Jewelry Changing Skin Color

Clear nail polish to the rescue. Those who suggested it are absolutely right. What a great idea for those who are allergic to nickel and to keep skin clear from grey/black marks.

You just can not wear cheap jewelery, no matter how cute some are. I have had the same problem and just invest in real jewelery or those that do not have metal touching the skin area. Beaded jewelery works well and does not caus an allergic reaction.

Although using nail polish will help. I would also suggest cutting back on some foods that are acidic such as oranges and tomatoes. Increase of the acidity levels in your skin will react to jewelry with nickel content. Those with higher sensitivity may experience itching along with discoloration where the ring/earrings make contact against their skin. Sometimes the reaction becomes obvious during summer months (sweating, BBQ fare and such, but the drier winter months may make one prone to skin discoloration as well (lack of moisture. Hope this helps.

A.

Using only gold jewelry may not be the answer for you. Jewelry is not made of 24K (pure gold). It's too soft to make jewelry out of - it would break. So all gold has other metals in it; copper, nickel, silver, etc. The other metals strengthen the gold. They can also affect the color. Silver and nickel, for example, will be present in white gold, where copper is more likely found in rose gold. So it can be decorative as well.

Only 24K is pure. Depending on how many parts of gold to other metals will give you the purity. Think of pure gold as a container divided into 24 parts. If 14 parts out of 24 are pure gold, and the rest are other elements, then you have 14K. If 10 parts of the 24 are pure gold, then you have 10K. 18 parts, 18K. And so on. So the higher the karat, the purer the gold, and the less like it is to tarnish on your skin. But it is also softer, and more likely to break. The lower karat is less expensive, stronger, and more likely to tarnish.

So the suggestions to stick with gold may not work. If your body chemistry is causing some metals to tarnish, the same metals may be present in gold (though to a lesser or diluted degree) and can still tarnish.

Talk to your local jeweler, preferably a small jewelry store that has been in business a long time, and show them the jewelry that is causing you problems. (You'll have better luck than the big chain stores that don't train their staff as well.) Ask for suggestions. They may steer you to a higher end jewelry, like gold, if your jewelry is made of a very tarnishing metal. Or they may steer you toward a hypo-allergenic material if your current problem jewelry is gold. Or they might have other ideas for you.

Good luck!

PS A little baking soda and water, just enough water to make a paste, is a good tarnish remover. It also rinses clear off very easily (unlike silver polish.) Don't use on soft stones, such as opal, pearl, etc.

Dip all your jewelry that changes your skin color in some clear nail polish, and let them all dry. The nail polish will coat the jewelry and keep them looking nice and shiny.

I am a lia sophia jewelry advisor and what we have learned that if jewelry changes your skins color it is due to the chemicals that are in your body or it is reacting to chemicals in your environment (dish soap, cleaners, etc). Something to do to help this is to paint the posts of your earrings with clear fingernail polish. You can also do this to the inside of rings. This also helps for people who have allerigic reactions to the metals. Hope this helps you out. Our lia sophia jewelry comes with a lifetime guarantee and if you are unsatisfied for ANY reason you can always return it. Visit my website at www.liasophia.com/daniellesteffen Good luck!

The level of acid in your body can make gold leave black on your skin.

I think I have heard you can paint the parts with clear nail polish. I have never personally tired it though.

Buy some sterling silver earrings, not expensive, but that will not change the color of your ears.

Yes.. I see a lot of people have already told you about clear nail polish. Depending on the jewelry..this is a simple and good solution. I ran into a slightly different problem requiring a more permanent solution. I am allergic to mercury..and yellow or black hills colored gold ( I get little water type blisters from it). My wedding rings are yellow gold. The alleregy was not discovered till my mid 20's. My jeweler suggested rhodeum ( spelling?) plateing them. This has worked very well. If your jewelry is something you wear alot and is a precious metal.. this may be another option for you. Good luck and sparkle-on.!!

This answer might sound insane, but here it goes anyway. I am allergic to all metals and when I was growing up I would get really upset at the reaction that my skin would have every time I would wear my jewelery. Well my Grandmother told me one day that she has the same reaction and that she paints the back of the jewelery with clear nail polish. The polish doesn't show and forms an invisible bond between you and the jewelery. I know there might be a specially made product out there for this, but clear nail polish is just such a cheap alternative. Hope I helped.

Couple coats of clear nail polish might work. It will keep the metal off the skin. Not sure what the earring looks like to know if that is possible.

Generally it's silver jewelry that tarnishes and it's because your chemical makeup disagrees with that element. Save those things as your chemical makup changes every 7 years. In the mean time, stick to gold. (poor you, right?)

Yep, clear nail polish is the answer, you may need to reapply after a few uses.

Hi K.,

I had a ring I love that used to do that to my finger--I painted clear nail polish on the inside--have had to re-do a couple of times, but it works.

Clear nail polish over the posts and the parts that touch your skin. Works great on the insides of inexpensive rings..