Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
If you’ve got stretched ears, you know what we’ll say… rock them for the wedding! There may be cases where you’ll want a flesh-tone hider, but that would make us sad face when formal plugs like the ones in this post exist. If you’ve decided to embrace your lobes, I’ve compiled a little collection of my favorites formal plugs for wedding days, or any day you want to rock your stretched ears AND feel fancy…
Pink formal plugs for your wedding day from House Yeager
If you’ve got stretched ears, you know what we’ll say… rock them for the wedding! There may be cases where you’ll want a flesh-tone hider, but that would make us sad face when formal plugs like the ones in this post exist. If you’ve decided to embrace your lobes, I’ve compiled a little collection of my favorites formal plugs for wedding days, or any day you want to rock your stretched ears AND feel fancy…
Yea, this is my kinda post! You can also get custom plugs made if you want to really rock a theme or get a photo of you and your spouse on them. I’ve never seen a pair with a dangle, like those key ones, that’s awesome!
Lunapuella
I don’t even have pierced ears, nevermind stretched, but those fake gauge earrings always tempt me…
Evee
I got a pair off of Etsy to try, to see if I loved them enough to go through with gaging my ears. I LOVE them, and they’re really easy to wear. I would recommend a pair.
Alicia
These are amazing! There are a TON of sellers on Etsy who cater to brides with gauged ears. I just recently purchased some for my wedding next year. They are roses like the purple ones here, but they are just the roses, and they are ivory. They will match the strand of pearls my mom is lending to me for my big day.
Marie
I have stretched ears that’ll be at 7/16″ at my wedding…my goal size is 1/2″ so I don’t want to spend too much. I think I’m gonna go with some plain CZ plugs, but these are awesome!
Hannah M.
Love this post! When I get married (far in the future) my tattoos and stretched lobes (1/2″ atm) will definitely feature, not be hidden away! I love the rose and key ones, but the pearl-diamond ones as well (not for me, but beautiful none-the-less!)
I wore silicone earskins and great big chandelier earrings for the ceremony and changed into big black glass foxtails for the reception. Check out bodyartforms.com. They have oodles of gorgeous jewelry for stretched lobes, fancy septum clickers, all kinds of stuff.
Laura
BAF is where I get almost all of my ear and nose jewelry!
Laura
I’m definitely going to show mine off. My right ear has 2g, 8g, and 12g holes. My left ear has a 2g, an 8g, and a 14 gauge inner conch piercing. I also have a left nostril piercing. I’m excited to pick out jewelry for them once I decide on what I’m going to wear! I hardly ever buy new pieces, so I’m psyched.
Sanna
Those Manaka hemp hoops drive me wild with stretchy desire! On the wedding gift list for sure.
Mollie
Literally screamed when I saw this post. FH saw the Star Wars plugs and won’t shut up! I only wish the hangy ones were made in my size…though I’d guess that’d be wayyy heavy. I also recommend bodyartforms.com for looking at mass amounts of different style/sizes/materials. I’ve been buying from them for years and I have never been disappointed!
BlueCanary
Ok, so this really makes me wish I wasn’t too much of a big baby to gauge my ears.
Kaharaminttu
Stretching (not gauging) your ears shouldn’t hurt at all, so nothing to be a baby about 🙂
BlueCanary
Really? It looks like it would be so painful. I think it looks beautiful but the thought of it somehow gets me, which seems stupid because I’m covered in tattoos…
Also, what is the difference between “stretching” and “gaugeing”? Gaugeing is what the piercing places here all advertise…
Brea
Gauge is the size of the jewelry. Technically what you’re doing is stretching them. At any rate, it does sting/burn a little for me, but if you take your time and great care, your stretches will become less and less painful. I’m cruising at my goal which is 8g. I didn’t want something too big. However, it is harder to find cute plugs when you are down in the low gauges. Thankfully etsy is my savior.
Anya
It shouldn’t ever hurt. At an 8g the sizes are so close that those should be, comparatively, the easier stretches. At larger sizes there are several millimeters to go between, not half a mm. If what you’re doing is hurting, it isn’t right for your body. If you ever decide to stretch up I’d advise the taping method, it’s a lot more gradual and less harsh on your ears.
