one of the biggest questions i get is how do i keep my lobes thick and healthy after stretching them so much, usually by mid teenagers who have just started, or stretched too fast causing unsightly blow outs and keloiding, well im here to tell everyone what i do

1- stretch slowly, dont skip sizes, and patience is key, give you lobes time to heal or whatever your stretching and listen to your body. if it hurts STOP, your not stretching, your tearing

2- let the tissue relax, take out the jewlery for a while (you dnt really have to do this till about 1/2'') let the circulation flow and massage for about 15 minutes 3 times a day with a little bit of olive jojoba or emu oil, it has vitmin E so its healthy for the tissue

3- stretch with tape, not tapers. After about 6-4g the tapers arent as gradual as they should be and cause added stress, use some vynyl tape from walmart, or bondage tape to stretch, just a wrap of tape every few days and lube it with some oil, you wont even know the difference, but dont do more than 2 wraps a day STAY AWAY FROM ELECTRICAL TAPE!!!! the adhesive is toxic and will only irritate and inflame the lobe. ptfe is also good for some people although will dissolve over time if not changed, but becareful since it can cause dryness and irritation in sensetive skin

4-downsize- after a while just go ahead and downsize your lobes to build up tissue, wait a while and start back up, the extra collegin that builds up in your ear will add on to the tissue and thicken your lobes

5- ADAQUITE (yes i know its spelt wrong) JEWLERY- silicone is bad stay away from it as much as possible, organics tend to be the best since there breathable and will absorb the oil and dead cells that cause the "ear cheese" glass is good to, and any hypoallergenic metal but i still swear by organics, as for fresh stretchings the best things to wear are glass, and hypoallergenic metals like titanium and SSS, organics are poreous and will stick, and harbor bacteria

if you have any other questions feel free to ask and i will do my best to answer

this is all the knowledge i have read and learned over the years of stretching

this FAQ brought to you by uraniumhobo, oakbear, and glimmi

Edited by Uraniumhobo - May/20/2008 at 5:09am

Three is probably the best advise you could have given new stretchers.

I see so many kids using electrical or medical tape.

And no matter how many I correct, they go back to it for "faster" stretching.

oh yea i forgot to mentions, you want nice smoooooooth tape to stretch with as electrical, medical and duct tape also grip and cuase friction irritating the fistula andeveryone knows how sensitive your piercings can be

Good stuff!

This site need a good stretching FAQ, as we get a lot of questions about it, and people reporting issues they have from stretching badly.
Pauly Unstoppable has a good guide on his page too. Maybe we could combine them?

The only issues i'd have with that 2 wraps a day may well be too quick. I'd say a wrap or 2 every 2-3days.
PTFE tape seems OK if the adhesive doesn't come into contact with the piercing.
I'd add jojoba and neem to the oil list.
Maybe add something to the section on appropriate materials?

Anyway, it's good to have new folk adding to the community!

Actually PTFE tape is completely self adhesive have used it in the past for stretching and have never had a problem with it.

The few problems I have with this are vinyl tape contains adhesive as far as I know and probably isn't too good for stretching as from what I understand any tape that has an adhesive is no good. Also organics are from what I understand not suitable for fresh stretches because they are porous and the pores allow for a place for bacteria to breed. From what I've read the only acceptable materials for fresh stretches are titanium, implant grade steel, PTFE, glass and I think I may be missing something but basically anything you would use in a fresh piercing should also be used in a fresh stretch.

Other than those few issues, and I am by no means trying to contradict you just commenting on what I feel may be erroneous information from what I know about it of course I am by no means a pro, this is a great post.