Earrings for Women

Water alone won't hurt them. What does damage is everything dissolved in it — chlorine, salt, and the soap that dries in the join of a hinge. Shower in your studs if you must; take hoops off before a pool. Dry them properly afterwards, because moisture trapped against the lobe is what causes irritation, not the metal.

The earring rarely causes it — a fresh piercing, a dirty post, or a back done up too tight does. Sterling silver and gold vermeil are among the safer choices because there's no nickel at the surface. If a lobe is red, hot and sore rather than just itchy, take the earring out and see a pharmacist. Don't push through it.

Anything with sterling silver underneath rather than base metal. Nickel is the usual culprit in cheap earrings, and it's in the alloy, not the plating — so once thin plating wears through, the reaction starts. Our vermeil is 3.0 microns of gold over solid sterling; the industry standard is 0.2. That thickness is exactly what keeps the base metal question from arising.

Warm water, a drop of unperfumed soap, a soft brush around the post and hinge, then dry completely. Skip alcohol and hydrogen peroxide — both are recommended constantly online and both dull plating and dry out the piercing. Skip ultrasonic cleaners entirely if there are pearls or soft stones involved.

Yes, and a good share of this collection sells that way. Second holes, cartilage and deliberately mismatched pairs are normal now. Buy one, buy three, buy two that don't match.

Copper in the base alloy reacting with skin — usually brass, usually under thin plating that's worn through. It isn't dangerous and it washes off. It also doesn't happen with gold over sterling silver, which is why the base metal matters more than the plating colour when you're buying.