CMYKristine
It really doesn’t hurt that bad. The less elastic your skin is, the more it will hurt, (mine isn’t very stretchy at all!) but if you go slow, you’ll usually get a burning, stinging sensation. And I find they stay sore for longer than a normal piercing. But it’s worth it, I’m at a 2g now.
If you can handle a tattoo, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Anya
I don’t want to be a buzzkill, but if you’re stretching and it hurts in anyway, you’re doing it wrong. I’d highly advise you to look into the taping method, it’s gradual and works well for people without a lot of elasticity.
Are you doing oil massages with your ears? Doing those regularly helps with circulation and can help your ears feel more stretchy as well.
CMYKristine
For everyone I’ve ever met, (and I know a LOT of people with mods, and friends that work in shops) they’ve always had at least some sort of mild burning sensation and soreness. From everyone I’ve heard, from pros to random people, that’s pretty normal. (Real pain and/or blood, however, are an entirely different story.)
I do use oil on my ears. I’ve used jojoba and emu. (I like jojoba better, I think.) They just aren’t that elastic. I realize some people can stretch really easily, but everyone is different, and everyone’s skin is different. For example, I tried taping, but I found it to be cumbersome and annoying. Another friend who tried it found the tape (teflon) made the skin in his holes freak out, and he had to go DOWN a size while they healed up, they swelled so much. (Which, I mean, it’s not meant to be in ears, so I guess that makes sense.) But if that’s what works for you, by all means, keep on keeping on.
Also, for some reason I couldn’t reply to your comment itself. Weird! So sorry if the line of comments is a bit confusing, it was not my intent.
Ariel Meadow Stallings
(FYI: comment replies only go 5 layers deep. After that point, they start stacking to avoid TOTAL INDENT ANARCHY!)
The pain seems like it’s a bit relative, stretching my ears was way more comfortable than my piercings and any discomfort usually only lasted a day or so. If it burns or stings, that means you’re tearing too much and it’s going to take even longer to heal.
I took a year to move from a 20 to a 0 (granted, I jumped from 20 to 14) which was an average of 6 weeks per transition (shorter for smaller sizes, longer for bigger)
Going from an 18/20 (regular pierced ears) to an 8 is actually really easy. My ears are super sensitive so they would get a little red and itchy for a day or so but that was it. Most people want to get up to at least a 6, otherwise you really can’t tell they’re even stretched.
Any bigger than 6 and it *can* be a little uncomfortable because, as you get bigger, the transition from size to size gets bigger too, but it should NOT be painful or you’re doing it too fast! But if you wait at least 4 weeks between sizes, you should be fine (longer than that makes it even easier!). Tip, using longer tapers and getting help from a certified piercer help a LOT. It took me about a year to go from a 20 to a 0 (The only time something actually hurt for me was when I went from a 2 to a 0 because I used shorter tapers and I got impatient and didn’t wait long enough between moving up sizes.
Cara
Funny, I forgot I might have to look for ‘special’ wedding earrings to accommodate my gauged ears! Glad for the reminder and love love love those roses – will have to check ’em out.
Kaharaminttu
Man, you should have asked! I could have provided a lot of fodder for this post that wasn’t toxic acrylic!
I’m a body piercer/studio owner, after all 🙂
Superman
We’d love to see some of your favorites, if you want to post them in the comments. 🙂
And PS: why wait for us to ask? We’re ALWAYS accepting guestposts.
Kaharaminttu
Ooh I didn’t know I could submit a guest post!
Okay, brace yourselves, because I’m going to work on “Body Piercing: Wedding Style!” 🙂
But I highly recommend Maya Organics, Tawapa, Anatometal (their nouveau eyelets are a favourite for my own wedding!), Industrial Strength, Relic Stoneworks, Urban Star Organics, Oracle… the list goes on! As has been mentioned, BodyArtForms has a great range of higher end jewellery (and lower end too, alas), though one should always support their local studio if possible!
Sarah
Have to say, I’m really surprised you guys haven’t featured anything from BodyArtForms – easily the most amazing jewellery website out there!
