The path to the Flesh Tunnel
You have regular ear piercings but would like to wear larger plugs and tunnels? Or are you drawn to spikes, stretching spirals, and other types of extensions? We totally understand, since there are some really cool shapes, materials, and designs available. Now you're looking for the first steps to stretching your ear piercings. That's perfectly fine, because there are a few things to keep in mind.
Incidentally, new piercing styles like ear weights or ear donuts only work with stretched ears. So, if you're really sure you want to leave regular earrings, dangle earrings, and studs behind, then stretching your earlobes is perfect for you. On the other hand, if you want to keep your regular small ear piercings and not give up your studs and hoops, but still occasionally fancy stretching and other piercings, then opt for fake plugs, fake spirals, and fake spikes. These fake piercings look like real piercings in the ear, but you don't need to stretch your earlobes because they contain a small post that goes through the unstretched earlobe like a stud.
Stretching earlobes step by step
If you're sure you want to go through the earlobe stretching process, start small and take it one step at a time. Stretching should be done with relaxed skin and slowly, so the tissue gets used to it and stretches evenly. If you skip individual stretching steps, omit intermediate sizes, or jump too quickly from one size to the next, your skin can tear, scar, become inflamed, and the entire stretching process is jeopardized. Plus, a scarred tunnel doesn't look good! You might be wondering why bother with stretching your earlobes when you can just have them punched out and get a larger tunnel right away. Well, while this is quick, it creates a wound that needs time to heal, and most importantly, you lose that extra tissue. With less tissue, you can stretch less, so if you later want a larger tunnel, it won't be possible because too much skin tissue has been removed. Therefore, we recommend going through the earlobe stretching steps and starting very small with 1.6mm or 2mm. The best way to stretch your earlobes is with tapers and/or spirals. Beforehand, you can take a warm bath and massage your earlobe to relax the tissue. Stretching should never be very painful, so only insert a spiral slowly and in a way that is painless.
You can find great stretching spirals and tapers for the first and subsequent ear piercing stretching steps here , made from a wide variety of materials and in many different sizes.