Stretching your ears with silicone tunnels is a method that has held a stigma in the stretching world as "one of the worst things you can do for your ears." From personal experience, I have discovered otherwise.
The reasons silicone stretching has been condemned as a "no-no" would be because it is porous, and can easily harbor bacteria. What do you do when something can harbor bacteria? CLEAN IT. Make sure you take your plugs out in the shower, and clean them. Also, use an antibacterial ointment to keep your ears soft and healthy.
How to stretch with silicone:
1. Make sure that the silicone jewelry is made of thicker silicone. I recommend the silicone tunnels by Morbid Metals from Hot Topic. Make sure the tunnels are clean before you start anything!
2. Remove the jewelry you are already wearing.
3. Rub Neosporin, or another antibacterial ointment on your lobe, and inside the hole.
4. Rub a tiny bit of the antibacterial ointment around the silicone tunnel. (Not too much, or it'll be very slippery and hard to hold.)
5. Bend the plug in half, and work it into your ear. Once it is in, it will (generally)stay bent in half.
6. With your thumb on one side, and another finger on the other, start gently working at the tunnel, and opening it up.
7. Your plug is in, and you're a size up! Quick, and less painful than other methods, you might want to stretch with silicone again!
I have a video up on Youtube about stretching with silicone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5UHCFcovI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75wVtG0SysY
I would not recommend Kaos Earskins for stretching your lobes. Kaos Earskins are extremely comfortable tunnels, and make your ears look more stretched than they really are, which are pluses, but the silicone is thin and soft, making them hard to stretch with. Use thicker silicone to stretch, and then use the Kaos earskins to wear as normal plugs.
Again, keep your ears clean, and to keep them soft and healthy, use an antibacterial ointment, and your lobes should be set!
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YOUR STUPID! DO NOT USE NEOSPORIN TO LUBRICATE YOUR EARS!
ReplyDeleteyou can use neosporin. If it wasn't good for skin it wouldn't be used for anything. It has an antibacterial property so its actually SMART to use neosporin. Its just like using any other antibacterial ointment. I don't know who told you you can't use it. I've been stretching my ears for a looong time hun. So i know what i am talking about. So don't be pointin fingers callin anyone stupid
DeleteJust because you did it with no problems does not mean it's a good idea
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Deletei stretched with silicone plugs i went from 5/8s to 3/4 and its a bit sore is that supposed to happen i mean i kno i just stretched my ear out and theres bound to be some pain but ive never stretched with silicone before so just wanted to make sure. i mean its not an unbearable pain or anything just kinda sore and somewhat throbby im just hoping it wont get infected i would switch to steel ones but dont have any i have organic wood ones and not sure if itll be a good idea to put those in right away, my other ear is already somewhat infected its swollen and hard and red on the inside but i stretched that one with a taper the night before so i dont wanna end up having to downsize both. any comments would be awesome thanks.
ReplyDeleteok so i know this is wayy later than your post and you probably know the answers but, yes it is normal to feel slight pain for a day or so, If it lasted longer you might be allergic to the silicone. Its not Nessecarily "unsafe" but its not completely safe either. Some people experience that their skin gets ripped off with the silicone tunnel when they remove it. And NO you should NEVER wear wooden plugs after you just stretch your ears. That is the worst thing you can do. Sicne wood is very pores your skin could adhere to the wood ( just like it could to silicone) and it will be tough to get out. Tapers are really bad to use when going into sizes after 0g you would either have to dead stretch ( be VERY careful) or you will have to use the silicone method. And sad news is you probably would have to downsize that one ear until it heals ( which you probably did already) I hope this was helpful for you and anyone else that needed advice :)
DeleteYou are giving terrible advice. Don't fucking stretch with silicone. It can cause tearing, and not only is the surface porous, but your ears can fuse to the material if you leave them in too long. Silicone should only be worn short term (less than 8 hours a day) and should never be worn in fresh stretches or used to stretch.
ReplyDeleteNeosporin is awful for lube. It's antibacterial which means it kills all the bacteria (even the good ones, yes there are good ones.) Use oils to stretch (emu oil, Vitamin E oil, etc.)