I actually bought a pair of plugs from etsy seller FrozenFire for our wedding – custom made and beautiful. He’s great to work with if you’ve got something special in mind 🙂 http://www.etsy.com/shop/Frozenfire
Bea
Seconding Frozenfire. His work is absolutely exquisite.
Tegan
When I originally started planning on what jewelry to wear to our wedding, my ears were at a 00g. I got the bug to stretch and now I am up to a 1/2″. I could not make up my mind on what to wear so I have accumulated a small variety of plugs. A few I have ordered from BAF, and the pair I eventually fell in love with from http://www.jewelryvolt.com.
These are so lovely, and to make me feel even more awesome I ordered a pair of feather earrings to wear underneath them (since all my bridesmaids with have feather earrings and all the groomsmen have feather boutonnieres). This post was awesome- only recently have I been able to find beautiful hanging organic jewelry for larger then 6g ear lobes- Thanks!
Goolia
They’re gorgeous!
I’ve never seen that site before…what amazing stuff.
Goolia
This post couldn’t have come at a better time for me, because I’m getting married in Sept and currently trying to choose wedding jewellery for my 0g ears. I’m proud of them and I certainly don’t want to hide them – but at the same time, I don’t want them to distract from the rest of my outfit, and I don’t want relatives remarking on them and asking questions about them all day.
For those reasons, I’m thinking of going with some simple bone tunnels. I was originally planning to wear earskins, but they make the hole look much bigger and very noticable. The bone eyelets are more subtle: http://www.steelnavel.com/product.asp?ID=5910&MID=311&MID2=1
I also use bodyartforms.com loads, and frozenfire on etsy. In addition to these, I recommend steelnavel.com – not quite such a big selection as bodyartforms, but they’re super helpful.
Sarah
I recently bought some of the hemp earring from Manaka and my ears are 00g! They are perfect and cant wait to get them in other colours!
Oh how I wish I had known about these for my wedding! I opted for pearl studs that kept falling out. Next time! haha
I frequent Kolo Piercing more often than I should– Check these babies out! I’ve gotten more compliments on my spiral inlays than anything else I own. Love them!
I can’t believe you left off Omerica Organics! They make gorgeous wooden plugs, including some really snazzy ones with stone or CZ inlays. I wear my CZs every day and get tons of compliments on them – so sparkly!!!
Just bought the hemp ones for my fiance in white as a wedding present! I am sure she will love them as she has been going on about them!
kzilla
Our friends are getting married on Sunday, and I decided to get some fancy 0ga plugs, we’re in Toronto so we tried some piercing/tattoo shops but didn’t see anything unique, but a lot of hippie vendors have booths on Queen St. and that’s where I found these great tunnels, they match the tie perfectly, so I’m very happy. http://images.urbanpiercingshop.co.uk/images/products/zoom/1322849692-82749100.jpg it’s some kind of shell inlay I guess?
kristina
The rose ones go hand in hand with our skeleton key theme. Your right, why hide something that I’ve worked hard to do!
They’re a really cute teardrop shape with a heart cut out. 🙂
Everyone commented on them…
Hannahearn
Hello! I love your work! Especially the bling pearl gauges! I know you have specified no size alterations, but is there any chance I could do a 1/2′ in those for my wedding this fall?
Superman
The bling plugs come from Etsy seller Arksendeavours. Check out her listing for more details.
Sarah
You can get really good prices on plugs on good ole’ fashioned eBay! Of course, it’s a little easier to search if you have a particular style in mind, but I have ordered through different ‘stores’ on eBay and have always been pleased with my purchases!
I have to say, I LOVE the rose plugs with the dangle. Every now and then I feel just a twinge of regret for stretching my ears when I see cute dangl-y earrings.
Those owl plugs have been on my wedding “must have” list since looooooooong before I’ve been planning to get married. Pretty happy to see them here. 🙂
Ashe
Ooooh those gothic plugs are gorgeous and almost make me wish I had stretched ears.
I’m pretty disappointed in the color options for the fleshtone hiders though…they say it’s likely the color won’t match your skin tone perfectly but if you’re darker than pale, kinda pale and slightly tanned you’re outta luck.
