Jewellery and sensitive skin: what to check before you buy

If a piece has ever made you itch and you have distrusted everything since, here is what is actually worth looking at — and the two words that mean nothing.

The culprit is almost always nickel

Nickel is the metal that causes the most contact allergies in Europe. It gets used because it is cheap, hard and takes plating well: it turns up in low-cost alloys, in some steels and in the intermediate layers of many coatings.

The reaction is not immediate the way a burn is: it is contact dermatitis. It appears somewhere between a few hours and two days later, as itching, redness, dryness or small blisters, right where the metal was touching. And once the body has been sensitised, it is for life: you do not “get used to it”.

Almost nobody is allergic to gold. When someone says “I am allergic to gold”, the reaction usually comes from another metal in the alloy or from the layer underneath.

“Hypoallergenic” does not mean anything

It is not a certification, it is not regulated and nobody audits it: it is a marketing word each shop uses as it sees fit. The same goes for “suitable for sensitive skin”.

What does exist is a European rule — the REACH regulation — which limits how much nickel an object may release in prolonged contact with the skin. It is a release limit, not a ban: a legal piece can contain nickel and still be legal. For most people that is enough; for skin that is already sensitised, not always.

The materials, ordered by risk

The useful question

It is not “is it hypoallergenic?” — everyone answers yes to that. It is:

• What metal is the base?
• What is in the plating, and what layer is it on?
• Do you have a nickel release test?

If they cannot answer the first one, you already have the information you needed. Our own answers, in case they serve as an example: nickel-free bronze; 24 kt gold plating over a layer of palladium; and yes, confirmed by the laboratory that makes them.

And if the reaction has happened to you more than once, what really settles the matter is not a label from any shop: it is a patch test at a dermatology clinic, which tells you which specific metal you react to. It is worth doing even if you never buy anything from us again.

What our pieces are made of

Nickel-free bronze — copper and tin — with an intermediate layer of palladium and, on top, 24 kt gold plating. Neither the base alloy nor the barrier layer contains nickel: the laboratory that makes them confirmed it, and that is why we say “hypoallergenic” on every product page instead of dropping it in as a nice-sounding word.

The palladium layer does two jobs at once, and almost nobody mentions the second: it holds the gold plating so that it stands up to daily wear, and it blocks the copper from migrating out of the bronze towards the surface. It is the difference between any old gold-coloured piece and one meant to be worn every day.

And to be completely clear

Nickel-free does not mean that no skin on earth can react. Bronze contains copper, and copper irritates some people — that is contact irritation, not an allergy, and it is not the same thing that happens to someone allergic to nickel. With the plating and the barrier intact the copper does not touch the skin; the day the coating wears through at a rubbing point, it can. How that works is in why costume jewellery leaves a green mark.

And if you have a diagnosed nickel allergy and want the exact figure before buying — the composition, or anything else you need to know — ask us. We would rather answer a question than handle a return.