I'd had stretched earlobes for 1 1/4 gauges since my early twenties, and I had always loved them. By the age of 36, however, they started becoming a nuisance--plugs poked me or just fell out when sleeping or showering, and no plug in the ear is very unappealing to me; the weight of them became tiresome; and when I moved from California to upstate New York, my earlobes became so cold in the...