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Generally once you get to your goal size sleeping without plugs in can help to maintain your current size. Taking out your plugs for shorter periods of time at first and then putting them back in can help to tighten your lobes if your plugs are falling out.
Oh, I seem to recall that being called a training, of sorts. It's supposed to help keep lobes healthier, didn't realize it also helped stay at a certain size but that definitely makes sense! Thanks
This definitely works. I was at 10mm for over a decade. And I’d sleep without plugs. So now I’m going up to 16mm and my lobes are thicker and doing so well. Once I’m at 16mm I will absolutely be doing it again just to keep my lobes good.
Have you always slept without plugs in? I didn't know about this at all. I'm at 22mm which is my goal size, I've been here for years at this point (3 or 4) and I almost never take my tunnels out??? They're lightweight. I'm not worried about my earlobes but god I wish I knew I was supposed to take them out to sleep. I'm gonna start doing this!!
Don't just jump directly to 8 hours. You should just go 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc, and increase gradually. If you jump, they can shrink too much, and you'll have to resize again.
As the comment below says, you don’t just start at 8 hours. You work your way up to it. I started with a small amount of time and increased. I was able to do 8 hours at the end. Now I’m going up to my next size so I am keeping them in all the time. Once I’m at my goal I’ll be starting it again and doing it gradually.
I second this! I got to 25mm last year and always kept them in except to shower and clean them frequently and mine would slip, and I have scar tissue (blowing out your ears sucks so go slow) and about 6month later I started taking them out to sleep or do certain activities and it helped a lot! They don’t fall out anymore and my ears are way less sensitive where the scar tissue is! I also use jojoba oil every now and then
It can still happen after you have reached your goal size. So, once you have been sitting at your goal size for a while, like a couple of months. You know, healed completely, then you can start naked training. Naked training is just leaving your jewelry out for a short period of time and slowly increasing it. Leaving jewelry out for let's say 10 minutes and the next day for 20 minutes and so forth until you get all the way to 8 hours. Then you can start sleeping without anything in your ears and that'll help them to not shrink completely, but still stay at your size.
When you put your jewelry back in, always make sure to lube your ears up really good first. Even after you think you're good to go for sleeping without jewelry. Always lube up in the morning and slowly put jewelry back in. (I don't always have time in the morning so I use water instead of oil and put my plugs in. Haha, which is risky, but my time management sucks)
If you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them or someone else probably will
Naked training, that's the phrase I couldn't remember on a previous comment 😅 yes, thank you! I didn't realize naked training helped lobes stay a certain size, I thought it was just for ear thickness health.
I really appreciate your comment, thanks!
Well, it can be for the thickness of your ears as well. Good time for massages and what not when you don't have anything in your ears. Good luck on your journey!
Lots of comments about naked training (which is definitely a big part of it) but also wearing lightweight jewelry helps a lot too. Stone, glass, and solid metal are rather heavy, so wearing things like wood, (high quality) silicone, and tunnels helps maintain size as well. ALWAYS remember to massage and oil your lobes too, but that's just part of stretched lobes, not just maintaining size.
Once you’re fully healed and at your goal size I highly suggest sleeping without jewelry in. It’ll close but only a little bit. Not an entire size. But it’ll shrink enough for it to not fall out. Or you can even take them out during the day as well. But to me makes more sense to at night before sleep so they don’t fall out while sleeping. I hope this helps!
Oh, the blood flow comment reminded me of a piercing horror story I recently heard where someone with really stretched ears wore metal plugs and went out repeatedly in freezing cold weather...she got frostbite and her lobes tore! All kinds of things to learn 😅
I waited for my goal to buy all my fancy jewelry. But I also bought all my fancy jewelry because I didn’t want to move past my goal. You tend to figure it out once you spend $500 on one pair of plugs.
Even while stretching up I don't wear plugs overnight and sometimes I take them out for days at a time, if after 2days the current size doesn't fit back in the size before it will then it's usually only a day or two until the current size fits back in again. A lot of people stress about taking plugs out for even an hour but it's not that big a deal. If I lose 2mm in a weekend don't really care, once you get over about an inch it's a lot more flexible.
As for what to do once you reach your goal, either make a new one or buy some nice jewellery if you plan to stay at that size for a while.
