How to Stretch Your Ears Safely: A Beginner's Guide

What Is an Ear Stretch?

Stretching your ears, put simply, means gradually widening the hole created by a lobe piercing. The lobe can eventually be stretched well beyond its original size. Where a standard lobe piercing is just a pinhole, big enough to hold an earring, a stretched lobe can be large enough to slide a finger through.

People who start stretching usually work with an ear that is already pierced and fully healed. Although the practice has been part of tribal cultures for thousands of years, often as a traditional rite of passage, ear stretching has recently gained popularity in Western culture, both with dedicated body-modification fans and with people who do not want piercings anywhere beyond their ears.

Ear Gauge Sizes

How far you stretch is a matter of personal choice and preference. While stretching is more common than ever, most people only go relatively modestly, to around 2.4 mm (about 10G). More ambitious stretchers often work up to widths of 10 mm (roughly 00G) and beyond, and much larger sizes exist too.

Can Anyone Stretch Their Ears?

There are really only two prerequisites for stretching your ears:

• Have your ear lobes pierced.
• Let them heal completely.

That means almost anyone can wear stretched ears. The only exceptions are people who, for some reason, cannot have their ears pierced at all. If you are very prone to infections, or you have never found earring metal that does not cause a reaction, stretching may not be for you, because the whole process is built on that first healthy lobe piercing.

Age Restrictions

Piercers can give you valuable advice, help you choose the products you need, and sell you the equipment you will use to stretch, but they will not do the stretching for you. Ear stretching is something you do yourself, which makes sense once you realize how slow and gradual the process is.

Because your piercer is not directly involved in the stretching, there is no age restriction on it. If you decide to do it (and your parents approve if you are a minor), that is what matters. Of course, you need your ears pierced first, and since most shops will pierce lobes at almost any age, that is rarely a hurdle.

How to Stretch Your Ears: What You Need

When you look at an ear stretched to 10 mm or beyond, it is easy to imagine that making a hole that big must take a lot of fancy equipment. In reality, ear stretching is very simple and low-tech. You may need several individual pieces if you plan to work up to large diameters, but they are all small and affordable. Here is what to buy if you want to stretch your ears.

Tapers (Cones)

Tapers are thin cones that look a little like spikes (some designs are spiral-shaped). The taper is what does the actual stretching. The narrow end goes into the lobe first, then it is very gradually worked through until the hole is stretched to the size of the wide end. Tapers usually have a ring at the wide end to stop the cone from being pushed too far. Browse our ear stretchers and tapers to see the options.

You can choose from three main types of taper:

• Acrylic: the most affordable, and therefore the most popular. They are not the easiest to work with, though, so they are not the ideal choice if you can spend a little more.
• Steel: a bit pricier than acrylic, but steel tapers pass through more easily and allow more efficient stretching. They can also be sterilized, which is another advantage over acrylic.
• Concave steel: essentially the same as steel tapers, with one important difference: the back is concave (recessed) instead of flat. It sounds like a small detail, but it makes a big difference when it is time to swap the taper for a plug, since the plug seats into the recessed area and slides in easily.

The number of tapers you need depends on how far you want to stretch. To go up a single size, one taper will do the job. To go further, say from 2 mm to 5 mm, you will need to buy a few.

Lubricant

Lubricating the taper makes stretching much easier. There are commercial products designed specifically for ear stretching, and these often contain essential oils or other ingredients that can help support healing. If you would rather not buy a commercial lubricant, a simple, safe alternative such as coconut oil works well. Do not get creative with random gels or liquids, though, since you want to be sure you are not using anything that could irritate your piercing.

Plugs and Tunnels

The taper does the work of stretching, but it is not meant to be worn long term. Once you finish a stretch, you will need a plug or tunnel in the right size to insert into your lobe so it can heal without closing up. Explore our plugs and tunnels for every size and material.

Like tapers, plugs come in several materials:

• Acrylic: as with tapers, the most affordable and widely favored option.
• Steel: generally a better option than acrylic, but pricier.
• Titanium: similar to steel but lightweight, and can reduce the risk of irritation for people with sensitive skin.
• Silicone: good for avoiding adverse reactions, but silicone plugs get dirty more easily than others and need cleaning more often.
• Organic: a broad category that includes wood, stone, and glass plugs and tunnels.

Tape

Tape is not essential for most people who want to stretch their ears. It lets you take a large-gauge plug and add a little width by wrapping tape around it, building up thickness over time so you can stretch beyond the size of the plug. Taping is not as efficient or convenient as using a taper, and it is mainly used by people who want to go past standard gauge widths (in other words, when you can no longer find a taper thick enough to keep stretching).

If you do tape, use a type that wraps neatly and cleanly around the plug. PTFE (plumber's) tape is often recommended. If you have ever replaced plumbing fittings, it is the tape you used to seal the threads. It is thin and narrow, which makes it easy to wrap your plugs to the width you want.

How to Stretch Your Ears: Step-by-Step Guide

Stretching your ears is not too complicated. Here are the six steps to follow so you can be sure you are doing it right.

