Caring for your stretched piercing

Maintaining proper hygiene while stretching is one of the most important precautions that you must take. You can observe simple personal hygiene procedures like washing your hands before handling your piercings. Cleaning your stretching tools and washing your piercing(s) is also crucial.

When you maintain proper hygiene, especially during the stretching process, you keep bacteria and other infection-causing organisms at bay. To effectively ensure that you follow basic hygiene standards, you can observe the following tips:

• Wash your hands with soap regularly, including when handling your piercing.
• Wash your piercing daily with mild soap and warm water or use cleansers made for piercings.
• It helps if you soak your earlobes in salt water regularly or use a premade saline solution.
• Clean the tools used in stretching as regularly as possible.

You must first have a piercing before you can undergo stretching. While piercing involves visiting a piercing shop and having your ear pierced once while you wait to heal, stretching can take a long time and requires specialized tools.

First, you’ll need tapers. Tapers are long tools that are placed in the piercing to stretch them. They come in different sizes and can stretch your piercing up to 10mm or more. They are also made using various materials, so ensure you are not allergic to any taper material you plan to use.

Secondly, you’ll need plugs. Plugs help you keep the stretching in place while preventing them from shrinking back to their standard size.  

These tools listed above are specially made for stretching piercings and are more likely to give you the desired result.

Avoid using household items or objects like screws and pencils, as doing this will undoubtedly give you a bad result. They can also expose you to the risk of infections. 

Lubricants are essential during stretching because they moisturize the stretched area, enhancing healing. They also help tapers slide through piercings more easily.

It may be tempting to use regular cooking oils found in your kitchen but don’t. Instead, use natural plant-based lubricants like high-quality jojoba oil or coconut oil to massage your earlobes. Other commercial lubricants like Naked Salve are also safe to use.

Sticking dirty fingers or unsanitary items into stretched piercing can cause infections. During stretching, there are micro tears that could happen as a result of the stretch. 

Exposing these tears to unsanitary objects can introduce pathogens to the site, delay healing, or even cause more problems.  

Tapers are the tools that help you stretch your piercing. Only stretch up one size / gauge at a time. It helps if you give ample time between stretching up between sizes.

Generally, six weeks is enough time to go up one gauge, but if you notice any swelling or redness and do not feel like you have healed enough, it is always better to wait a little longer. You should never feel intense pain when stretching. If you do, stop the stretch and wait a few more weeks to try again.

You need to pay attention to your body because your healing process may be slower or quicker than others. 

Proper hygiene is essential to prevent the buildup of dirt that can cause your piercings to smell unpleasant.

Dead skin and sebum can build up in your piercing when stretching. This buildup popularly called: “ear cheese,” can attract bacteria that give off an offensive odor from the site. To avoid this, you must maintain proper hygiene by regularly cleaning your plugs. 

Washing your earlobes regularly with mild soap and water can also help prevent this buildup and the resultant odor that accompanies it. 

If the odor continues after observing all hygiene procedures and washing the area regularly, please seek medical help immediately.

Now that your piercing is fully stretched, you can rock fabulous jewelry and enjoy your new look. Nothing new happens after you have achieved the desired size of your stretched piercing; however, this doesn’t mean you have to stop cleaning. Always make sure to keep your piercing clean and moisturized to ensure a healthy stretched piercing.

We hope this article was helpful.