Lobe stretching tips

Heres some information for people who are planning on stretching.
Like my last little guide, please do not take what I say as gospel. If you are having problems with whatever you are stretching go see a professional body piercer and they will guide you as best they can.

BEST WAY BAR NONE: Just be patient, your lobes will loosen up over time, mine are at 26mm and self stretch. Regularly have to leave them bare so they will stretch down. If you are patient there is zero risk involved as your lobes will have naturally loosened up.

Tapers: Most people starting off stretching their ears will get them taperd by a body piercer. Pretty simple, just involves inserting a taper into the piercing followed by the correct jewelry size. Usually done up to about 10mm or so, after that taper sizes are only done at particular intervals. Once you reach that size you'd wanna be thinking about other ways of stretching.

advantages - easy, in the hands of a professional.
dis-advantages - sometimes theres a charge if you go to a piercing studio, if you buy your own tapers theyre expensive enough and useless once youve passed the size. Dangerous too, can you trust yourself with a taper? Most people are stupid...

Dead stretch: This is the method I did use for a while. Basically, you get a piece of jewelry that is 1mm bigger than the size you are currently at, lube up the jewelry if you so chose. Then just put it in. If you wait a few months between stretchs this method is generally ok. However, I dont recommend it. Puts your ears under huge amounts of pressure due to forcing the jewelry in. I usually pop an anti-inflammatory when i do this just to ease swelling (if there is any).

advantages - easy to do if you wait long enough.
dis-advantages - if you don't wait long enough it can be sore, can in some cases cause blowouts, can be troublesome if done incorrectly.

PTFE tape Most people will double take at this entry. Trust me it isnt that bad, and not in the slightest bit kinky. Simply put, you get a piece of jewelry (preferably something long with no flares, ask for a no flare tunnel) and wrap some tape around it, maybe one or two rotations. Once your ears are used to this you can size up again if you so wish.


advantages - easy, cheap, no risk if done correctly.
dis-advantages - none as long as its done right and you dont push yourself. Some people are allergic to the tape though so if your ear is irritated or anything due to the tape do not use this method.

Dermal Punch: This is for people who want to have large gauge lobes from the get go. Body piercer uses a dermal punch to remove tissue from your lobe and inserts the jewelry or if you want to go bigger than 8mm he/she will insert a taper to further stretch them, when you are healed. A lot of blood, painful to a point but you get to your ideal goal instantly.

advantages - quick, relatively risk free if done properly.
dis-advantages - you lose tissue, hurts, its not cheap, you will have an 8mm hole in your ear for the rest of your life. if you ever want to go down to a lower size tough, unless you go for surgery.

Scalpeling: Incision is made using a scalpel. Huge sizes can be reached with the flick of a wrist. Much like dermal punching you cannot downsize unless you go for surgery.
advantages - Large sizes from the start.
dis-advantages - Almost the same as dermal punching except with the added bonus of more blood. However you do not lose tissue.

DERMAL PUNCHING AND SCALPELLING SHOULD ONLY BE DONE BY WELL TRAINED BODY PIERCERS

Tips, Tricks and general care of stretched lobes!
- The amount of time you should ideally wait between stretchs is about 3 months.

- Giving your lobes a little tug now and then will help loosen them up a bit if you plan on stretching further. Little tug, don't rip off your lobe just yet. Heavy jewelry will do the same also. Heavy jewelry can cause uneven stretching in some cases so beware.

- If you can, massage your lobes. This will increase circulation in your ears and make them healthier looking. There are products out there like "holey butter" you can buy for ear care but I find good quality olive oil does the trick just as good if not better. Jojoba oil and bio oil also. Do not use things which will irritate your skin. Be sensible.

- Once your ears are acustomed to their new size its generally a good idea to sleep with the jewelry out. For a number of reasons.

Its comfier and gives your ears a chance to breath. When you wake up just give your ears a quick rub with olive or whatever, and put em back in. Your ears will have shrunk a bit during the night so lubing em up will make it easier on you. I usually just fling em in, im not botherd looking for olive oil etc. in the mornings.

Note: Only do this when you are confident your ears are used to the new size. Doing it a day after stretching is just plain stupid.

- Downsizing every now and then is also good for your lobes. Mainly due to the reasons i outlined above. Will relieve pressure on your lobes and increase blood flow making em healthier and leaving you with less of a chance of your ears thinning.

- You know the nasty smell and residue you get on your jewelry after wearing them after a while? Well the stuff is called sebum (well really its the bacterial breakdown of it). Body produces it, mainly due to the fact that there is no air getting to the insides of your ears. To combat this I recommend organic (wood, bone, tusk etc.) jewelry. Because organic materials are porous they absorb the sebum and leave you smelling good and crusty free!


Warnings

- Everyone is different but once you go past the point of no return with stretching (around 6mm or so, depends on the person to be honest) you will be stuck with big holes in your ears.

- Do not go up in size any bigger than 1mm in one go (apart from scalpelling and dermal punching). I did this with my right ear. Went from 16mm to 18mm (dead stretch, stupidity on my behalf). I got the beginnings of a blowout. Check here for a better definition and some images.

- Only use good quality jewelry, goes without saying i suppose.

- If you feel the beginnings of a blowout, immediately take out the jewelry and leave it out until it has gone back to normal. If you act quick enough you may bypass the blowout and just be left with a smaller lobe. Stretching up again is a pain in the ass but its way better than having a nasty piece of tissue hanging from your ear.

Final words

- Don't be stupid, if you push your body too hard you will be left broken. Stretching your lobes or any other piercing is not a race, take your time or else you will end up with a nasty blowout or worse...

- If you decide to go down the route of scalpelling or dermal punching make sure you will be happy to have big lobes for the rest of your life. Another point to note is only let a good and well experienced body piercer go near you. Don't go to some hack who has never done it before, check portfolios for previous scalpelling work (fresh and healed pictures) and only go with what you feel is right.

If there's anymore questions ask away. Hope this was helpful.