As long as you dont go bigger than 0 they will close up over time. Actually, a 6 is considered the point of no return as far as recovering your normal lobe goes. I have little tiny ones.. they're size 14, I'd say they are about the circumference of a pencil lead, give or take. There's just something about the versatile nature of bigger, chunkier earrings that I like. Meh. You can't state a definitive size that an ear will shrink back down at, it's gonna be different for everybody. I have 7 piercings, 4 of them are on my ears. I like them but i don't doubt that a lot of people find them disturbing...