As for it being less painful, if you're stretching correctly, it should never be painful. Tapers are good til about 2g (not those cheap Hot Topic bullshit tapers) and then you need to start using bondage tape.
http://awfulmodifications.tumblr.com/stretchingfaq
I also stretch with silicone, and i have absolutley no problems. i Use Kaos in my ears a week after stretching it does not fuse. Although some peoples bodys do not work well with silicone. AND you use ptfe after 0g. 0g stretch with tapers was also painful, and 00g too
Deletei have put in silicones a day after i stretched my ears and i have not personally had no problems with my ears fusing or tearing.
Deleteand alos tapers are not safe to use in your ears nor are they meant for jewelry so it a lot more safer than stretching with tapers
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DeleteI stretched my ears to 20mm with acrylic tapers, and im having no problems at all. Im cleaning them regularly, like you should with anything you use to stretch.
DeleteI still dont understand why you need to take your tapers out right after you stretch. Ive had mine in for 2 days, and my ear is perfectly fine.
I have more piercings then most woman. I have been the only one to touch my ears since my first initial stud when I was a baby but I have a 6g plug(s) an 00g Kaos Silicones on each lobe. I've gone down in size and up in size with acrylic and silicone and by far the silicone is less painful and easier to maintain if your not too busy talking shit on a forum meant to help people. Every single person and every single piercing has a different reaction to the action. So Emm...stfu and respect that your ears and your opinions clearly are your opinion and perhaps true to your ears...but not mine..and everyone else who has made it to the gauge size they want.
DeleteKeep gauging! Don't use alcohol on your silicone that is no no. But a little aloe, emu, vitamins E and even NEOSPORIN is just fine in smaller amounts..don't treat your new gauges like an open wound or it will try to heal itself by including the surrounding materials, hence the neo, vit e ect. Keep em clean and you will be fine and as always if you can't respect people then stay off the forums or else I will ensure YOUR gauges never heal. Haha...stupid drama seekers.
Peace and love to all. Keep piercing and tatting!
You are the biggest dumbass. You're NOT supposed to stretch with silicone and you're not supposed to use neosporin. You're supposed to use Emu oils or Vitamin E oils. Why the hell would you buy plugs or anything from Hot Topic? They;re cheap shitty jewelry.
ReplyDeleteI think this iz good advice! atleast u can clean the silicone b4 u use it and can easly rotate it abt 4 times a day 2 keep it frm sticking...The "Tape" method is 4 dick heads. How in the hell can u sanitize sum fuckin teflon tape probably made by dirty kids n a 3rd world country? exacty.
ReplyDeleteYo Mandigo26 - I love how you say this is good advice and then act like a racist cunt. 'dirty kids n a 3rd world country' - bet you wear fucking Nike. Bet you wear fucking Primark. Don't be such a cock!
DeleteI personally stretched with silicone tunnels, and my ears were fine when i cleaned them in the morning and night with vitamin E oil.
ReplyDeleteI've done my bigger gauges with Silicone and they bust my ears up a bit. But I've found tapers actually tear my ears right open. I've found that as long as I clean then every morning and night that the damage has healed better then when I used a taper. I just dab on a thin coating of aloe gel during the healing which I find helps a bit. I think this advice is right, if you leave them in for to long a on a new stretch they are gonna stick to you ears and it IS going to cause you a big problem. However if you have done your research, you know a fair amount about looking after your stretched ears and you have fairly good hygiene, gauging with silicone should not be a problem.
ReplyDeleteI’m a dumbass and used silicone on freshly stretched ears. Now I have to let my ears heal properly and stretch my ear over again. Thanks for the advice
DeleteDo if I were to stretch with silicone, and want to leave them in during the healing process, how often should I take them out for cleaning. I have read many things about how after a very short period of time how my skin could adhere to the silicone. How can I avoid this?
ReplyDeleteRotate them 4 times a day & cleaning them 2 times a day
DeleteI found going from a 2g to a 0g with tapers to be very painful and had to take them out and go back to a 2g. I recently went from 2g to a 0g with a silicone tunnel and some organic stretching ointment and have had less pain and so far it has gone good. I am aware of the risks but tapers were too painful, the taping method felt dirty and although the silicone has it's risks it has been the best method for me
ReplyDeleteand either way you're doing something unnatural to your body so theres always a chance of infection or other bad reactions. you just have to be smart and clean about it
DeleteOkay when stretching with silicone how do you clean it after? Cause I stretched with silicone and it didn't hurt so much at first but a day or two later it was horrible. So I had to take them out.