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49 responses to “Formal plugs and tunnels for stretched ears”
Love this post! The rose and key plugs are so MINE
Yea, this is my kinda post! You can also get custom plugs made if you want to really rock a theme or get a photo of you and your spouse on them. I’ve never seen a pair with a dangle, like those key ones, that’s awesome!
I don’t even have pierced ears, nevermind stretched, but those fake gauge earrings always tempt me…
I got a pair off of Etsy to try, to see if I loved them enough to go through with gaging my ears. I LOVE them, and they’re really easy to wear. I would recommend a pair.
These are amazing! There are a TON of sellers on Etsy who cater to brides with gauged ears. I just recently purchased some for my wedding next year. They are roses like the purple ones here, but they are just the roses, and they are ivory. They will match the strand of pearls my mom is lending to me for my big day.
I have stretched ears that’ll be at 7/16″ at my wedding…my goal size is 1/2″ so I don’t want to spend too much. I think I’m gonna go with some plain CZ plugs, but these are awesome!
Love this post! When I get married (far in the future) my tattoos and stretched lobes (1/2″ atm) will definitely feature, not be hidden away! I love the rose and key ones, but the pearl-diamond ones as well (not for me, but beautiful none-the-less!)
I wore silicone earskins and great big chandelier earrings for the ceremony and changed into big black glass foxtails for the reception. Check out bodyartforms.com. They have oodles of gorgeous jewelry for stretched lobes, fancy septum clickers, all kinds of stuff.
BAF is where I get almost all of my ear and nose jewelry!
I’m definitely going to show mine off. My right ear has 2g, 8g, and 12g holes. My left ear has a 2g, an 8g, and a 14 gauge inner conch piercing. I also have a left nostril piercing. I’m excited to pick out jewelry for them once I decide on what I’m going to wear! I hardly ever buy new pieces, so I’m psyched.
Those Manaka hemp hoops drive me wild with stretchy desire! On the wedding gift list for sure.
Literally screamed when I saw this post. FH saw the Star Wars plugs and won’t shut up! I only wish the hangy ones were made in my size…though I’d guess that’d be wayyy heavy. I also recommend bodyartforms.com for looking at mass amounts of different style/sizes/materials. I’ve been buying from them for years and I have never been disappointed!
Ok, so this really makes me wish I wasn’t too much of a big baby to gauge my ears.
Stretching (not gauging) your ears shouldn’t hurt at all, so nothing to be a baby about 🙂
Really? It looks like it would be so painful. I think it looks beautiful but the thought of it somehow gets me, which seems stupid because I’m covered in tattoos…
Also, what is the difference between “stretching” and “gaugeing”? Gaugeing is what the piercing places here all advertise…
Gauge is the size of the jewelry. Technically what you’re doing is stretching them. At any rate, it does sting/burn a little for me, but if you take your time and great care, your stretches will become less and less painful. I’m cruising at my goal which is 8g. I didn’t want something too big. However, it is harder to find cute plugs when you are down in the low gauges. Thankfully etsy is my savior.
It shouldn’t ever hurt. At an 8g the sizes are so close that those should be, comparatively, the easier stretches. At larger sizes there are several millimeters to go between, not half a mm. If what you’re doing is hurting, it isn’t right for your body. If you ever decide to stretch up I’d advise the taping method, it’s a lot more gradual and less harsh on your ears.
It really doesn’t hurt that bad. The less elastic your skin is, the more it will hurt, (mine isn’t very stretchy at all!) but if you go slow, you’ll usually get a burning, stinging sensation. And I find they stay sore for longer than a normal piercing. But it’s worth it, I’m at a 2g now.
If you can handle a tattoo, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I don’t want to be a buzzkill, but if you’re stretching and it hurts in anyway, you’re doing it wrong. I’d highly advise you to look into the taping method, it’s gradual and works well for people without a lot of elasticity.
Are you doing oil massages with your ears? Doing those regularly helps with circulation and can help your ears feel more stretchy as well.
For everyone I’ve ever met, (and I know a LOT of people with mods, and friends that work in shops) they’ve always had at least some sort of mild burning sensation and soreness. From everyone I’ve heard, from pros to random people, that’s pretty normal. (Real pain and/or blood, however, are an entirely different story.)
