One gauge at a time! If you have never stretched your lobes and are only use to wearing basic studs, you would be sitting at 18 gauge right now.  Gauge means the thickness of the metal on the posts you wear.  Gauges start at 16 and get thicker as the number gets smaller.  So it’s 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0, 00, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4, 7/8 and 1 inch. It’s important to increase your size one gauge at a time to prevent blowouts and scarring.  Try to consider that you may change your mind...