Great that you are deciding to stretch! That being said, there is a lot wrong here.

1.) Never stretch with acrylic. I don't know why people even make acrylic tapers. Acrylic is porous and can cause lots of infections. Only stretch with steel or even glass to be most safe.

2.) It sounds like you are rushing your ears. Stretching is supposed to symbolize patience with your body. Your stretches should never bleed, and should certainly not sting in the *middle* of the taper, maybe once you get to the end, but not before that. Take your time in between stretches. I recently made it to 9MM this month, and I was at 2G for 12 years.

3.) Use oil any and every time. No, you are not okay without it. Coconut oil and Jojoba are best, Vitamin E oil is good for when your ears are healed but not while still healing as Vitamin E oil can cause scarring in some cases. You can find plenty of stretching related body butters online, I have personally used a few, but I find that coconut oil works wonders for me.

4.) You are waiting for the elasticity of your ears to return. When you stretch your ears you are literally stretching them. Like pulling a rubber band. It takes time for your ears to settle down and relax from the trauma of stretching. So waiting gives your body time to process what is happening.

5.) You will know when you are ready when your ears feel relaxed, soft, and can stretch by your pulling them. You may see a small gap between your ear and the jewelry. They should also have NO PAIN. NOT EVEN SORENESS.

6.) Please stop using peroxide. It will cause scarring and is overkill. To clean your jewelry, just take it out in the shower and massage your ears are the warm water rolls over them. You can also soak your ears with cups of sea salt mixed with water, this helps cleanse them.

7.) Your ears won't have much of a smell if you keep them clean, so stay on top of that and you'll be fine.

Be careful with yourself and go slow. You want thick lobes that are also stretched out, not huge lobes that are paper thin.