Probably not the best place to ask (in the threads I found about stretching earlobes, most of the feedback seemed negative), but what the heck...

I'm currently size 4, looking to move up. I've been using captive bead rings up until this point (got pierced with a 12, moved on from there), but going bigger than size 4 with captive bead rings gets a) ridiculously expensive or b) ridiculously large.

I can get the kind the special ones that have a bead that simply screws in which are really expensive, or I can get really obnoxiously large rings. Otherwise, bending the steel in a size 2 or larger ring is ridiculously hard, if not impossible to do safely. But, I don't want to pay a ton for temporary earrings (I'd like to stretch to 00, probably larger) and don't want ridiculously huge earrings either.


So, do you guys have any suggestions for decent earrings to use for size 2, as well as 0 (and maybe 00, if I decide to go larger)? I'd like something fairly heavy, since if makes stretching easier.