WHAT TO DO ABOUT EARRINGS WHEN YOUR EARS ARE SENSITIVE TO METALS?

Ok, to start out with, I'll tell you that I CANNOT wear most metals.  Something about my body chemistry.  Highly acidic, causing quick decay/erosion/corrosion of most metals.

Sterling (.925) is gorgeous and shiny to the eye - but the very fact that it DOES corrode and has to be cleaned often causes it to "infect" my ears - they get humps in the holes (you can feel them when you touch the holes) after wearing.  I can wear it for just a little while before my ears begin to ache.  PLATED metals, any kind, does the same, whether it be silver or gold plate, it doesn't matter.  Most plates are not very thick, be it gold or silver.  I usually destroy those, with my acidic skin, within about 6 months.   I can't wear hypo-allergenic for five minutes. 

 I find that I wear the solid gold, white gold, RHODIUM finish and ALPACA finish best, believe it or not.  Which is why I carry alot of those for sale.  They seem more hypo-allergenic than EVEN the most hypo-allergenic.  I wear them well.   And they DON'T turn green after a couple of hours.

Yeah, my skin chemistry also brings on the green thing.  Fun.  Which is why I have little jewelry of my own to keep, although I sell quite a bit.

RHODIUM finish over sterling does not necessarily devalue the piece, although some may think so.  Rhodium is actually a valuable metal, a very shiny silver used in thin layers over platinum and silver as well to give those metals a very silver sheen as well as to give it a protective coating to prevent quick tarnishing.  Luckily for people like myself, it does NOT respond to acidic bases, like those ingrained within my skin.

ALPACA silver is NOT a silver at all, not even coated sterling (as Rhodium coated would be) but is almost like an aluminum or nickel.  Also tarnish-proof, people such as myself can wear it without repercussions (problems with ear infections and it turning green).  It  is ACTUALLY a mix of non-tarnishable metals that resemble stainless steel, as I said;  those metals including zinc, nickle and iron. 

This I also wear well, with no pain or infection. 

I will be expanding this guide to talk about the different types of "plating" when the rest of my research is done.

And please vote for my guide if you've found it useful in any way!

Deb  :)