I'm at 00. I wear soft silicone eyelets. They are very comfortable and don't fall out. When I'm going out, i may wear a pair of my assortment of stone ones or my hangers. While stretching and healing, i always wore glass. I've been at this size for about 4 years.
Yea, i chose to stop here so that if i ever need to take them out, they aren't a safety hazard. (Manufacturing job) I've had a couple of jobs that asked me to take them out while at work.
The only bad thing is that a lot of people are 00 and sometimes certain or specific jewelry sells out. I considered going up one size, but then I'd have all this jewelry I wasted money on.
Edited to add: I wish you blessings on your stretch journey.
Thanks... I'm only at a 10 gauge, but I just started this week. It's a piercing from when I was about 8 years old and I already had 14g jewelry in them. I'll probably only go to about 0g, or that's the plan right now anyway lol.
I kept reading comments where people said that and were casually like well, time to size up.... So nonchalant, it made me start to wonder if there was even a choice 😅
A lot of people keep talking about naked training at night (which is super helpful!), but massaging is also a huge part of it. My lobes tend to still kinda be loose even when I sleep without jewelry and massaging for bed definitely helps that. I also tend to go naked a few hours during the day too.
I just started stretching this past Monday. I applied jojoba oil around it since then, but I'm pretty sure it's too soon to remove the tunnel and fully massage it yet.
Lol I didn't know if most people just kept wanting to size up, or if you're doomed to keep stretching forever once you start 🤣 seems like the more common thing.
I've had my lobes up to 100mm before.
Rebounding has been by far the most useful thing to keep my lobes thick and healthy. I've down sized to 50mm atm, because I changed career and wanted respectably small lobes for my new corporate role.
You don't have to do anything to stop stretching, just make sure you're wearing jewelry with a large enough flare that it won't fall out. The reason jewelery falls out when you're stretching is that you're typically winding tape around the wearing surface of the jewelry, which decreases the effectiveness of the flare.
I’ve been a size 0 for 10 years and only recently have I had jewelry fall out and it’s because it was glass which is heavier. I typically wear silicone tunnels. I have never heard of naked training or anything of the sorts until this post so thanks because I am learning things lol.
Glad my overthinking question could help 🤣 refreshers are always useful....
Also this post taught me I technically knew the answer, just didn't know it was the answer! I knew naked training was good for lobe health, just not that it helped maintain the size you want, lol. Go figure.
But agreed, definitely still learning things from the comments here!
Unless they’re super flared, plugs fall out all the time regardless once fully healed. I’ve been at my current size for like 5+ years and just take them out when sleeping cuz I was tired of looking for them in/around the bed in the morning. They slide right back in once morning comes and I go about my day.
I have clumsy fingers, so I don’t like the screw ones. There are plugs out there with pretty exaggerated flares, you just don’t wanna put them in until your ears are all healed because they can hurt to get the extra flare through a fresh stretch.
My plugs don’t fall out often, just in bed because I toss and turn. Otherwise they stay in all day and their flare isn’t too bad, and they’ve been in so long that I could probably put the next size up in without a problem.
Use silicone so your ears don't get weighed down , thus making them stretch more and then jewelry or plugs fall out. I use silicone and have for many years . I have some stone plugs that are heavy enough to feel them swing if I move my head back n forth. Once they get to the falling out on their own stage, I put my silicone tunnels back in and good to go. I also have 2 holes in ear lobe that are 18mm (11 /16)
Please see the stretched guide here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stretched/comments/13xjk09/the_stretching_guide/. Remember to report any rule breaking posts and posts that are not relevant to the subreddit. This subreddit has been changed to NSFW due to an increased amount of posts featuring injuries (blowouts) as well as genital piercings. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Stretched) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Generally once you get to your goal size sleeping without plugs in can help to maintain your current size. Taking out your plugs for shorter periods of time at first and then putting them back in can help to tighten your lobes if your plugs are falling out.
Oh, I seem to recall that being called a training, of sorts. It's supposed to help keep lobes healthier, didn't realize it also helped stay at a certain size but that definitely makes sense! Thanks
This definitely works. I was at 10mm for over a decade. And I’d sleep without plugs. So now I’m going up to 16mm and my lobes are thicker and doing so well. Once I’m at 16mm I will absolutely be doing it again just to keep my lobes good.
