"I can only wear gold jewelry" - The truth about jewelry allergy

I can only wear gold jewelry, everything else disappoints me. " from

 How many times have I heard this from my mother when I was a child?

In addition to gold, why is everything so disappointing to my mother that even true? More than a decade ago, when I started designing jewelry, I decided to find out. I want to design jewelry for my mother, she can wear it without worrying about it suddenly appearing. Now I want to tell you what I found.

My mother, like many people, develops contact dermatitis when her skin comes into contact with certain types of jewelry. Her dermatitis is the result of an allergic reaction to nickel found in many types of jewelry. Nickel allergy is very common, and in fact one in seven people may have nickel allergy. More commonly, women often suffer from nickel allergy rather than men. Allergy treatment can help resolve the symptoms of nickel allergy. Unfortunately, once an allergy develops, one will remain sensitive to nickel for the rest of the life.

Nickel is found in many types of clothing and jewelry, especially those that are produced on a large scale. It can also be found in other everyday items such as coins, zippers, frames and cell phones.

So why is my mother allergic to nickel, you may ask. For some reason, which science still doesn't understand, her body mistakenly believes that nickel [or a similar metal like cobalt] is a threat. In response to this threat, her body can cause an immune response [ie an allergic reaction] to get rid of the threat. This reaction caused her to suddenly appear in an itchy rash. But others may have a more serious reaction to nickel.

Now that I know what caused my mother's breakthrough, I started to figure out which types of jewelry do not contain nickel.

First I looked at it. Gold jewelry . In general, gold [above 14 carats] does not cause an allergic reaction. But platinum may be. Platinum alloys contain nickel and other "white" metals to produce their silver. One out of every nine people responds to nickel in platinum.

Another form of gold jewelry is Brilliant Or "GF" jewelry. When the base metal is coated with a layer of gold, a golden jewel metal is produced. The amount of gold filled is different from the amount of gold plated. The layer used for gold-plated jewelry is typically 50 to 100 times thicker than the layer used to coat the gold-plated product.

Next I looked at the silver jewelry. For people who are sensitive to nickel, fine silver and sterling silver are excellent choices for "white" metal.

Fine silver By definition, 99.9% sterling silver. Jewelry is generally not made of fine silver because the metal is very soft and does not withstand normal wear and tear.

Most silver jewelry is made of sterling silver. Sterling silver By definition, 92.5% sterling silver. In most cases, the remaining 7.5% of the metal is copper. Injecting copper hardens the silver and makes it more durable. I use this type of sterling silver in my jewelry design, which is a great metal for nickel allergies. Sometimes you can distinguish between sterling silver by the "925" mark on the jewel. This is common on manufactured parts, but may not be present in artisan jewelry.

Other metals that are considered safe for people allergic to nickel are:

copper - Copper jewellery is generally considered to be pure and not mixed with nickel or nickel alloys.

platinum - Platinum jewelry contains 95% platinum and 5% secondary metal, usually 铱.

titanium - Titanium jewelry is both hypoallergenic and durable. It is a highly recommended metal for those with nickel allergies.

niobium - This is a reliable new metal in the jewelry industry. It is a rare earth metal that can be anodized [naturally coated with beautiful colors]. Like titanium, this metal is recommended for people with nickel allergy, especially those looking for color prevalence.

Since I have given you a list of safe metals, I think I will also give you a list of metal terms for you to pay attention to when buying jewelry.

Fashion or costume jewellery usually contains base metals containing nickel. Sometimes these metals are gold plated; however, plating wears over time, exposing the skin to base metals. If you choose to plate metal, remember to re-plate regularly.

It has been suggested that brass may be a hypoallergenic option. However, my research shows that brass is sometimes alloyed with a small amount of nickel and even leads to metal strengthening.

German silver or nickel silver is a metal that is far from jewelry. German silver does not contain any silver. Silver referee metal silver. The color comes from a combination of nickel, zinc, lead and tin in the alloy.

Surgical or stainless steel - Surgical grade stainless steel is made in the body. However, steel alloys contain 8% to 12% nickel. I have heard the opposite report about the safety of this metal to people allergic to nickel. Since steel alloys do contain nickel, I tend to avoid it, but some people swear.

If you do purchase a piece of jewelry and are concerned that it may contain nickel, you can get a commercial test kit online. These kits contain chemicals that react in the presence of nickel.

Do some research to prevent nickel allergies and still allow you to wear beautiful jewelry.

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