Ear taper how long

You'll want to use tape that is not only safe for your ears but is also thin enough to use properly. PTFE is a great and inexpensive tape that you can use to stretch. The good things about it is that it is very reasonable in price, non-adhesive so it only sticks to itself, super thin so you can slowly increase your size, and it doesn't irritate your ears like some tapes do such as electric tape. Bondage tape is the second best tape used during the taping method. The bondage tape is self-adhesive just like the PTFE tape.

It is wide enough to fit on your plugs but thin enough to be able to stretch with. Simply put, yes! Skipping sizes or stretching when your ear aren't healed can cause a lot of problems. You can easily tear your ears. This can introduce infection, pain and bleeding, as well as hurt the elasticity in your ears. When you stretch your ears too quickly, you really aren't stretching your ears, but tearing your skin. This is the reason we recommend that you wait at least a month between stretches, if not longer.

If you stretch slowly, you will be able to stretch your ears much bigger in the end. Stretch slowly and never skip sizes! Ear funk, also commonly called ear cheese, is the gross smell that you'll notice once you start stretching your ears. No, this doesn't mean your ear lobes are infected!

This is actually a normal reaction that happens when you stretch your ears. In reality, ear funk is actually dead skin cells. You probably know that, all over your body, dead skin cells fall off as new ones grow.

This is what is happening with your ears, but the dead skin cells are held in place by your jewelry. The dead skin cells are building up and create this awful smelling stuff. You can fix it by making sure you wash your ears daily while you're in the shower.

Blowouts are probably something you've heard of while researching stretched ears. A blowout is another common problem that happens when you stretch too quickly or skip sizes. All healed piercings form a fistula, a tunnel of skin that your jewelry goes through. When you stretch too fast, this fistula literally is forced out of the piercing.

This will leave extra skin around your ears. If you keep stretching with it, your blowout will just get worse. It can even become permanent, making it much harder to stretch to bigger sizes. Essentially, what you need to do is take your plugs out and let it heal.

You either let them rest with no jewelry, or you can try using plugs that are 2 to 3 sizes smaller than where you were before you stretched. This will keep your ear lobes stretched while also allowing room for your ear lobe to heal. Healing a blowout is important because it can affect your earlobe health and halt any further stretching. Besides downsizing a few sizes, you can also massage your ears a few times a day with vitamin e oil to help aid the process of healing along.

Double flared plugs can be a pain to put in. What the flares are made to do is to keep your plug in. Because of this, that means the flares not the plugs, just the outsides are slightly larger than the size of your plug that you are putting in. We recommend using the lubricant of your choice, for example vitamin e or jojoba oil. You can then lubricant both the lobe and the plug and start to put it in sideways.

Pouring the salt water into an egg cup makes this easier. We also supply a stretching aftercare solution here. Piercing aftercare solution Be sensible about what jewellery you put back into an infected ear, If you have blood or puss on a wooden item for example, its probably not advisable to put this back in! Surgical steel items would be the safest to put into an infected earlobe, as you can sterilise them by boiling. Whatever you choose make sure its clean and sterile. Don't try and continue stretching for a few days.

If the swelling or pain doesn't subside in a couple of days, go and see your doctor. People react differently to different materials, so its important that you pay attention to what your body is telling you.

If an item of jewellery doesn't feel 'right' or a lobe is still hurting days after the stretch, take the jewellery out. Try a different material. We have a lot of questions about which items are suitable for stretching and for fresh stretches, and as far as we're concerned there is no definitive answer. I know people who have stretched their ears with all sorts of materials acrylic, wood, horn etc without any problems at all.

I also know people who have had problems when using surgical steel L for stretching. I know some people can react badly to wood. It seems everyone is different in the way their bodies react to different materials.

I advise people that its their body and their own responsibility when using our products. At the first sign of any irritation remove the jewellery and replace with another material. Speaking generally, of course the safest material to stretch with and wear in a fresh stretch would be surgical steel L. So surgical steel would be the most conservative approach. However, bear in mind that people have been stretching their ears for thousands of years If you stretch as we advise above you shouldn't experience any bleeding, however the most common causes of bleeding are;.

Stretching too quickly will increase the risk of infection, tearing the lobe and causing a blow out. Be patient. Your going out Friday night and you want to show off your new plugs Don't do it. Wait until a stretch is fully healed before trying to insert new plugs Try and but up the new tunnel to the back of an expander to get it in.. Don't just push like a nutcase.. Be gentle and have patience. One of the most common causes of injury from an item is to wear the wrong item while sleeping.

