Hypoallergenic Earrings for Sensitive Ears: Find the Perfect Pair!
Find the perfect pair of earrings for your sensitive ears! IceCarats has decades of expertise in precious metals jewelry and offers hypoallergenic earrings.
If you are looking for earrings for sensitive ears, you must have discovered empirically you have this irritating condition, having suffered from itchiness, bleeding, or even some unaesthetic accumulation of pus in your piercing.
If this is the case, even though you may be tempted to ditch wearing earrings altogether, bear with us to understand the reasons for the ear irritation and ways to counteract them most effectively with minimal detriment to your comfort or health.
IceCarats is a well-established online jewelry retailer, with decades of experience on the international precious metals’ jewelry market and hundreds of items sold daily. At the same time, a 30-day free return guarantee and a lifetime warranty safeguard our customers from any risks involving a purchase with us.
Our utmost mission is to help our clients find the right jewelry to inject style into their lives and brighten their image for many years. This is why we care to educate our potential clients about choosing the perfect pair of earrings, even if you have sensitive ears.
Let’s find a perfect pair for your delicate ears.
Why Do Ears Get Sensitive?
When looking for non-irritating earrings based on a personal negative experience, the first thing to consider is the freshness of your piercing.
If your piercing is under 2 months, there is a chance that an infection may be causing soreness, puffiness, the pus of bleeding. In this case, you should take care of your newly-pierced ears the way your doctor prescribed. This includes using rubbing alcohol and twisting them a few times a day. If the symptoms persist or worsen, it’s time to see your dermatologist.
But if your ears have been pierced for years, you've enjoyed sparkling accessories before and only started showing first signs of sensitivity; then, you must have an allergic reaction to some metal.
The fact is: most of the sensitive ear condition sufferers react to the specific metal in the alloy used to produce a particular pair of earrings. When they switch to a pair of hypoallergenic earrings, things go back to normal.
In this case, the problem can be solved by finding the best earring material for sensitive ears. It may take some experimentation to see which exact metals you are sensitive to, but we have ready-made solutions to the problem that works for a vast majority of people with this condition.
Let’s see which metals the best earrings for sensitive ears are made of.
What Are Hypoallergenic Metals? Best Earring Material For Sensitive Ears
The definition "hypoallergenic metal" means the majority of allergic people will not experience any side effects while wearing earrings made with this metal in its alloy. No metal is 100% hypoallergenic per se, and there are exceptions and personal sensitivity cases with each and every one of them.
These are the best metals for sensitive ears:
- High-karat Gold
Gold earrings with high purity percentages are among the most obvious solutions to a problem of sensitive ears.
This means that the closer your jewelry gold is to 24K, the less likely the allergic reaction is. But it is safe to say that 20K and even 18K gold earrings are hardly ever the cause of the allergic reaction.
People with irritation-prone ears should better stick to the higher Karat gold, as the pieces with low purity levels will have too big a percent of other metals in the alloy, which will highly likely cause the irritation.
Pro tip:
Always pay attention to the plating method in the jewelry piece, as gold-plated and gold-filled pieces do contain lower-end metals, like copper and brass. Specifically, gold-plated jewelry is covered by the very thin layer of gold and tends to wear it off with time, possibly allowing contact with non-gold elements sooner rather than later.
- Palladium Alloy White Gold
White gold is principally an alloy containing gold and some white metals, like palladium or nickel. Palladium-based white gold is the alloy that is friendly to sensitive irritable skin. Make sure that you double-check with the jeweler, that your white gold is not the formula with nickel in it.
- Titanium For The Bulletproof
Another great sensitive ears earring solution is opting for titanium pieces. This metal boasts overwhelming hypoallergenic properties. It's also pretty lightweight [so respectively comfy to wear], even though it's a strong and durable material.
- Platinum, The Little Silver Or Big Gold?
Little silver, that’s actually a big gold.
The term “Platinum" comes from the Spanish "little silver", but in fact, it's way more durable, precious and malleable than gold. It is highly resistant to corrosion and has one of the lowest reactivity indexes, making it one of the rare noble metals.
Platinum would usually be used in jewelry pieces as a maximum of 90-95% alloy. Premium watchmakers heavily use it for their limited-edition high-end watches.
It should be noted, though, that the so-called "patina" side effect is possible with platinum, whereby Nano-sized scratches on the surface of platinum may appear to dim or darken the polish. The industry experts try to sell it as a positive feature, in an attempt to boost the value of the element as an investment and jewelry metal. This inherent property of platinum we prefer to warn our readers of, allowing them to make an informed decision about this natural aging process of the platinum earrings.
