Stretching (body piercing) Stretching methods
The most common way to stretch, tapering uses a 'taper', a piece of jewelry which is smaller at one end and larger at the other. The taper is covered  with something slippery, like oil or soap, to make it slide through the skin more easily. Then it is pushed through the hole of the piercing until it is almost completely through. Thicker jewelry is then pushed into the piercing. Tapers come in many sizes and are usually sold by the thickness of the large end. Most tapers are about 2 or 3 inches long.