What will your parents think of your stretched out ears?

People have been stretching their earlobes and other piercings for thousands of years. Tribes in Africa, South America, parts of Asia, and other continents see stretching as a big part of their culture. So why is it still shocking and taboo for some people? In the United States and most other developed countries, body piercing is a fairly recent trend. Earlobe stretching has been introduced into our society as part of this trend, and more people than ever before are getting stretches.

So how do you explain those gaping holes in your ears to your mom and dad, who are so used to little 20G earrings being the norm? Many adults still cringe when they see a pair of stretched lobes up close. However, none of us were born knowing about stretching, so the only option is to educate them! Stretching may seem scary, painful, or even gross at first, but you can help convince your parents or anyone else that it’s not.

With stretching, you have a couple of options: You can warn your family before you start, or you can start and wait until they notice to explain yourself. To some extent, solid plugs can look like standard earrings to the untrained eye. When they are noticed, simply explain that it is a gradual process to expand the size of an ear piercing. Tell them that it is perfectly safe and not painful or harmful to their ears in any way. They might be curious and ask you a bunch of questions, love them, or even get annoyed and tell you to delete them. Wait for them to cool down and reason with them as much as possible; try to agree on a size you feel comfortable with. If you have strict parents, it’s probably best to wait until you’re an adult to stretch your ears. While it can be frustrating to stop stretching or stop stretching, the parents will be the parents. Meanwhile, some stores now sell dummy plugs, dummy plugs, and dummy stretch crescents in sizes like 16G for non-stretched piercings.