ReplyDeleteditto ^^
ReplyDeleteI've been stretching my ears for 7 years. I'm currently at a 5/8'' and wanted to go to 3/4'' so I used silicone because someone I know did and his ears and outcome looked fine. DO NOT EVER STRETCH WITH SILICONE. Normally I'm used to my ears being a little tender, but after 3 days and the pain was only getting worse and big lumps forming in my neck, I decided to take them out. I actually had to cut one out because it was too painful to take out. There were actual blisters on the inside rims of my ears, and there was pus coming out. My right ear is fine now, but I will definitely wait to see if I can get my original size back in. The left one, however, is till very swelled and I no longer have a hole in my ear. Is it just because it's swollen and once the swelling goes down it will be back to where it was, or is it really closing that fast?
ReplyDeleteSounds like you were allergic to the silicone
DeleteI just went from a 00g to a 1/2g using silicone. Yeah my ears are a little sore but I never had an infection while using silicone. Honestly, I see people saying that its bad for you, when in reality I think its safer then other ways. Yes, tapers work as well, but they are more likely to get ripped out.
ReplyDeleteI just tried to stretch using silicone tunnels, and I can honestly say that was the most painful thing I think I have ever put myself through. I know some people who have had no problem with it, but I think using traditional tapers is probably the best way to go.
ReplyDeleteI've been stretching with silicone since I was at a 0. I'm now at 5/8 and my ears are fine. They're a little beat up because I didn't clean them as much as I should've, so my skin adhered to the tunnel a little, but other than that, my ears are fine. No pain, quick, easy, and, personally, no problems. I tried stretching with tapers and other plugs, but that was so much more painful. As long as you take care of your freshly stretched ears, this is the perfect methood for ear stretching.
ReplyDeleteNEVER SIZE UP WITH SILICONE NOT ONCE NOT EVER. Don't be the fucking noob on the internet who fucks up his ears because you're too impaitent to tape like you're supposed to. Silicone is porus meaning your skin could fuse into them, two they lock in the freshness of your sizing up meaning, your newly sized up lobe will not get any fresh air, meaning it will fester and stay moist, with all that locked in your ears become soft from the moisture and thus; fusing into the silicone. "How do i clean my.. How long do i leave out my silicone to clean.. How many times a day should i clean.." You shouldn't. Straight up and down you should fucking not. Do not size up with silicone unless you'd like to have a bad time. DO NOT. NO ACCEPTIONS. EVER.
ReplyDeleteI've stretched with silicone I haven't had any problems what so ever. Yes there are risks but you should know them before doing anything in the first place. Yes silicone is pours so it can harbor bacteria but that's why you clean them twice a day. I personally like silicone stretching because for me it's almost pain free (As in like no pinching at all) If you stretch with silicone a. clean your freaking ears and b. know the risks.
ReplyDeleteStretching with acrylic is much worse. I've went from zero to an inch using silicone almost exclusively and had almost no problems. Going past an inch with silicone is iffy, but I figured out that you can stretch past with silicone, but swap it with something like hematite or stainless within 48 hours, and yes neosporin helps, jojoba oil is better, but outrageously overpriced.
ReplyDeleteStretching with acrylic is much worse. I've went from zero to an inch using silicone almost exclusively and had almost no problems. Going past an inch with silicone is iffy, but I figured out that you can stretch past with silicone, but swap it with something like hematite or stainless within 48 hours, and yes neosporin helps, jojoba oil is better, but outrageously overpriced.
ReplyDeleteI am currently stretching with silicone, and so far it is fine I have already removed them and cleaned them with antibacterial soap. Both the lobes and the jewelry. Lube up with your preferred ointment and, you should be fine. Just keep them clean and dry, oils and ointments aren't considered "wet". Tomorrow once my lobes have become accustomed to the size of the silicone, I will insert stainless steel tunnels.
