Diamonds • Precious Gemstones • Jewelry • Gemology

They poke, prod, pinch, break, and bend. They make your ears red and they make you see red! They looked divine in the store, but they really are the Earrings from Hell! Bad earrings are the root of more evil than the clutter they create in your jewelry case!

An Ounce of Prevention
Trite but true; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Neither fine jewelry nor costume jewelry is fun if it falls apart or causes discomfort. Before you buy:

1. Check the setting to make sure it’s secure. Stones, whether genuine or artificial, often are attached to fashion jewelry with paste. In fine jewelry, the stone is “set” into the metal. Still, check to see that prongs aren’t bent and settings are secure. If the stone wiggles, don’t buy it.
   
2. Allergic reactions aren’t always caused by cheap metals. Both fine jewelry and “hypo-allergenic” fashion jewelry can cause redness, soreness, and itching due to your body’s chemistry reacting with the metal. If you have experienced an allergy reaction to jewelry, be sure that your next earring purchase isn’t alloyed with nickel. Nickel alloys are the number one culprit for causing allergic reactions. If the label doesn’t say “Nickel Free”, assume that the metal includes nickel.

Getting the Red Out
Jewelry coatings keep offending metal away from sensitive skin. When applying coatings to earrings, make sure you cover every area that comes in contact with your skin, including the back of the setting as well as earring backs, and pierced earring posts and wires. It’s especially important to keep pierced earrings clean so that irritants don’t get into your piercing.

Ouch! When earrings fit too close for comfort
Clip-on backs can have far too much spring and earring posts can be either too long, too narrow or too wide to allow for a comfortable fit. Find simple solutions to devilish earring problems in affordable (often under $5.00) earring accessories.

• Take the pinch out of clip-ons with inexpensive earring cushions. Slip them securely over the backs of your clip-ons or apply them from self-adhesive sheets. Either type restores comfort. Alternatively, an earring key is an easy way to make a more permanent adjustment to the spring tension of a clip-on back.
  
• Heavier pierced earrings, especially dangling earrings, frequently are combined with a more substantial post to keep the weight of the setting from stretching or tearing your piercing. You need a strong back to stabilize the post and keep the heavy setting from pulling forward.
  
  Earring stabilizers keep heavier earrings comfortably in place. If you do experience a tear or stretching, there are also discs available that make earrings comfortable during the healing process.
  
• When earring posts are too long or too narrow, your best solution may be to convert them to clip-ons. Pierced earring converters are sold in two types. Both types are u-shaped.
  
1. One is fashioned like a barrel back. You just slip your earring into the back, clip it on and you’re ready to go! These are especially useful for dangling earrings although your earring post shows through the back and they do slightly extend the length of the earring.
   
2. To use the second type of converter you slip the post into a cylinder and carefully bend it to make a clip-on. The setting fits snugly against your ear lobe. Of course, carefully is the definitive word since you must be very careful not to bend the post until it breaks.