Hello everybody, I just had my ears pierced on January 29 at 14 g.  I plan to stretch my ears once they are fully healed in about a year, but I have a couple questions. One thing I had read on another site is that after stretching, you should take your earings out once a day to let blood flow to the bottoms of your lobes, is this a good idea? And what kind of jewelery is the best to have in your ears while your stretch is fresh?  And if anyone has some good pointers on stretching that would be great

Yes, it is very healthy to let your lobes go naked for periods of time. I wouldn't do this while healing, though, because your holes might close up too small to get the jewelry back in.  What I like to do is take out my plugs, give them a good 10-15 minute jojoba oil massage, then leave them alone and let them breathe for 15 min. or so.

Good materials for freshly stretched ears are surgical steel, glass, titanium, or niobium.  I prefer glass :)  You never want to put acrylic, silicone, or organic materials into your fresh stretches.  They're porous and can harbor bacteria.

 As for other pointers... do not skip sizes, wait the recommended time between stretches [1-2 months for 14g-10g, 3-4 months 8g-00g], and always do your sea salt soaks!  Good luck!

 Search is your friend.

And here are some more links:

http://forums.bodyartforms.com/forums/t/24279.aspx

http://forums.bodyartforms.com/forums/t/5641.aspx

http://forums.bodyartforms.com/forums/t/7296.aspx

I used this stuff, H2Ocean, for aftercare for my piercing, should i be using it for my stretches too? And since its sea water, should I still do my sea salt soaks?  Thanks for the help!

Jicklenop:

I used this stuff, H2Ocean, for aftercare for my piercing, should i be using it for my stretches too? And since its sea water, should I still do my sea salt soaks?  Thanks for the help!

i only use H2O when i'm traveling/can't do SSS's, so i would definitely do SSS's when you start stretching. nothing compares to how good a warm soak feels :)

when im stretching i usually leave my plugs out for about 15 minutes or so at least once a day to massage them with oil. i usually also massage them in the shower cause the warm water helps them loosen up a bit. i usually use glass to stretch, but single flare surgical steel and titanium also work well. like what has been said, never use acrylic or silicone and definitley do not wear tapers! you could use H2Ocean or do sea salt soaks, but i really prefer not to because its not completely necessary and tends to dry out my lobes.. i find plain warm water is so much better.

Is single flare glass plugs okay? Or should I do no flare?  Thanks for everybodies help

single flare is probably your best bet :) less o-rings to lose!

 Dont massage until they are WELL healed... You dont want to irritate any sensitive regrowing skin...