WHY DOES CERTAIN JEWELRY STAIN OUR SKIN, HOW TO CLEAN AND TO PREVENT IT.

I am sure we have all dealt with it, one time or another. You have a favorite new bracelet but the day you wear it, you end up with a large green circle on your wrist. Or a reddish, itchy stain from a ring on your finger, a black or brown circle around your neck from that choker you wanted so badly.

Even though these stains look badly on your skin, the good news is that the stains are not permanent or harmful for your health, although an itchy reaction can be very unpleasant. The easiest way to get rid of these stains is with a warm, wet washcloth and mild soap. Gently rub your skin, it should come off pretty easy. 

Silver Tuesday Bracelet, ©House Of Joris Jewelry

Why does certain jewelry stain the skin? Tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over copper, nickel, aluminum and magnesium. If you are especially allergic to nickel, you will see a discoloration on your skin that is usually a red itchy hue, as it is due to inflammation. Even brass and silver can color the skin through oxidation, although it is usually not as severe.

Jewelry that is plated is common to tarnish the skin, especially cheap plated jewelry that has a very thin layer of silver or gold over the base metal. These plated metals can rub off quickly, even wearing it for one hot day in the summer. In my experience, if you work with plated metal, make sure the base is brass (certainly not copper) and the layer of silver or gold is nice and thick, made in America can make a big difference too. Metal that is dipped in silver or gold is much more solid, then a thin sprayed layer. 

So how do you prevent getting stains from jewelry. The best answer is buying more high-end jewelry, silver, gold (yellow, white or rose) and the prestigious platinum . For gold you can use gold-filled jewelry, this is jewelry plated with a 20% gold layer on the outside of the alloy. This jewelry can last up to 30 or 40 years before you will see places where the gold has rubbed off. If you have sensitive skin, you might have better luck with rhodium plated and stainless steel jewelry. Rhodium is an expensive metal, used a lot in space crafts. It looks more like white gold or platinum. Some jewelers use rhodium to plate their silver jewelry to prevent tarnish. 

Silver Monaco Earrings, ©House Of Joris Jewelry

If you have plated jewelry that you really love, you can always use clear nail polish or a clear acrylic spray to coat it. Also, make sure you take it off when you are putting on make-up, or wait until your skin has absorbed the lotion you used. Don't shower with it (although I will wear silver jewelry that is plated with rhodium in the shower. It makes it shine and sparkle) and take it off at night or when you come home.

Jewelry That Is Made From The Hair That Grows On Your Head!

Jewelry is so very personal and it usually has a story attached to it. Remember the heart charm your first boyfriend gave to you? It meant more to you then anything else you could think of. Or the moonstone pendant from your sister, before you left to live in another country at the other side of this planet.... Your grandmother, who gives you her strand of real pearls that she got from her mother. Priceless treasures, you will never get rid of them and if they could talk, well, I would love to hear the story of the pearls.

One of the reasons I got into jewelry is just that, that jewelry is so personable, every piece of jewelry has it's own story. In my jewelry, one of the things I design and make is up-cycled vintage jewelry and I wish these vintage pieces could talk like the pearls, because they must have some stories to tell us.

Mourning Brooch, From Europe Or The U.S.A., Ca. 1845

 One style of jewelry definitely tells us stories and that style is mourning jewelry, it was seen everywhere in Victorian times. The most popular style of mourning jewelry, was hair jewelry. Real jewelry pieces, made with real hair from the deceased.

Death was much more accepted during these times, as it happened so much more then it does today, with Western Medicine and much better hygiene. Mourning jewelry was quite common.

 It is symbolic that it was Queen Victoria herself that made hair jewelry so very popular. When Prince Albert died in 1861, (her husband who was also her first cousin...) she wore a brooch with his hair over her heart and did so until the day she died. She also gave the  Empress Eugenie of France a bracelet made from her hair, as a gift. All this made mourning jewelry and jewelry with hair very popular.

A Gold And Enamel Mourning Ring, Ca. 1855

There are two types of hair jewelry, pallet worked and table worked. Pallet worked is flat and the hair is displayed under a crystal, as in a brooch. Table worked hair jewelry is made on a braiding table. A series of weights and bobbins which feed through a hole in the center of the table, create a three dimensional chain. These pieces may be made over a wooden or brass mold and then boiled to set the different shapes. Some hair jewelry is just absolutely stunning, it is a real art.

Queen Victoria continued mourning in her private life. She wore black clothes only as well as only black mourning jewelry. During these Victorian times, when a mother would lose one or more of her children, she would wear the hair of her children, braided and under glass, as a ring, a brooch, a pendant or a bracelet. The same for women who lost their husbands, usually in battle.

However, hair jewelry should not be confused with mourning jewelry only. Hair jewelry has been with us from the beginning of time. In an era before photography, hair was the most personal token one could bestow on a loved one who may be traveling far away. Eventually these locks of love were set into rings or lockets and such. 

Mourning Jewelry or fashion statement, I can't think of a more personable piece of jewelry then one made out of the hair of a loved one.

An Example Of Table Braided Hair Jewelry, Popular During Victorian Times.

Reference: Wikipedia and Grand Oak Plantation.