ReplyDeleteI am currently stretching with silicone, and so far it is fine I have already removed them and cleaned them with antibacterial soap. Both the lobes and the jewelry. Lube up with your preferred ointment and, you should be fine. Just keep them clean and dry, oils and ointments aren't considered "wet". Tomorrow once my lobes have become accustomed to the size of the silicone, I will insert stainless steel tunnels.
ReplyDeleteLol Idc I'm still doing silicon this is the first time and it was way better than the other way and going through so much pain. My only question is , I put them in and the silicon is bent how long does it take to unbend? And actually stretch my ear?
ReplyDeletePut em in and keep messing with em till they go round. Once they are in properly take them out every 6 to 8 hours to wash and lube em up. Then after a day or two replace them with steel.
DeleteAfter 00 or so, I stretched up almost exclusively with silicone, and I've been fine. My ears are healthy, and I didn't experience any pain, discomfort, or infections when I did. I'm at 1 1/8" right now, and I plan to upsize again with silicone. As long as you do the process slowly and carefully, and clean LOTS, you'll survive.
ReplyDeleteAfter 00 or so, I stretched up almost exclusively with silicone, and I've been fine. My ears are healthy, and I didn't experience any pain, discomfort, or infections when I did. I'm at 1 1/8" right now, and I plan to upsize again with silicone. As long as you do the process slowly and carefully, and clean LOTS, you'll survive.
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ReplyDeleteI stretched with silicone tunnels around 11:30 am yesterday morning... It is now 2:38 am in the morning the next day. Stretching with silicone has probably been the most painful experience with my stretching. The pain is keeping me up at night, so I just took them out. I'll never do this again.
ReplyDeleteI stretched with silicone tunnels around 11:30 am yesterday morning... It is now 2:38 am in the morning the next day. Stretching with silicone has probably been the most painful experience with my stretching. The pain is keeping me up at night, so I just took them out. I'll never do this again.
ReplyDeleteDid you remove them every couple of hours and clean them, or did you just leave em in and let them fester without air? Stretching is painful, your body isn't meant to stretch. If you go up in small increments and keep them clean everything should be fine. Wash them every 3 to 6 hours, wipe them down with alcohol and lube them with a high quality clean natural oil and everything will be fine. Will there be pain, of course. Expecting zero pain is ridiculous. Go to your local piercer and tell them you want your ears stretched up to the next size painlessly. He will laugh you out of there and tell you to go back to dream land.
ReplyDeleteDid you remove them every couple of hours and clean them, or did you just leave em in and let them fester without air? Stretching is painful, your body isn't meant to stretch. If you go up in small increments and keep them clean everything should be fine. Wash them every 3 to 6 hours, wipe them down with alcohol and lube them with a high quality clean natural oil and everything will be fine. Will there be pain, of course. Expecting zero pain is ridiculous. Go to your local piercer and tell them you want your ears stretched up to the next size painlessly. He will laugh you out of there and tell you to go back to dream land.
ReplyDeleteI did silicone and i found it perfect.
ReplyDeleteFor those who start their comment with an insult, you automaticly loose all your credibility.. May be it didn't work for you, but as you can see, it help a lot of other people.
It hurt less, it's easy if you know how.
STOP overgeneralization
Please, have a little respect, is it too much to ask?
I tried to size up my ears with silicone for the first time just a few days ago. Thought it might be more gentle than wrestling with tapers, which I hate because I'm a big baby with ear pain.
ReplyDeleteInserted them in the shower with no problems, felt a normal tightness but less burning pain than when I size up with a taper, so I did a little happy dance and looked forward to waking up in a few days ready to put steel tunnels in.
Turned them every few hours to prevent sticking or fusing of any kind (paranoid habit no matter the material), cleaned them gently with mild soap morning and night, kept checking to ensure they weren't ripping, and even took low doses of ibuprofen to help keep any initial swelling down and prevent tearing.
I noticed that it was taking a few days for the swelling to go away and the dull pain was still there pretty noticeably, so I made a plan to pick up some new simple gauges today (in my old size) to give my ears a break so I could try again in a few weeks.
