Ear lob stretching info?

I didn't always use tappers to go up a size though they are easier in some cases depending on the earing you want to go up too. I'm a 7/16th now havent changed in a while but a little trick I used to do is I would use the tappers to help me stretch to that size and after I got to it I pulled it out and shoved the actual earings I wanted in. It hurt, like it normally does when you size up, but it worked for me because my left ear was harder to size up than my right.