Many people love to adorn themselves with jewelry, but often they cannot afford to go out and spend a fortune on something that is really breathtaking or rare. A nice option if you do not want to spend too much is a pair of silver earrings. Silver jewelry tends to be far more affordable than gold, white gold or platinum, but you will still need to take a little care when you go hunting for bargains.
It is a common misconception that cheaper metals will lead to skin irritation, and that you need to buy as expensive a metal as your budget will allow to reduce the risk of getting a pair of earrings that might cause problems. This is simply not true. You stand a higher chance of sensitization with a pair of white gold earrings than you ever would with silver ones. Almost invariably the culprit will be nickel, and whereas white gold contains pure gold mixed with this particular white metal, a pair of sterling silver earrings will contain no nickel at all. Sterling silver is an alloy of silver and copper. So in this case, the more expensive pair of earrings might cause irritation, whereas the worst you may encounter with silver is a little slight green discoloration, as a result of the copper reacting with moisture and warmth (this is easily washed off and fairly harmless).
So as long as you buy proper authentic sterling silver earrings, your skin will be perfectly fine. This raises the question of how to determine authenticity. Happily the task in question is easily dealt with, because sterling silver jewelry will have a jeweler’s mark stamped onto it. For sterling silver, look for a mark with the number “925″. This shows that it is 92.5% silver, the remaining 7.5% being copper. If you cannot find the stamp, do not buy the silver earrings, especially if they are advertised as being sterling silver. They might be very cheap fakes, and this does raise a potential risk that they contain something nasty, like nickel.
For this reason it is always best to get your silver earrings and other jewelry from a reputable jeweler’s store either locally or online. Both will normally offer guarantees of authenticity and money back options if you are not entirely satisfied.
Article Word Count: 380
Comments on this entry are closed.