I remember this necklace I had in high school: it was short, silver plated and had a nice, satin finish. It also had little stars with crystals hanging from it. I loved this necklace and basically lived in it for several weeks. I showered in it, exercised in it. I never took it off! (It was also summer in GA at the time.)
A few weeks later I started to notice it was warm under some parts of the necklace. Then I noticed that those spots started to burn. I took the necklace off, raced to the retailer. Laid it down like an injured patient on the countertop and asked her how to fix it. She pointed to several spots that had started to discolor and explained that the plating had worn off and I was probably having an allergic reaction to the base metal underneath.
She explained what I could do to avoid this and since it was my favorite necklace, I bit the bullet and bought another. So, here's what you can do to avoid my costly mistake:
- Don't shower in metal jewelry!
- Don't exercise in metal jewelry!
- Take it off at night so it can dry!
The reason why this is important is the same reason why water eats through rock: it will naturally erode metal. Once it mixes with the salts in your skin it becomes a chemical even more toxic to metal and will erode it even quicker.
Therefore:
Yep, if you are going to be at an all day (or even half-day) in the sticky, GA heat, avoid wearing plated metal jewelry. You may not notice the damage immediately, because everyone has different skin chemistry or the plating may be thicker on some pieces, but you are definelty shortening it's life. Besides, chain necklaces just get uncomfortable in the humidity.
Now, all Oh, So Fitting chains have an anti-tarnish coating, so they will last a lot longer than those without it, but you should still keep this in mind for all your metal jewelry.
Stay Healthy & Beautiful,
Merrie
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