whole surface of your plugs and tapers.

 

Once you’ve disinfected your taper, use some lubricant on your lobes and the taper. Gently massage your lobes with lubricant (front and back) and rub some on the taper too.

 

Next take the taper and remove one o-ring. The o-rings are there to stop your taper from falling out while your stretching.

 

Slide the taper into your piercing from the front, slowly and gently. Do not force it in, take your time.

Stretching should never be painful and at most should only have a “hot” sensation.

 

After you’ve slid the taper to meet the o-ring on the flat section, slide the other o-ring up the back of the taper to hold it in place.

 

Removing the taper and placing plugs in can be a bit tricky at first. 

You need to remove the o-ring in the front and hold the taper in place. Make sure you’ve removed the o-ring on your plug and try to line the back of your plug up with the taper for a smooth transition. When you are happy that you’ve lined up plug to taper adequately, slowly start sliding your taper out and your plug into your ear. The slower the better as you can correct yourself as you go. 

When you feel your taper pop out the back of your ear push your plug all the way through. Replace the ring back onto the back of your plug, and that's it! You’ve just stretched your ear for the first time! Congratulations!

 

Allow at least 1 1/2 months between stretches.

 

 

Cleaning Your Ears 

The best way to clean your newly stretched ears is in the shower, just allowing the warm water to run over your jewllery, and give them a turn. Wait atleast 1 week before taking jewellery out to clean your piercing and jewellery.

It's best to use natural soap that is free from harsh chemicals if you want to use something stronger than warm water.

 

 

Stretching up Further

 

Follow the same steps you took to do your first stretch, except use the tapers and plugs that are one size bigger.

 

 

Tips and Warnings

 

Stretching past 00g/10mm is generally considered “the point of no return”. 

This means that if you choose to stretch further than 00g/10mm you may not be able to shrink your ears back.

Every person’s body is different though, so this cannot be guaranteed. Some people's ears may not shrink from this size (or smaller) and some people can shrink back from a larger size.

 

 

Only size up one size at a time. Never skip sizes, this can lead to scarring, blowouts and and ripping your lobe.

 

Wait until your ears are fully healed before stretching up a size. We know it's tempting to go fast but this is where you need to be patient. If you plan on having healthy ears that you can stretch bigger or shrink back more easily you don’t want to be creating scar tissue.

The longer you take the healthier your ears will be.

 

 

Size Chart