Do your earrings, bracelets, and necklaces make you look bad? No, not fashion. We’re talking about the ugly redness around your wrists and neck or the itchy, red earlobes that happen when wearing your jewelry.
If you are wearing jewelry that makes you feel bad, STOP! Most likely, you’re suffering from an allergy to nickel. Nickel allergies make your skin look terrible. Want a beauty tip and instant improvement in your fashion? Wear only nickel-free earrings and nickel-free jewelry.
Avoiding a Nickel Allergy
There are two reasons why women, children, and men need to wear nickel-free earrings. The first is because they have an allergy to nickel. Nickel is a favorite metal used in everything from jewelry to snaps and zippers. It is strong and used as a base metal which receives the gold or silver plating. It is also mixed or alloyed with other metals, for example, to make white gold.
Unfortunately, if the gold or silver plating wears off, the unexposed nickel can create an allergic reaction called contact dermatitis in susceptible people.
The other reason why nickel-free earrings and jewelry are so popular is that it makes you look good in any situation. The styles are modern and fashionable.
Europeans Ahead of The Nickel-Free Fashion Trend
The U.S. government doesn’t care about your skin, but the EU does. They have instituted something called the Nickel Directive that sets limits on the amount of nickel that manufacturers can put in their products. More specifically, it mandates the maximum amount of nickel released onto the skin from jewelry and other wearable products. It’s different from measuring the percentage of nickel that exists in an alloy's composition. Here’s what the Nickel Directive's migration limits are:
- 0.2 micrograms per cm, per week for earrings inserted into pierced ears and other pierced parts of the human body
- 0.5 micrograms per cm, per week for other products that come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin.
Currently, the U.S. has no limits. If your skin reacts to nickel or another metal alloy, you’re out of luck. The fact that nickel causes skin problems are the reason that nickel-free jewelry is in high demand in Europe, and trending in the U.S.
Types of Earring Metals
Following is a short list of the most common metals used for jewelry that contains nickel, if only a trace amount:
- Stainless Steel
- White Gold
- Plated Gold
- Plated Silver
- Rose Gold
- Surgical Steel
To avoid any potential nickel allergies, buy nickel-free. Although the higher the gold content, the less nickel or other metal. 14k gold or less means that at least half of the metal consists of different alloys, such as copper, brass or nickel.
Plated metals can wear off depending on the thickness. Wearing only nickel-free earrings is the best way to avoid a problem. They combine comfort, peace of mind and beauty.
Two Fabulous Nickel-Free Jewelry Options
There are two attractive options for nickel-free earrings. The first is medical-grade plastic earrings, and the other is medical-grade titanium. Both these materials came about as replacement parts for the body and used every day in medical devices. They don’t cause allergies or get rejected by the body.
Titanium is highly resistant to corrosion, durable and pretty. It holds stones, gems, and pearls in place securely and it’s an excellent choice for earrings. Medical-grade plastic has no metal to create irritations. The only one who knows what they are made of is you. The settings hide the plastic and keep your ear lobes naturally beautiful.
All our earrings and jewelry exceed the EU Nickel Directive so you can wear them with confidence. More importantly, the nickel-free earrings we make are elegant, enhanced with Swarovski Crystals and will make you look gorgeous.