However, I woke up this morning and immediately knew my ears were fucked. Went to bed last night happy because they seemed to be doing better, but I must have squished/pulled/messed with them in my sleep enough to tear the absolute shit out of them, because it felt like someone had car battery clamps on my ear lobes. After popping a crap ton of ibuprofen, waiting an hour and a half for it to take the swelling back down, and literally biting down on a washcloth to not screech at the pain, I (gently) got those fuckers out and assessed the damage.
There's not only a huge ring of torn open skin around each hole, but also several tiny tears radiating from the openings. That took a while to figure out since I spent the first few minutes getting the brisk bleeding to stop so I could see (I've never even bled from sizing up before). Thankfully I actually remembered where my old steel gauges were so I sanitized them, popped them in after doctoring the openings, and my ears feel about as happy as they possibly can at the moment. They should heal fine with proper cleaning over the next few days, but I won't be sizing up with silicone ever again.
I honestly don't know if it was the silicone itself or just bad luck with bumping and pulling on them that made all that garbage happen, but I can say that the material was the only thing I did any differently than any other time I've sized up. And even before the tearing, my ears didn't seem to be very accepting of it. Everyone's different but if your ears are really sensitive like mine I would recommend the slowest, gentlest stretch on a taper you can do rather than the silicone. It's just not worth the risk of infection, and trust me you don't want to have to wake up and try to get those unstuck from your bright red, swollen, infected, bleeding ear lobes first thing in the morning. It's kind of a morning buzzkill.
How big a size did you try going up? You should only go up to the next gauge. You should lube them with natural oils like avacado oil or almond oil. Lube the tunnel and the earlobe before insertion. If you only have antibacterial ointment it will work, especially if you didn't boil the silicone tunnels before use.
ReplyDeleteHow do I stretch with silicone? It always comes out of my ear when I get it in
ReplyDeleteI've never had any issues with stretching with silicon personally but recently i've gone from a 18mm to a 20mm...
ReplyDelete..my left ear is completely mangled. I've had to go back down to 18mm to let the blow out heal. It's taken off the skin around the lobe which is extremely painful. I've put jojoba oil on my ear for it to help it a little bit but the pain was savage.
everytime i try to take out any tunnel at the moment it feels like my ear has torn and it is very painful. I'm never going to be using silicone again simply due to this fact. It probably didn't help the fact that i tried to push a wooden tunnel into my ear 2 days after them stretching but the amount of gunk which formed around the silicone wasn't very hygenic. I was them every 8 hours as Sandy has stated to do. Sandy's advice is spot on for those of you who want to stretch your ears but beware when it comes to silicone.
Buy Stone plugs ffs. They stretch your ears naturally after a certain size it's a fuck ton safer.
ReplyDeleteNEVER use Neosporin in your lobes. It can actually inhibit the healing process.
You can buy Vitamin E oil at almost any store. Use that.
Using silicone to stretch is as dumb as using tapers. Tapers after a certain point can seriously damage your lobes. Keloids aren't fun, take it from someone who has keloids in my lobe from improper stretching when I first started.
You guys are so judgemental if someone wants to stretch a certain way let them and they will learn what's best for them
ReplyDeleteYou guys are so judgemental if someone wants to stretch a certain way let them and they will learn what's best for them
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ReplyDeleteI've stretched with silicone a couple times, and each time, it causes those little micro tears or whatever, but this happens often since my ears hate me and are not fans of being stretched. Whether with weights or waiting time. Stretching with silicone fucking hurts. But it's the least painful method for me. My ears get infected any time I stretch anyway, even with proper cleaning. But, if you need an ointment to use, bacitracin zinc is the God's gift to antibacterial ointments lol. It's made to help heal open wounds and keep them from. Harboring bacteria. My ears heal fine with that.
ReplyDeleteI stretch mine with silicone my progress with tapers goin to 2g to 0g caused a blow out, even though i used (100% natural streching bomb) and the oils is amaizeing when its not doin so healthy it really heals faster with the oil.
ReplyDeleteIve been cleaning with ear pierceing cleaner and the bomb everyday once a day. When its blown out or just not so healthy i clean 2 to 3 times a day and take the jewellery out if possible.
My silicone journey how ever i just did 2g to 0g. I didnt just pute the cilocone in and leave ive been slowly stretching it.
