How long do tapers hurt

These tapers are a bit more expensive than acrylic or steel, but they are worth the few extra dollars! The tape wrapping method is usually used once you get above a 0 gauge.

The tape wrapping method helps to stretch your lobes slowly and carefully. It is used by a lot of people who stretch over an inch as well. Taping takes longer than using a taper, but it will help you keep your ear lobes thick and healthy for the bigger sized gauges. Most people assume that they can use regular tape, electrical tape, or duct tape but this is not true!

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. If you are putting the plug in at an angle, you are easing the process of putting this "larger" size in your ear lobe.

Double-flared plugs should only be worn in well-healed piercings. Be careful, and if it starts to hurt, wait a few weeks before trying again. The smaller your ear lobes are, the harder it is to wear double flared plugs. It isn't impossible, but it is a bit harder to put through. You could try the taping method that we mentioned above to help put them in, but you'll need to lubricate them before you take them back out.

Keeping your lobes moisturized is important. Blowouts usually occur from trying to stretch the hole too quickly. They often cause sharp pain and inflammation. Overstretching usually causes a blowout. Stretching out your ear should be a slow and gradual process. If you increase the size of your jewelry too quickly, you can develop blowouts and other complications, like lobe tears and infections.

Countries that use the metric system often use millimeters mm instead of gauges. Standard earrings are normally 20 gauge or 18 gauge. As earrings get wider, the gauge size decreases.

Many people also recommend waiting 4 to 6 weeks before increasing sizes. The amount of time you need to wait may increase as your jewelry becomes larger.

The development of a blowout causes a ring of skin to form behind the piercing. This ring is usually red, irritated, and painful. A blowout may give the piercing the appearance of turning inside out.

Overstretching your ear may also lead to an infection. This may cause:. You can often treat minor infections at home. You can reduce your chance of developing an infection by regularly cleaning objects that come in contact with your ears often, such as your phone, headphones, and hats. If you think you may be developing a blowout, take action as quickly as possible. Catching a blowout early can help you avoid permanent damage to your ear.

Many people recommend lightly massaging your earlobe for 5 to 10 minutes with an oil to help prevent a blowout from forming. Using oil on your gauged ears helps keep them moisturized, which promotes stronger skin and reduces the likelihood of tears. Many types of oil are effective for keeping your gauged ears moist. Some of the most common types include:. Most standard earrings are 20 or 18 gauge. Many people recommend dropping down two or three sizes for example, 4 gauge to 6 gauge.

Tapers are only ment to guide plugs in, not to force a stretch or be worn as jewlery. Just fyi. The process of stretching your ears is uncomfortable and will cause discomfort although there are ways to minimize pain.

We recommend that you stretch slowly and give your ears time to heal before going up to the next size. Moving too fast while stretching is a big driver of pain. A blowout is one of the most common complications of ear gauging. Blowouts usually occur from trying to stretch the hole too quickly.

They often cause sharp pain and inflammation. To stretch with tapers, the first thing you need to do is wash your hands and anything going in your ear lobe. Repeat until you get the taper all the way in. Leave it for at least a couple of hours, ideally overnight.

Later or in the morning, keep pushing the taper out and insert your sterilized plug with your clean hands.