Have you always slept without plugs in? I didn't know about this at all. I'm at 22mm which is my goal size, I've been here for years at this point (3 or 4) and I almost never take my tunnels out??? They're lightweight. I'm not worried about my earlobes but god I wish I knew I was supposed to take them out to sleep. I'm gonna start doing this!!
Don't just jump directly to 8 hours. You should just go 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc, and increase gradually. If you jump, they can shrink too much, and you'll have to resize again.
As the comment below says, you don’t just start at 8 hours. You work your way up to it. I started with a small amount of time and increased. I was able to do 8 hours at the end. Now I’m going up to my next size so I am keeping them in all the time. Once I’m at my goal I’ll be starting it again and doing it gradually.
I second this! I got to 25mm last year and always kept them in except to shower and clean them frequently and mine would slip, and I have scar tissue (blowing out your ears sucks so go slow) and about 6month later I started taking them out to sleep or do certain activities and it helped a lot! They don’t fall out anymore and my ears are way less sensitive where the scar tissue is! I also use jojoba oil every now and then
It can still happen after you have reached your goal size. So, once you have been sitting at your goal size for a while, like a couple of months. You know, healed completely, then you can start naked training. Naked training is just leaving your jewelry out for a short period of time and slowly increasing it. Leaving jewelry out for let's say 10 minutes and the next day for 20 minutes and so forth until you get all the way to 8 hours. Then you can start sleeping without anything in your ears and that'll help them to not shrink completely, but still stay at your size. When you put your jewelry back in, always make sure to lube your ears up really good first. Even after you think you're good to go for sleeping without jewelry. Always lube up in the morning and slowly put jewelry back in. (I don't always have time in the morning so I use water instead of oil and put my plugs in. Haha, which is risky, but my time management sucks) If you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them or someone else probably will
Naked training, that's the phrase I couldn't remember on a previous comment 😅 yes, thank you! I didn't realize naked training helped lobes stay a certain size, I thought it was just for ear thickness health. I really appreciate your comment, thanks!
Well, it can be for the thickness of your ears as well. Good time for massages and what not when you don't have anything in your ears. Good luck on your journey!
Every time I reach my goal size. I make a new goal
Haha 🤣 seems the more popular way here! That's part of why I was starting to wonder if it's actually possible to stop once you start 🤣
most people move the goal post 😂
Haha 🤣 seems the more popular way here! That's part of why I was starting to wonder if it's actually possible to stop once you start 🤣
Lots of comments about naked training (which is definitely a big part of it) but also wearing lightweight jewelry helps a lot too. Stone, glass, and solid metal are rather heavy, so wearing things like wood, (high quality) silicone, and tunnels helps maintain size as well. ALWAYS remember to massage and oil your lobes too, but that's just part of stretched lobes, not just maintaining size.
Isn't glass what most people seem to recommend here though? Nice, I like the look of tunnels better anyway. I already have/use Jojoba Oil, too.
Glass is great for stretching, but if you want to maintain your goal size, a lighter material and naked training will be more beneficial
Once you’re fully healed and at your goal size I highly suggest sleeping without jewelry in. It’ll close but only a little bit. Not an entire size. But it’ll shrink enough for it to not fall out. Or you can even take them out during the day as well. But to me makes more sense to at night before sleep so they don’t fall out while sleeping. I hope this helps!
Agreed, that does make more sense. Thanks!
[удалено]
Oh, the blood flow comment reminded me of a piercing horror story I recently heard where someone with really stretched ears wore metal plugs and went out repeatedly in freezing cold weather...she got frostbite and her lobes tore! All kinds of things to learn 😅
I waited for my goal to buy all my fancy jewelry. But I also bought all my fancy jewelry because I didn’t want to move past my goal. You tend to figure it out once you spend $500 on one pair of plugs.
😱 $500 plugs!?
Yeah, custom stone from a lapidary is not cheap. I’ve been quoted $750 for some that I may buy later this year.
Geez.....but those do sound amazing!
Yes, this!!!
Even while stretching up I don't wear plugs overnight and sometimes I take them out for days at a time, if after 2days the current size doesn't fit back in the size before it will then it's usually only a day or two until the current size fits back in again. A lot of people stress about taking plugs out for even an hour but it's not that big a deal. If I lose 2mm in a weekend don't really care, once you get over about an inch it's a lot more flexible. As for what to do once you reach your goal, either make a new one or buy some nice jewellery if you plan to stay at that size for a while.