I lube it with the bomb rub it tug for 3 to 5 mins,
then add my lube to ear and tunnle. Fold the tunnle in half and pute it in the ear lobe wiggleing it to open.
NOW HEARS THE TRICK!!!DONT LEAVE IT IN I REPEAT DONT LEAVE IT IN!!..
JUST FOR A FEW MINUTES if it herts take it out rub your ear with lube and place the smaller size back it to the next day and try again.
Ive been increaseing the minutes every day for a week and i think im there.
Seems time consumeing and some people dont have the patients but wait to you get a blow out then you will learn its better to wait then rush this prosses even with tapers its just to much for me at the stages im in.
Gaugeing it takes patients or your gona learn reall quick it pays to lisen to your body or your gona loose alot of sleep and be cleaning it daily 3 times a day and have to down size it sux take the advice blow out burn sting and can be really smelly my pussed bad it was gross.
Like a big guys nasty belly button with a hundred bee stings every minute lol best way to describe it.
Good luck be patient and take care of your self.😁
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ReplyDeleteSo I was recently at 3/4s... until I realized that my ears were used to them and the plugs would just fall right out so I decided to stretch up with the hard silicone... they went in easily and in the beginning there was slightly any pain... a few hours in and my ears were bugging me bc of the pain but I thought “if I go to sleep I’ll forget about it and wake up without any pain” and here I am writing this to see if any of you could possibly give me some advice on what I did wrong.? I’ve been tossing and turning because of the pain until I realized I wouldn’t get sleep til I took out these silicone tunnels... and when I did i could barely take them out do to the pain.. at last I finally got them out but the inside of my lobes were so very soar that I couldn’t fit the 3/4s back in without hurting my ears... but I got them back in.... I definitely want to try putting the 7/8 silicone tunnels back in tomorrow after a warms shower and with some vitamin E oil, would that be bad .? Or should I just wait ....
ReplyDeleteGuys. Don't be fucking stupid, just stretch your ears with stone plugs like a sensible, responsible human being. If you can't do that right, then just use some goddamn tapers like the rest of us. Yeah, taping works and is more gradual than tapers, but WAY less sanitary. Bacteria breeds in the crevices of the tape, and is just a bad idea all around. I'm not perfect either, I used tapers all the way up to 00g, but beyond that, I used some nice weighted plugs and did it the right way. You wait until your ears have been weighed down by the plugs until they nearly fall out, you put the next size in, and so on. Stretching with silicone is a horrible, stupid idea, and no thickness of the tunnel, or ointment or lube will help that. You will get infections. You will have extreme pain. You could get keloids, and almost definitely a blowout or two that are so bad that you have to get surgery to fix it. Most of us are under 30 or so, so you still have a solid 40+ years to stretch you ears. There is absolutely no reason for you to be going all that fast, and if it hurts more than the typical "ow, I just put something foreign in my body and it hurts a little" then there is no reason for it to stay in your fucking body!! I don't know why people are stupid enough to do this, but I am disappointed at best. I'm ashamed to be the same species as the people doing this to themselves.
ReplyDeleteSo I am actually re gauging my ears the first time years ago when I was 20 I got to an inch and ripped one out I got them sewn up and waited a few years before repiercing them and than waited a few more before re gauging them I am now back at a 2 and used a taper til 4 and am now using silicone to stretch I'm just asking for an opinion is it possible for me to get back to an inch without ripping them this time if I do it over a period of several years using silicone or should I stop at a smaller size than an inch I'd like to get back there but if not I'm ok with it
ReplyDeleteI personally was using acryllic tapers from spencer and hot topic until i got to my 2g in my attemptnstart going up in size the 0g is where i had difficult and chronic pain so i will now be healing back down to the 2g and using the silicone method. Have loved stretching my ears so far and enjoy it so ill try to update with pics when i get to where i want to be
ReplyDeleteOk so I used tapers up to 12mm. I got a silicone tunnel set for up to 25mm. I've went from 00 to 12 to 14 with them just fine, but now at 16mm the tunnel will not open up all the way in my ear. Do I leave it in until it stretches it out, or do I need to try something else? I'm not asking if silicone is good or bad. I already have them, and I'm only going up to 18mm so it is what it is.
ReplyDelete