What Can Cause An Allergic Reaction To Wedding Bands?

Calendar August 12, 2010 | Posted by guest

White gold is routinely alloyed down with nickel. Nickel causes allergic reactions in a lot of people. It’s probably showing up now, because your ring was plated in rhodium (the whitest member of the platinum family) when you bought it. This is normal, as white gold always has a little warmth to it, so it is almost always plated in rhodium. The rhodium has worn off. The white gold, alloyed with nickel is in direct contact with your skin. You are reacting to the nickel. One easy solution is to bring the ring in to the jeweler where you purchased it and have it replated with rhodium. Or, you could trade the ring in for mens wedding rings and bands that do NOT contain nickel, a palladium ring or a platinum ring. The metal rhodium is essentially inert to the skin, hypoallergenic, no reaction. What the reaction could be is a basic metals reaction and that SHOULD NOT be happening if the rings have a real rhodium plate.

Platinum – Platinum is known for being the rarest and the heaviest of the precious metals. It’s also the most expensive. It’s typically 90-95% pure and weighs twice as much as gold. It also contains other alloys including copper, zinc cobalt and palladium. It doesn’t tarnish like gold and doesn’t loose its luster over time, but it can be scratched and patina over time. There are many positives for platinum, but it’s not for everyone. Price is a barrier to many, and some men don’t like the heaviness of platinum, others love it. Titanium Rings – titanium mens wedding rings are becoming more popular. Titanium is 99+% pure and is inert and therefore completely corrosion resistant. It does not react to salt water, sunlight, or any body chemistry and it is 100% hypoallergenic. Titanium rings never tarnish like silver or gold and are more durable than any other element.

A local jeweler should easily be able to refinish, buff up nicely and rhodium plate your ring. The look is good. The advantage to you is the rhodium provided a safety layer between the nickel in the mens wedding bands and your sensitive skin! The rhodium works very well when the plating is done correctly. You can expect the rhodium to wear off in time but you should get 6 months to a year of wear before the ring should be plated with rhodium again. We often do this service for ladies who love white gold earrings but have problems. With yellow gold problems, we plate the parts touching the skin and it works until the rhodium eventually wears away. Is your ring white gold? If so, the rhodium plating by a local jeweler should ease the problem immensely and the surface will last a fair amount of time before redoing is needed. If the ring is yellow, there are likely environmental issues here, including swimming pool chemicals and salty air (if living near the ocean). Chemicals will often build up in a microscopic way and lead to skin reactions or smudges. Salty air can lead to a build up of residue which will cause smudges or even some sensitive skin reactions. For yellow gold, the solution is difficult but involves either avoiding the environmental issues or cleaning the ring quite often (every couple of days) with a good gentle scrub with a gentle dish detergent and rinsing well.

Millions of people experience unexplained skin irritations and itchy rashes. Many times people who suddenly get these irritations don’t have any idea what caused them. Rashes can be caused by a number of things. Some experts say that jewelry allergies are not onl very common, but very simple to prevent. If you have problems with a skin rash, redness, swelling, itching or burning in areas where you are wearing jewelry, you may have a nickel allergy. Nickel is commonly used in most jewelry, since it’s cheap and strong, but around 15% of the population is allergic to nickel. If you have recently had your ears or another part of your body pierced and are experiencing allergic symptoms, you may have become sensitized to the metal your jewelry contains. White gold and other gold that is less than 14 carats can bring on a reaction, since white gold is made with nickel and other forms of gold contain some amount of nickel as a hardening agent. Sterling silver is plated with nickel, which stays shiny and bright when silver might tarnish, and so is frequently used in silver jewelry.

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Mens Wedding Bands

Calendar February 12, 2010 | Posted by admin

Are You Against Mens Wedding Bands?

My father was against the traditional mens wedding bands so he just never wore one. My parents were married, however it was an outdoor wedding in which they wrote their own vows and dressed in non-traditional clothing. My mother had a wedding ring that was made for her by a friend of theirs that was into making jewelry. I found it interesting that as my parent’s were getting ready to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary my mother decided to go shopping to look at mens wedding bands. She told me that she had noticed that my father was commenting on the wedding rings that other men wore and she thought he regretted not having one.

She asked me to come with her on the shopping trip. I had recently been married so I new what was in style for men’s wedding bands in many of the larger jewelry stores. I asked my mom if she wanted to have something that was similar to hers, or if she was going to look for something traditional. She had not thought about this. We decided that we would contact their old friend to see if he was still making jewelry. After a few telephone calls to old contacts, and looking on the internet telephone directories we were finally able to locate him. He ran a small shop in the metropolitan area of the state we live in. We decided to visit his store. He had become quite successful in his jewelry making and had a very nice display. He was thrilled to see my mom and to find out that she was still wearing the wedding ring that he had made. It was one of his first creations. He did not have any rings for men that were similar, but he agreed to make one for my dad. My mother wanted a simple band that would have similar detailing as hers. He agreed to make it and to come to the anniversary party and deliver it himself. My father was very pleased with the ring and laughed because after forty years others would easily see that he is spoken for.

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