Originally published August 15th, 2016
Don’t throw out your good jewelry!
A few years ago, I thought I was developing an allergy to silver and gold.
Almost overnight, the skin on my fingers was turning black underneath my rings and I couldn’t explain it. The answer? Science!
Zinc Oxide and gold jewelry interactions
At about the same time that my skin started turning colors, I had started using a mineral sunscreen* containing zinc oxide.
Zinc Oxide, is a fantastic and safe sun-blocking agent as well as a common ingredient in many cosmetics. I am pretty obsessed with my skincare (though you wouldn’t believe it if you saw my hands. Ah well, such is the jeweler’s life).
Zinc oxide is also, as it turns out, a very mild abrasive. Veeeery mild. And gold and sterling silver are soft metals, so the mild abrasive that is in my sunscreen was actually rubbing off minuscule particles of metal from my rings and these particles transferred to my skin and appeared black.
How do you remove the black marks?
My solution? Well, I wasn’t going to discontinue using my sunscreen nor would I stop wearing rings and the problem goes away when I, you know, wash. My. Hands.
I also wait to put on rings until after I’ve applied the sunscreen and washed my hands. Sometimes the simple solutions are the best.
And don’t forget to clean your jewelry to get rid of any residual makeup, soap, sunscreen, and more. Use an old toothbrush, lukewarm water and if needed, a mild soap. You could easily get yourself one of those at-home ultrasonic cleaners and toss your jewelry in to it each week.
What if my skin is turning green under my rings?
OK, so now we have a different problem. If you skin is turning green, then you likely are allergic to the copper content of any jewelry you are wearing. Now you might be thinking to yourself that you are wearing gold plated jewelry, or gold fill, or bronze. Well, each of those metals and combined metals contains some amount of copper.
Brass is between 60-85% copper and contains some other non precious metals. So anything gold fill will have a core of brass at the center. If the gold wears off or if the edge of a piece of gold fill is exposed, then your skin will be touching the brass core. Bronze is about 85-95% copper and the remaining is made up of other base metals. So the green color that your skin is turning from your rings is most likely being caused by the copper content of these metals.
Why would gold plated jewelry cause an irritation or make my finger turn green?
Gold plated jewelry involves depositing a thin layer of gold on top of another metal – if the underlying metal is silver, this then goes by the name Gold Vermeil. If it is anything else, then it is simply gold plated. In order for the gold layer to adhere to the other metal, an underlayer needs to be plated onto the piece BEFORE the gold is plated on. In the US, a lot of gold plating uses nickel as that in between layer, so when the gold layer wears off, your skin is exposed to nickel.
Read more about the differences between gold plating and gold fill. Or watch and listen to my YouTube video about the difference between gold fill and gold plate.
Now of course, about 15% of the population is allergic to nickel, so plating companies offer an alternative to using nickel as the underlayer. That alternative? Copper! In other words, if you get a piece of gold plated jewelry that is labeled nickel-free, then you likely have a piece that has a copper layer below the gold. When the gold layer wears off, your skin will be exposed to the copper layer and that’s why your skin will start to turn green.
What issues have you had with your skin changing color under your jewelry? Leave your comments and questions below!
Check out this follow up video demonstrating how this happens.
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