- Niobium [AKA columbium]
This metal was all over the place in the process of discovery. In fact, it was a part of a very naughty threesome, one could say. It was interchangeably confused with the other 2 metals – one righteously one not: columbium and tantalum, respectively. It was only in 1949, one-and-a-half centuries later, after discovery, that they sealed the name Niobium after this element.
Guess what? The stubborn USA metallurgy still prefers to use the columbium.
The Niobium's physiological inertness made this metal part of the medical industry, whereby the material is used in the production of pacemakers and other implant devices.
Needless to say, jewelers, aware of the league of clients in need of earrings for very sensitive ears, were happy to pick up the cues from Niobium's medical usage and started producing niobium earrings.
- Fine Silver AKA Pure Silver = 99.9% success
The purest of them all, 99.9% silver that is referred to as "pure silver" or "fine silver", is the epitome of a hypoallergenic metal.
This is why silver earrings for sensitive ears are a recommended way to go. On the other hand, we also know that pure silver – just like 24K gold – is a soft metal. This is why finding a pair of earrings in 99.9 fine silver mode is a rarity.
If you are wondering, "Is sterling silver safe for sensitive ears?” the answer is – it depends. First of all, sterling silver is an alloy with only 92.5% of purity, so it all depends on the other ingredients of this recipe. If the jeweler used nickel in the alloy of the sterling solver – there is a slight chance that a person with super sensitive skin may get an unwanted reaction.
For the vast majority of allergic users, sterling silver may turn out great due to the prohibitively small proportion of nickel in it.
To be on the safe side – triple check with your jeweler if the specific sterling silver alloy contains nickel or not.
- Surgical Stainless Steel [SSS]
For those with newly-pierced ears and those on a budget, surgical stainless steel is an option to consider.
Beware to check the nickel contents, as some of the stainless-steel alloys may have it.
316L and 316M are the recommended grades of surgical stainless steel for sensitive ears.
Stainless steel earrings for sensitive ears are one of the safest options to diagnose your sensitivity too. So if you are not sure what causes the reaction, buying a pair of SSS earrings is a cheap and effective method to figure out the root of the issue.
- Non-Metal Options: Wood And Plastic
If you are looking into non-metal options as well, these materials don’t tend to cause any irritation as well:
- Plastic Earrings
- Wooden Earrings
Yep, even if it's high karat gold, that plates the nickel or zinc base, the layer is so thin that it will wear off eventually, leaving your skin exposed to the harmful reaction with these allergenic metals.
Nickel-Containing Alloys
Due to its high durability, nickel is godsent to jewelers that tend to use it more often than not in all types of alloys, including gold and silver.
This makes the life of a potential jewelry shopper with irritable ears a bit of a torture, as you have to suspect nickel in pretty much every pair of earrings unless proven wrong by a jeweler and respective certification.
Places To Buy Earrings For Sensitive Ears
There are a few prerequisite conditions necessary for the buyer to feel confident about purchasing the right pair for their ears. Now that we have gone through the types of earrings for sensitive ears and you know what to look for and what to avoid, you just need to make sure to get enough proof of the contents of alloy.
So effectively once you choose what metal you would like to consider depending on your budget – be it gold earrings for sensitive ears, platinum or palladium – you have to choose a reputable jeweler with proper certification.
Buying online is cheaper than buying with a high-street retailer, due to all the overhead cost of rental, utility bills, and manning. On the other hand, there is no harm in getting a consultation in an offline store to start searching for a perfect pair.
If you do opt to buy online, ensure the retailer is reputable with thousands of social media followers, excellent online reviews, extensive assortment, expert customer care, and proper certification and markings.
Buy Earrings For Sensitive Ears With IceCarats
IceCarats loves helping customers find the perfect jewelry for any occasion, budget, or health concern. We have delighted our customers for nearly ten years, having made a reputation as a trustworthy supplier of fine jewelry with personality at reasonable rates.
Consider checking some of these earrings for your delicate ears:
Doubt not, there is 0 [zero, nada, nil] risks involved in dealing with IceCarats due to these policies:
Sensitive ears are not a pleasant condition to have, we know. But it should not be the end of you indulging the world with a bit of sparkle complimenting your face.
Allow IceCarats to find you a perfect pair for your budget, face shape, colour type, and skin conditions. With thousands of stunningly elegant earrings in our collection, you are sure to find one that befits you in every meaning.
Use our granular menu to quickly surf and find just the jewelry of your dreams, that doesn’t irritate, but delights.
