Need help resizing, stuck at one size

I started stretching my ears at 15, did it improperly (electrical taping, silicone, tapers, no oil/massaging) and almost blew out my right ear. managed to get up to 3/4” and then just stopped wearing them for some reason. that was about 5 years ago, and i’ve decided i wanted to start restretching. so about two months ago i got some silicone tunnels from my sister (her ears are 1”) and started wearing a wear that just fit. within 1.5 weeks, my lobe would stretch naturally and i’d be able to size up with the next tunnel. i dont have any more tunnels for the next size up, and i know stretching from 18g and up normally with silicone is bad, but is this method okay? i really dislike the idea of being a $15 pair of plugs everytime i want to size up bc intimately my goal is 1”. so would silicone tunnels be bad for this specific situation? is there something that would work better? any advice or tips would be appreciated.