Earstretching.net

So the other day, I decided to try stretching up into the 8g pair of tapers i have. Now, mind you i have never had any real issue with stretching before. Even putting in the first pair of larger earrings didn't hurt really. I've never had anything past the mild burning sensation, and definitely never for longer than an hour i'd say. I've always researched a lot and made sure i never stretched too fast, always waiting at least 3 weeks, usually more, before i went up. This time, i actually waited around 2 and a half months, because a friend of mine with experience said at this point i should wait at least 6 weeks and I didn't get the tapers until pretty recently, and then i got my second piercings and have been waiting until they're mostly healed so i would have less problems.

All i've ever done when stretching was wet a washcloth with warm water and rub my ears with it, and it's worked fine. This time, however, I didn't do that, but instead applied vitamin e oil, which i'd been doing for a while as i had some dry skin issues that i had also waited for to clear up, and oiled up my ears and the tapers really well, and tried to get them in. I couldn't get halfway through before i had intense pain in both ears. I know now i should have taken them out and out the 10s back in immediately but at the time i figured it was just because the size jump was bigger than any i'd had before and my ears weren't used to it, so i put the o rings on and went to sleep. When i woke up in the morning, they hurt just as bad, so i decided to take them out and go back to the 10s. Did not using the washcloth make that much of a difference?

For the next few days, my ears hurt a lot and got crusty and red, so i figured i had a mild infection or something, but yesterday i got what looked like the lips that blowouts get around my holes, except as i found out by accident, they weren't solid but instead were kind of like blisters and were filled with the nasty pus-like stuff that i knew the name of once but now forget. I was going to ask last night if i had a blowout or an infection, but i didn't get the confirmation email until this morning, and after a salt water soak and applying the ear care stuff i still have (which i figured was ok because it's for preventing infection and stuff) it seems to have calmed down a lot, and that includes that the blistery things have subsided a bit although they're still there in some capacity as i found again by accident when i scratched my ear while massaging it, just nowhere near as puffy. It's good because i was going go to the doctor if it didn't get any better today, but yeah.

What did i do wrong, what do you recommend for helping clear up the rest of the potential infection, and what can i do in the future when i try to stretch up again when this has completely healed? sorry for the long post heh :3

Infections are rare and it's very unlikely you have/had one. Just keep doing the sea salt soaks (make sure they're not too salty, no more than 1/4 teaspoon sea salt per one cup water) and leave your ears alone. Don't ever massage your lobes if they're irritated; you want to touch them as little as possible until they heal. If you're wearing acrylic you might want to consider getting some steel, titanium, or glass jewelry to put in. Actually, you should always do that when stretching... you should never leave in the tapers and you should never leave acrylic in fresh stretches. Get a pair of single-flare or no-flare plugs in each size.

It's not uncommon for your ears to need that long or longer between sizes. 6 weeks is really the least amount of time you should be waiting, and 3 weeks isn't nearly long enough. You might have just needed more time for this stretch because your ears were still trying to settle down from your previous fast stretches. If you try to stretch and it hurts or you feel like you need to force it, your ears aren't ready no matter how long it's been.

Have you tried stretching after a long, hot shower? That really makes it a lot easier.

Unfortunately all i can afford are the stuff at spencers and hot topic so usually i have acrylic and i've never had an issue with it before. I also usually can only get one set per size due to the same reason. I have even less to spend now, as my original 10s, which were acrylic, broke and i did get a pair of glass ones. I found out after that you're not supposed to leave the tapers in, but at the time i had figured that i would push them in further once it stopped hurting. Another friend has recommended the taping method, which i would do but the problem with that is that i would have no idea at which point it would be the next size :/ As for the showers, i'll definitely try to wait until a day where i can take a shower at night and not in the morning. I'm going to try to get something better when i go to the mall today, but i'm not sure if i'll be able to. And i'm really going to try not to touch my ears, but that's unfortunately a nervous habit of mine and i do it a lot. I'll ask my friends and family to tell me to stop if they notice me doing it while it's healing, hopefully that should help. Do you think i'll be able to try again once this has healed up and stopped hurting or should i wait another six weeks at least?

90% of the time stuff online if you look in the right spots is cheaper even with shipping than the stuff in the mall. It might be good to check around and see if maybe you can find something online. I like this website allot. This website is good too.

Agreed, Spencer's and Hot Topic are overpriced and poor quality. I get all my jewelry from Body Art Forms... they do have some expensive stuff but they also have a lot of afford able stuff. Also, they have a discount code for today if you need jewelry right now... enter FALL2012 at the checkout and you'll get 20% off! They have a calendar full of discount codes you can use throughout the year; there's usually about one a month and I save a lot of money by only ordering jewelry when there's a discount. If you like I can message you the codes for the rest of the year.

A lot of people like this: http://www.bodyartforms.com/productdeta ... 39&index=3 You get an acrylic taper and a pair of steel plugs for $5, or even less with a discount code. Not the best quality or the nicest looking stuff, but it's a lot better for your ears than acrylic!

As for how long you should wait, the longer the better. I would say about 10 weeks to 3 months, but the most important thing is to wait until you can stretch to the next size without pain or resistance.

oh wow that stuff is really affordable! thanks so much, i would never have found this without you guys! I'm going to get the 6s too while i'm there! And yes, corazon, i would love the discount codes
So, i should just treat these as if i had stretched them, and wait the length you gave? alright, will do.

Taping is not only better for your ears than tapers its also cheaper. u can uy a roll of bondage tape for 8 dollars at spencers or online and u wont ever need another roll.

Because you said you don't have a lot of money right now, that is a good reason to wait longer between stretches. Spending extra time at each size is not wasted time. And honestly cheap plastic jewelry is no fun.

You were probably going too fast, and that can catch up to you.

Also Croazon, where do you find BAF's discount code calendar? I will take full advantage of that.

im about to order some plugs from BAF and i would also like to know where to find those codes if the beautiful miss corazon wouldnt mind