Does stretching your ears hurt?

Mar 8, 2022  / by Alex Peace

Stretching your ears should not be a painful process.  If your ears are constantly in pain during the process you probably are doing something wrong.  It is important to follow safe and healthy ways to stretch your ears.  Pain and infection if you move too quickly or skip an ear stretching size.


We have found that everyone has a different story when it comes to the question of "Does stretching your ears hurt?"  It makes sense because everyone's body and ears are different.  Also, everyone's pain tolerance is different.  We have found that when answering this question it is better coming from our customers.  Below are some of our customer's responses while they went through their ears stretching journey.

Let's Find out what our customers say when asked "Does stretching your ears hurt?"

Zack

Only if you're too hasty.  You do not want to move too fast.  You want to stretch the tissue not rip it.  And yes I've done my share of tearing my lobes. Big mistake.


James

Mine did not.  A little soreness while moving up but nothing major.  I went slow, punched at 14 and currently sitting at 0.  I think I stretched over a couple of years.


Colleen

Mine did, but only because I worked for a company that made me take them out every shift. Apparently, my crusty scabby earlobes were more in line with the "wholesome" image the company wanted to project than slightly larger than normal earrings.  The lack of plugs in my ears caused the ears from closing again.


Kimberlea

I had a little pain while I figured out the initial spot to stop at, I'm new to this, but mostly, they're really itchy.  OMG.  So itchy.  I make sure to keep them clean, but damn they are itchy.


Jasmine

Whoever says no is a goddamn liar hahaha.  Took me from age 13 to now 32 to go from a tiny standard earring size to 2inches now.  Didn't matter how slow I did it.  Didn't really hurt at all once I got up past 7/8 though.


Amber

No, I only had a painful experience when I skipped a size which I do NOT recommend I didn’t rip my ear but you can if you skip a size.


Adria

I went from a regular piercing size to an 8.  So that stretch hurt bad but after that healed and I continued my journey and I was fine. Didn't hurt too bad after that.  I have stopped at 00 for now.


Mauni

Not if you do it slowly. I used metal hoops with heavy captive beads and would slowly size the hoop up as the lobe stretched. Started from just a pierced ear and now I’m a 9/16 but it took me about 4 years of stretching, then pausing letting them heal, then stretching again before I got to my stopping point


Hayley

If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong. Great way to get a blowout or infection right there. Taping not “tapering” was the best method to achieve my larger sizes.


Daniel

A little discomfort, but no more than after a regular piercing.


Ashley

Yes, it does if you don’t do it correctly.  I jumped gauge sizes when I did mine, and I regret doing so because I have constant problems if I wear different types of gauges for more than a few days at a time.


Juleanna

I'm currently stretching my 2nd hole, so it's a bit more painful the second time around LOL


Emmiley

Yes of course it does. Sometimes worse than others. I'm at 1inch, I did it slowly because I had friends with blowouts. Took about 6yrs of on and off stretching.  The slower you go the less painful it is.


Kiera

Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it can be a tad orgasmic


Tinå

Mild headache for 1 or 2 days around my ears, but otherwise not too bad.  Allow for healing time before you size up and you're good.  Plan ahead what size you wanna end at too!


Shaneen

Nope! If it started to hurt I went back down and waited longer.


Genevieve

Sometimes.  Even when going to the next size and not skipping.  Most of my pain came from tapers, and they were always lubed up with an antibiotic ointment.


Rachel

If I tried to go too fast and ripped my ear, yep, lots of pain. I swear ear pain is the worst. If I did it correctly though, no pain at all.  So stretch your ears slowly.


Jacob

Yeah.  It shouldn’t be unbearable by any means but upsizing your ears usually comes with a pinch or two of pain and some soreness.


Monica

Back in high school, once I got to 8g, my ears refused to stretch to 6g so I had to start the taping method which worked. I only got to 4g. That stretch ripped my ear. Not entirely, just the inner part. That was the only time I've experienced pain when stretching. It's my fault because I was becoming impatient, learned my lesson. I took them out and let them heal. Started stretching again a few months ago and am currently at 00g.  The goal is 1/2". This time I'm using glass plugs to stretch and bought half sizes as well since my lobes can't seem to do bigger jumps.  Never really painful.  If I feel any discomfort, I stop and wait another week or two to try again.


Patrick

Yes. But I stretched my ear up in size too quickly as a teenager so that probably had a lot to do with it too


Vladia

Yes.  It depends on how fast you're literally pushing it through, and how often you choose to upsize.  Another thing that helps with less ear pain is using lubricant.  Also, I found it hurt less or more depending on what size I was stretching my ears.


Lauren

If done correctly minimal pain.  If you aren’t sure have it professionally done. I have my ears double pierced both gauged. I had help from professionals for my 2nd holes




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Alex Peace