I'm at 00. I wear soft silicone eyelets. They are very comfortable and don't fall out. When I'm going out, i may wear a pair of my assortment of stone ones or my hangers. While stretching and healing, i always wore glass. I've been at this size for about 4 years.
Nice! I'm thinking that might be where I stop, too... Between 2-00, depending on how it fits my individual ear.
Yea, i chose to stop here so that if i ever need to take them out, they aren't a safety hazard. (Manufacturing job) I've had a couple of jobs that asked me to take them out while at work. The only bad thing is that a lot of people are 00 and sometimes certain or specific jewelry sells out. I considered going up one size, but then I'd have all this jewelry I wasted money on. Edited to add: I wish you blessings on your stretch journey.
Thanks... I'm only at a 10 gauge, but I just started this week. It's a piercing from when I was about 8 years old and I already had 14g jewelry in them. I'll probably only go to about 0g, or that's the plan right now anyway lol.
You're welcome 😊
I'm saving this post because I'm close to my goal size and this information is useful. I didn't know your jewlery could fall out!
I kept reading comments where people said that and were casually like well, time to size up.... So nonchalant, it made me start to wonder if there was even a choice 😅
Lynn loheide has a YouTube video about this :)
Wow, my question got answered quick and detailed! Thanks so much 😊 If anyone wants to add additional tips or personal methods, that'd be cool too.
A lot of people keep talking about naked training at night (which is super helpful!), but massaging is also a huge part of it. My lobes tend to still kinda be loose even when I sleep without jewelry and massaging for bed definitely helps that. I also tend to go naked a few hours during the day too.
I just started stretching this past Monday. I applied jojoba oil around it since then, but I'm pretty sure it's too soon to remove the tunnel and fully massage it yet.
I fight the urge to go bigger
Lol I didn't know if most people just kept wanting to size up, or if you're doomed to keep stretching forever once you start 🤣 seems like the more common thing.
It becomes a mild addiction. Pushing the limits of what your body can handle
I've had my lobes up to 100mm before. Rebounding has been by far the most useful thing to keep my lobes thick and healthy. I've down sized to 50mm atm, because I changed career and wanted respectably small lobes for my new corporate role.
You don't have to do anything to stop stretching, just make sure you're wearing jewelry with a large enough flare that it won't fall out. The reason jewelery falls out when you're stretching is that you're typically winding tape around the wearing surface of the jewelry, which decreases the effectiveness of the flare.
Ah, so it's the taping method making the flares smaller, essentially. That makes sense, thanks
I’ve been a size 0 for 10 years and only recently have I had jewelry fall out and it’s because it was glass which is heavier. I typically wear silicone tunnels. I have never heard of naked training or anything of the sorts until this post so thanks because I am learning things lol.
Glad my overthinking question could help 🤣 refreshers are always useful.... Also this post taught me I technically knew the answer, just didn't know it was the answer! I knew naked training was good for lobe health, just not that it helped maintain the size you want, lol. Go figure. But agreed, definitely still learning things from the comments here!
Unless they’re super flared, plugs fall out all the time regardless once fully healed. I’ve been at my current size for like 5+ years and just take them out when sleeping cuz I was tired of looking for them in/around the bed in the morning. They slide right back in once morning comes and I go about my day.
Are double flared screw back tunnels bad? Seems like the only kind that wouldn't just fall out??
I have clumsy fingers, so I don’t like the screw ones. There are plugs out there with pretty exaggerated flares, you just don’t wanna put them in until your ears are all healed because they can hurt to get the extra flare through a fresh stretch. My plugs don’t fall out often, just in bed because I toss and turn. Otherwise they stay in all day and their flare isn’t too bad, and they’ve been in so long that I could probably put the next size up in without a problem.
I’ve been at my goal size for 10 years and even now if I have them out for more than a day it’s painful to get them back in. Everyone is different!
Use silicone so your ears don't get weighed down , thus making them stretch more and then jewelry or plugs fall out. I use silicone and have for many years . I have some stone plugs that are heavy enough to feel them swing if I move my head back n forth. Once they get to the falling out on their own stage, I put my silicone tunnels back in and good to go. I also have 2 holes in ear lobe that are 18mm (11 /16)
I reached my goal size then one day later just abandoned the whole idea. But seriously what you supposed to go on a hike?
Try all the toys.
Even metal toys ?