Apart from the obvious spikes on some jewellery that can cause injury, Some tunnels and plugs can be forced into the ear by lying on them while sleeping. I have one friend who woke up with blood running down his neck because the steel tunnels he was wearing while asleep had actually been forced into his ear.. The lip had sunk into his hole and cut his ear, it was hard for him to remove the tunnel..

It was a painful lesson. We advise removing jewellery while sleeping to avoid injury. The only items we recommend for wearing while sleeping are the 'soft' silicon tunnels. If you have had some bleeding then treat as you would any wound. Clean the ear regularly, use a salt bathe as described above. Make your own decisions regarding your health. Ideally after bleeding wear a sterilised surgical steel item until your ear is healed. If you have bled on an organic item, remove it Be sensible, don't wear a dirty item in a wounded ear!

Blow outs happen when people stretch too fast, or try to insert a big plug in a small hole! The pressure on the inside of the piercing is too much and the hole deforms itself by kinda twisting inside out.

Some tissue pops out of the back of the hole. This can permanently deform the ear, and it looks rough. You don't want this to happen! Stretch slowly.

Don't force plugs or expanders in. If it does happen, take the plugs out straight away. Hope that the tissue is re-absorbed. Remove double flared plugs from your ears every day. We have heard stories of people leaving double flared plugs in their ears for weeks and then having trouble removing them, because the ear has shrunk around the plug.

Be sensible. Remove them often. Choose sensibly the plugs and tunnels to wear while sleeping. The only items we can safely recommend for wearing while asleep are the soft silicon plugs and tunnels. All other items carry a degree of risk. Some items have spikes which could cause injury while sleeping. Some flared items can slip deeper into the ear than intended while leaning on them while asleep.

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Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Get your ears pierced at a trustworthy location. Although you can stretch your ears at home, you will need to get them pierced at a professional establishment. Piercing your ears at home increases your risk of infection, especially if you are stretching your ears afterward.

You will be unable to use the same sterile equipment and technique as a licensed professional. Wait weeks after piercing your ears to stretch them. Piercings must be fully healed before it is safe to stretch. If you do not want to wait the full ten weeks, watch for signs of healing. A healed ear piercing will not be tender to the touch and will not close if the piercing is removed for longer than several hours.

Signs of infection include swelling, yellow or greenish discharge, redness, irritation, and bleeding. Begin stretching your ear with a size 16 or 14 gauge. Ears are typically pierced using an 18 or 20 gauge, so 14 is the largest size you can start on and avoid damaging your ears.

Starting at any larger than this size puts your ear at-risk of tearing. Purchase a set of ear tapers at a piercing studio. Many piercing studios offer a "stretching kit" of ear tapers in various sizes. Start with your size ear taper, depending on your chosen gauge. Make sure that the stretching kit has your starting taper size before you purchase it.

Massage an oil lubricant around your piercing. The lubricant will help the taper slide into your piercing easily and without tearing your ear. Coconut oil or jojoba oil works especially well for stretching ears. Avoid using petroleum oil, which can get clogged in your piercing and cause infections. Push your taper through your piercing. Most piercing tapers are smaller at one end. Push the smaller end into your piercing, paying attention to how your ear feels as you do so.

Work slowly, and stop pushing the taper in if you feel any strong resistance. Pushing the taper in may hurt but should not bleed. If your ear begins to bleed, you may have chosen too large of a taper. Remove the taper, treat and disinfect from the wound, and wait until the wound has healed before inserting a smaller taper later on. When your ear has stopped bleeding, place the earring back in to prevent the hole from closing up.

Replace the taper with your plug or tunnels. Align your jewelry with the large end of the taper, hold the taper behind your ear pushing the plug or tunnel through your ear until you push it all the way through and the taper has fallen out. Add the "O" rings then repeat these steps with the other ear if desired.

Tapers are not designed to be worn as jewelry. Do not wear your tapers for any longer than several hours. Part 2. Wait six weeks in between stretches. Do not remove your first set of plugs or tunnels for at least a week after stretching, and only remove it for the first month while cleaning them.

Give your earlobes at least six weeks before stretching your ear with a taper or other method so your earlobes have time to heal. Use surgical tape to gradually increase the size over time.

After you've used 3 or 4 tapers to stretch your piercing, you can use the taping method to continue increasing your size. Wrap your plugs or tunnels with a thin layer of surgical tape and place it back in your ear. Increase the layers of tape around your plugs or tunnels every six weeks so your ear has time to heal. Use ear weights to stretch your piercing in a short amount of time.