1. Step one: make sure your piercing is completely healed before you stretch.
2. Step two: take a warm shower or massage the ear lobe. This relaxes the skin and makes it easier to stretch.
3. Step three: wash your hands and make sure the equipment you use is clean too.
4. Step four: lubricate the taper and your ear. Or, if you are going for an even bigger size, apply tape to the plug.
5. Step five: insert the taper carefully and begin pushing it gently. This step can cause some discomfort, but it should not cause any pain. If you feel pain, do not continue. Stop and pick it up again at your next session. (If the pain lasts, see your piercer or a doctor.)
6. Step six: line the plug up with the back of the taper and pass it through gently so the plug is in place as the taper comes out.

How Long Should You Wait Between Stretches?

It is normal to be a little impatient when you are stretching. You probably have your heart set on a certain size, and maybe you have already bought the jewelry for it, so you are eager to get there. Even so, it is important to wait and take your time.

Stretching too quickly does not give your lobes time to heal properly. That can lead to tears and other complications (including infections), and it can also stop your lobe from closing back up if you ever want it to.

Stretched Ear Aftercare

While you are stretching, you will need to follow a simple aftercare routine, and each step should be done more than once a day. Here is what to do to keep your stretched piercing clean and avoid complications:

• Wash the stretched piercing twice a day. Use a glycerin-based soap with no harsh additives.
• Soak the piercing twice a day. Use a warm saline solution (about a quarter teaspoon of sea salt mixed into a cup of water) and soak your lobes for around five minutes each session. Special sprays can also be bought for this.
• Gently massage the piercing after each soak to prevent scar tissue from forming. Use a suitable oil, such as jojoba oil or vitamin E oil. If you do not have oil on hand, do not skip the massage; it matters even if you do it dry.

You will need a different approach if you stretch too fast and it causes tears. In that case, treat your stretch like a brand-new lobe piercing and follow the same aftercare you used when you first got pierced.

What Types of Stretched Ear Jewelry Are There?

Whether you are still stretching or you have already reached the size you were hoping for, you will need to choose jewelry to wear. Stretched-ear jewelry comes in two broad categories:

• Tunnels
• Plugs

Both are cylinder-shaped and sit in the stretched lobe, but the difference is that a plug is solid, while a tunnel is more like a hollow ring you can see through.

Will Stretched Ears Go Back to Normal?

This is the million-dollar question for a lot of people.

If you eventually decide to change your look, will you be able to let your lobe heal and return to its original size? It depends. Everyone's skin is a little different, and how well it heals and bounces back varies from person to person. How carefully the ears were stretched matters too. Ears that were stretched too fast heal less well and may never return to their original size.

Do Not Stretch Beyond the Point of No Return

Even if you do everything correctly and carefully, there is always a point where your lobe piercing can no longer close on its own. That point is different for everyone, and the further you go from a standard piercing size, the more likely you are to reach it. Many piercers advise clients not to go past 2G if they ever hope to let the piercing heal. Once you leave standard sizes (that is, when you stretch beyond 10 mm), your chances of going back to your pre-stretch size drop. That said, most people never stretch that far. The modest stretches people tend to prefer can usually close up on their own.

Reconstructive Surgery

If your ears were stretched too far or too fast and can no longer close on their own, there is one more option. Plastic surgeons can perform reconstructive procedures that close the lobe and restore it to its original size. Surgery can also be considered in the case of a lobe injury during stretching. The procedure is quick, but it can be expensive. There are different methods, but they mostly involve suturing the piercing and trimming away any excess skin.

What Are the Risks of Stretching Your Ears?

Before you stretch, there are a few things worth keeping in mind.

Do Not Stretch Too Fast

If you stretch a lobe up only a few sizes, it can gradually shrink and heal naturally. But if you stretch too fast, it can tear and lose the ability to close. At that point, the only hope of restoring your ear to something like its original state is reconstructive surgery.

Blowouts

Blowouts are another risk of stretching too quickly. When you stretch an ear to a certain size before it is ready, you can end up with a flap of skin pushed out behind the piercing. Blowouts look like a ring of skin on the back edge of the piercing and are often red and irritated. There are ways to heal a blowout, but it is far better to avoid them entirely by using a slow, proper stretching technique.

Odor

Stretched ears can look cool, but they do not always smell great. One thing to know before you start is that stretching leads to a build-up of dead skin cells. Your body sheds dead skin, but your plug traps it. The result is an unpleasant odor that you (and those around you) may notice while your lobe is stretched. The good news: the smell is not a sign of anything more serious. It does not signal an infection, an injury, or anything wrong, though it is worth being aware of before you begin, especially if you are self-conscious about that kind of thing.

Social Acceptability

We may one day reach a point where stretched ears are seen as ordinary and widely accepted. Sadly, we are not quite there yet. Some people still find stretched ears off-putting, and others consider them unprofessional. When it is purely a matter of personal taste, that is not really a problem. Issues can arise, though, when you are dealing with potential employers or clients. Depending on the kind of work you want, stretching past a certain size can make it harder to land a job or win a client over. It is not fair, but it is a reality worth weighing when you decide how far you want to stretch.

Conclusion