Safe Stretching
Guide
Aftercare for a Stretch
• Wash your newly sretched piercing twice daily with
glycerin soap. This will help remove the crusties and
keep your piercing clean. Remember not to let anyone
else use your soap!
• Soak your piercing twice daily for three to five minutes
in a warm sea salt solution. Use 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
with one cup of warm water. The water should be just
warm enough to dissolve the salt, but not so warm that
it turns your skin red.
• Apply two to three drops of Jojoba oil to the stretched
piercing twice daily after the sea salt soak and
massage gently.
• Don’t touch your piercing unless you’ve washed your
hands, and remember — see a doctor if you think your
piercing has become infected.
The Next Stretch and Beyond
When you’re sure your piercing is again completely
healed, and you aren’t getting any more discharge from
your piercing...
• Apply one drop of Emu oil to the front and back of
piercing twice daily for three to five days before your
next stretch.
• Remember to insert your jewelry from the opposite side
of the piercing each time you stretch. This prevents
blow outs. (That’s when it looks like your piercing is
turning inside out.)
• Begin from the beginning... Start with the warm
compress and glycerin soap wash, and continue with
the rest of the directions for stretching.
REMEMBER: The slower the better!
Approximate
Healing Times
Cartilage: 6 months to 1 year or longer
Earlobe: 6-8 weeks
Navel: 6 months to 1 year or longer
Lip, Tongue, Nostril: 3 to 6 months or longer
Eyebrow: 3 to 6 months
Genitals: 4 weeks to 6 months or more
Labret: 6-8 weeks
Nipple: 2-6 months
Septum: 6-8 weeks or longer
Surface piercings are considered temporary
*Please keep in mind that these approximate
healing times are only estimates. The unique
healing power of each body, and whether or not
you do your aftercare may shorten or lengthen any
healing process.
If you think your piercing may be infected, contact
a medical professional immediately. Signs of
infection include one or all of the follwoing: drainage, your piercing feels hot, your piercing hurts
worse than when you got it pierced, you may be
running a fever.
Remember not to change your jewelry
until your piercing is healed. If you
have questions, check with your
piercer. If you think you have an
infection, see a doctor.
West Acres Mall
Fargo, ND • 701-492-3955
Crossroads Mall
St. Cloud, MN • 320-252-0484
Disclaimer: These guidelines are based on a combination of professional
experience, common sense, research, and clinical practice. This
information is not to be considered a substitute for medical advice.
Mall of America
Bloomington, MN • 952-854-8000
©2011 Body Stars, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Safe Stretching Guide
Remember: When you stretch your ears, you
are creating a new wound. BE GENTLE and
patient when stretching! Be careful that you
don’t make yourself bleed while stretching.
Before You Stretch
Stretching can be a permanent change to your body.
Depending on each individual’s capacity to heal, and
skin elasticity, once you pass a certain size stretch, it
may be impossible for the skin to shrink back to a
“normal” size piercing.
Never simply shove anything through your lobes. This
is known as “dead stretching,” and can lead to tearing,
or a nasty blow-out. A blow-out is when the skin on the
inside of the pierced lobe gets pushed out. This inside
out look can become permanent if the jewelry isn’t
removed immediately!! In some cases, especially if you
stretch your ears yourself, you won’t notice this has
happened until it’s too late. Dead stretching can also
cause tearing and scarring, and make it harder to
stretch past a certain point.
When you stretch, you are pulling the collagen
molecules and skin cells, and everything else in that
immedate area, apart and asking your body to produce
more collagen and skin cells in order to fill the spaces
you’ve created during the stretch. This takes time.
To keep your lobes from getting too thin, never skip
sizes or rush a stretch. Proper stretching is not a race,
and takes time. Never make your lobes bleed when
you are stretching!! Skipping a size or rushing a stretch
will cause problems for you down the road, and may
keep you from reaching your stretching goal.
Keeping your lobes moisurized during a stetch is key.
Both Jojoba and Emu oil massages can be used to
increase circulation and help encourage new, healthy
cell growth. Choose one oil, or alternate oils, and
massage a few drops into both sides of the piercing
and surrounding skin.
Just Don’t Do It
Silicone should not be used for stretching. Plugs or
eyelets made of silicone are great for healed lobes as
they are comfortable to wear. Using silicone jewelry for
a stretch can cause the lining of the earlobe to tear
during the stretch. Since silicone is waterproof and
airtight, the jewelry can trap infection inside the lobe.
Don’t use double flared jewelry while stretching. The
flare is sometimes two sizes larger than the center of
the jewelry, making insertion painful, and increasing the
chance of permanent damage to the ear.
Ways to Stretch
Tapering
Tapering is by far the most common way to stretch ears
one size at a time. Tapering uses a rod with gradual
increase in diameter to widen the hole as the taper is
inserted. Once the hole is to the desired size, a plug or
tunnel can be inserted into the stretched piercing.
Tapering is most successful when done for you by a
professional piercer.
You can help make tapering more successful by
moisturizing with Jojoba Oil and pulling gently on your
lobes for several days before the actual stretch.
Weights and Pulling
Weights can be worn to aid in stretching. This is the
best way to stretch once you get into larger sizes, since
the stretch is so slow, your body has ample time to
grow cells and maintain health in the area.
Pulling is a manual way to stretch and can be helpful in
loosening tight skin. GENTLE pulling on healed ears to
help stretch them slowly can be effective when moving
up one size at a time.
Taping
Taping is one of the best ways to stretch slowly. Use a
skin safe, non adhesive tape like Stretch It! stretching
tape that sticks only to itself. Wrap the tape over your
jewelry one or two layers (at most) at a time. Add
another layer or two every few days to gradually
increase the diameter of the jewelry and reach the
next size.
Getting Started
Go slow and be patient! Rome wasn’t built in a day,
and you won’t go from a 16 gauge hole to a 2 gauge
hole immediately either. Your success is based on
gentle, effective stretches over weeks and months.
Pre-Care for a Stretch
Stretch ONLY healed piercings!!
• Always wash your hands well.
• Two weeks before your first stretch, apply Emu oil
around the perimeter of the piercing you want to
stretch. Apply one drop of oil to the front and back of
the piercing twice daily and massage into skin.
• When you are ready to insert the stretching taper
(after the two weeks of using Emu oil daily), apply a
warm (NOT hot) compress to the piercing for serveral
minutes. Wash the area to be stretched with glycerin
soap and rinse well. Pat the area dry.
• Apply a generous amount (3-5 drops) of Jojoba oil to
the front and back of the piercing.
• GENTLY slide stretching taper into the piercing until
you experience mild discomfort. If your skin turns
white around the jewelry, back the jewelry up slightly.
That white ring of skin is your danger signal... you’re
stretching too much!
• Slide a smaller o-ring onto the stretching taper,
stopping just before the o-ring touches your skin.
Your piercing may be uncomfortable for a few days.
(It might feel like it did just after you had it pierced for
the first time.) You might experience throbbing pain,
itching, or swelling. DON’T stretch to the point of
bleeding!!
• After each stretch is completely healed, give your
body a minimum of two more weeks to heal and
regenerate the area. This length of time allows your
body to heal completely by growing new cells and
getting rid of the cells that it no longer needs.
The taper should be inserted from front to back on
one stretch, and then back to front on the next stretch
to keep both sides of the hole the same size.
If you are still getting crusty discharge after two
weeks, give your piercing several more days to heal
before you attempt another stretch.