People have been stretching 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 made its way into our society as part of this trend, and more people than ever are getting it stretched.

So how do you explain those gaping holes in your ears to your mother and father, who are so used to little 20G earrings being the norm? Many adults still wince when they see a pair of stretched earlobes 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 figure it out to explain yourself. To some degree, solid plugs may appear to be standard stud 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 ton of questions, love it, or still 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 are 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 call it quits, parents will be parents. Meanwhile, some stores now carry fake plugs, fake plugs, and fake stretch crescents in sizes like 16G for non-stretched piercings.