I do use oil on my ears. I’ve used jojoba and emu. (I like jojoba better, I think.) They just aren’t that elastic. I realize some people can stretch really easily, but everyone is different, and everyone’s skin is different. For example, I tried taping, but I found it to be cumbersome and annoying. Another friend who tried it found the tape (teflon) made the skin in his holes freak out, and he had to go DOWN a size while they healed up, they swelled so much. (Which, I mean, it’s not meant to be in ears, so I guess that makes sense.) But if that’s what works for you, by all means, keep on keeping on.
Also, for some reason I couldn’t reply to your comment itself. Weird! So sorry if the line of comments is a bit confusing, it was not my intent.
(FYI: comment replies only go 5 layers deep. After that point, they start stacking to avoid TOTAL INDENT ANARCHY!)
The pain seems like it’s a bit relative, stretching my ears was way more comfortable than my piercings and any discomfort usually only lasted a day or so. If it burns or stings, that means you’re tearing too much and it’s going to take even longer to heal.
I took a year to move from a 20 to a 0 (granted, I jumped from 20 to 14) which was an average of 6 weeks per transition (shorter for smaller sizes, longer for bigger)
Going from an 18/20 (regular pierced ears) to an 8 is actually really easy. My ears are super sensitive so they would get a little red and itchy for a day or so but that was it. Most people want to get up to at least a 6, otherwise you really can’t tell they’re even stretched.
Any bigger than 6 and it *can* be a little uncomfortable because, as you get bigger, the transition from size to size gets bigger too, but it should NOT be painful or you’re doing it too fast! But if you wait at least 4 weeks between sizes, you should be fine (longer than that makes it even easier!). Tip, using longer tapers and getting help from a certified piercer help a LOT. It took me about a year to go from a 20 to a 0 (The only time something actually hurt for me was when I went from a 2 to a 0 because I used shorter tapers and I got impatient and didn’t wait long enough between moving up sizes.
Funny, I forgot I might have to look for ‘special’ wedding earrings to accommodate my gauged ears! Glad for the reminder and love love love those roses – will have to check ’em out.
Man, you should have asked! I could have provided a lot of fodder for this post that wasn’t toxic acrylic!
I’m a body piercer/studio owner, after all 🙂
We’d love to see some of your favorites, if you want to post them in the comments. 🙂
And PS: why wait for us to ask? We’re ALWAYS accepting guestposts.
Ooh I didn’t know I could submit a guest post!
Okay, brace yourselves, because I’m going to work on “Body Piercing: Wedding Style!” 🙂
But I highly recommend Maya Organics, Tawapa, Anatometal (their nouveau eyelets are a favourite for my own wedding!), Industrial Strength, Relic Stoneworks, Urban Star Organics, Oracle… the list goes on! As has been mentioned, BodyArtForms has a great range of higher end jewellery (and lower end too, alas), though one should always support their local studio if possible!
Have to say, I’m really surprised you guys haven’t featured anything from BodyArtForms – easily the most amazing jewellery website out there!
http://www.bodyartforms.com/products.asp?jewelry=ornate&PageNumber=0
I actually bought a pair of plugs from etsy seller FrozenFire for our wedding – custom made and beautiful. He’s great to work with if you’ve got something special in mind 🙂
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Frozenfire
Seconding Frozenfire. His work is absolutely exquisite.
When I originally started planning on what jewelry to wear to our wedding, my ears were at a 00g. I got the bug to stretch and now I am up to a 1/2″. I could not make up my mind on what to wear so I have accumulated a small variety of plugs. A few I have ordered from BAF, and the pair I eventually fell in love with from http://www.jewelryvolt.com.
http://www.jewelryvolt.com/Wood_Ear_Plug_p/wp-21.htm
These are so lovely, and to make me feel even more awesome I ordered a pair of feather earrings to wear underneath them (since all my bridesmaids with have feather earrings and all the groomsmen have feather boutonnieres). This post was awesome- only recently have I been able to find beautiful hanging organic jewelry for larger then 6g ear lobes- Thanks!
They’re gorgeous!
I’ve never seen that site before…what amazing stuff.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time for me, because I’m getting married in Sept and currently trying to choose wedding jewellery for my 0g ears. I’m proud of them and I certainly don’t want to hide them – but at the same time, I don’t want them to distract from the rest of my outfit, and I don’t want relatives remarking on them and asking questions about them all day.
For those reasons, I’m thinking of going with some simple bone tunnels. I was originally planning to wear earskins, but they make the hole look much bigger and very noticable. The bone eyelets are more subtle: http://www.steelnavel.com/product.asp?ID=5910&MID=311&MID2=1
I’m wearing quite an intricate headpiece, so I’m keeping my ear jewellery plain. But there are lots of beautiful designs available, like these: http://www.steelnavel.com/product.asp?ID=6058&MID=311&MID2=1
I also use bodyartforms.com loads, and frozenfire on etsy. In addition to these, I recommend steelnavel.com – not quite such a big selection as bodyartforms, but they’re super helpful.
I recently bought some of the hemp earring from Manaka and my ears are 00g! They are perfect and cant wait to get them in other colours!
This is my next pair! https://www.etsy.com/listing/104715636/shadow-organic-hemp-earrings-for
Yay body art! I love me some custom Etsy plugs! These are the ones I bought.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/105896969/classic-silver-and-pearl-wedding-plugs?
Oh how I wish I had known about these for my wedding! I opted for pearl studs that kept falling out. Next time! haha
I frequent Kolo Piercing more often than I should– Check these babies out! I’ve gotten more compliments on my spiral inlays than anything else I own. Love them!
http://www.kolopiercing.com/inlayed-horn-c-34_386_84_394.html
I can’t believe you left off Omerica Organics! They make gorgeous wooden plugs, including some really snazzy ones with stone or CZ inlays. I wear my CZs every day and get tons of compliments on them – so sparkly!!!
There’s a lovely NZ site that has cool stuff
http://www.facebook.com/ninjaflower
http://www.ninjaflower.co.nz
Just bought the hemp ones for my fiance in white as a wedding present! I am sure she will love them as she has been going on about them!
Our friends are getting married on Sunday, and I decided to get some fancy 0ga plugs, we’re in Toronto so we tried some piercing/tattoo shops but didn’t see anything unique, but a lot of hippie vendors have booths on Queen St. and that’s where I found these great tunnels, they match the tie perfectly, so I’m very happy. http://images.urbanpiercingshop.co.uk/images/products/zoom/1322849692-82749100.jpg it’s some kind of shell inlay I guess?
The rose ones go hand in hand with our skeleton key theme. Your right, why hide something that I’ve worked hard to do!
The diamond wedding and gothic rose plugs are amazing!
I LOVE the Gothic Rose Keys. Absolutely stunning!
I got married recently and I wore these plugs http://justeros.com/organic-sono-wood-teardrop-shaped-ear-plug-with-cut-out-heart-shape
They’re a really cute teardrop shape with a heart cut out. 🙂
Everyone commented on them…
Hello! I love your work! Especially the bling pearl gauges! I know you have specified no size alterations, but is there any chance I could do a 1/2′ in those for my wedding this fall?
The bling plugs come from Etsy seller Arksendeavours. Check out her listing for more details.
You can get really good prices on plugs on good ole’ fashioned eBay! Of course, it’s a little easier to search if you have a particular style in mind, but I have ordered through different ‘stores’ on eBay and have always been pleased with my purchases!
I have to say, I LOVE the rose plugs with the dangle. Every now and then I feel just a twinge of regret for stretching my ears when I see cute dangl-y earrings.
I got mine from an Etsy shop and I love them!
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/183566318
Those owl plugs have been on my wedding “must have” list since looooooooong before I’ve been planning to get married. Pretty happy to see them here. 🙂
Ooooh those gothic plugs are gorgeous and almost make me wish I had stretched ears.
I’m pretty disappointed in the color options for the fleshtone hiders though…they say it’s likely the color won’t match your skin tone perfectly but if you’re darker than pale, kinda pale and slightly tanned you’re outta luck.
LOVE THIS THREAD SO MUCH!