Ask Angie: How can I wear earrings when my ears are super senstive?

Tara A.

I have a bad allergic reaction to earrings if they aren't made of stainless steel. I react fine when I wear stainless steel earrings, but when I wear anything else I break out very badly; I even break out on different areas of my body! Like right now, I have a HUGE rash on my belly and underneath my armpits. It's aggrivating. I need some advice on the BEST way to protect my earrings to keep me from breaking out. Some say to use clear nail polish, some say use the rubber backings, etc. But I want yall's opinions on what works best. Thanks and God Bless!

12 years ago

What I Wore

18 replies

Latest reply was from tulle

(website)

Veteran

I dealt with this in my mid 30's. My experience may be totally different than yours, but I wasn't actually allergic to the metal, as I thought. I was allergic to the neomycin that you put on topically to help heal skin problems! Gave me advanced cellulitus and I couldn't wear earrings for several years. It would burn and itch and swell terribly. Not until I got a patch test on my back several years later (after a bad reaction to having a mole removed) did I find I was allergic to that which is meant to heal. I have heard the nail polish trick, by the way, but since my allergy wasn't metal in the end, I can't say if that works.

12 years ago

Sylvie

Veteran

Similar problem here - I can't wear anything that's not gold or silver. I have used nail polish to coat jewelry so I can wear it for short periods of time.

Nail polish works well enough if you are only wearing the earrings for a few hours. If you are wearing earrings all day, I'd recommend sticking to stainless steel posts.

For hooked earrings, you may be able to switch out the hooks for stainless steel.

12 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The ladies make great suggestions. You might be allergic to the nickel in the metal.

12 years ago

Amy

(website)

Veteran

I have allergic reactions to some ear wires. I believe my problems are caused by the nickel alloy. For my costume jewelry at least, I've replaced all ear wires causing me problems with hypoallergenic versions.

Here's one place that sells them:

http://beads.artbeads.com/jewe.....QgodmiVbsg

Learning how to attach dangles and what nots to the ear wires is fairly easy and there are a lot of tutorials on the internet. I'd suggest going into a local bead store and asking for a quick demo. They're usually happy to oblige, provided you buy a little something from them.

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I find the nail polish works BUT it's not easy to get those wire hooks coated AND you have to do upkeep, 'cuz it comes off as with your nails.

I don't wear earrings often anymore.

12 years ago

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I have sensitive ears- not just the metal, but the weight. I finally stopped wearing earrings all together. It made me sad at first, but now I think it has worked out for me. I prefer bold necklaces or bangle bracelets, anyway.

12 years ago

Victoria

(website)

Veteran

Welcome to the Sensitive Ears Club:(. I first discovered that I couldn't wear certain earrings when I had my ears pierced(I was 12) and when I tried to wear costume jewelry earrings my ears would become swollen and painful. In my case, I can wear stainless steel, 14k gold or higher and sterling silver. There is a solution that you can buy(can't remember the name, try googling it) that is sold specifically for that purpose and works simular to clear nail polish, you just paint ear wires with it and let it dry.
Although to be frank, I usually don't bother with the coatings because its kind of a hassle. I have mostly sillver jewelry and that's what i usually wear although I do have couple of pairs of costume jewelry earrings that have stainless steel posts(I'm always very careful to check the labels to make sure that's what the post is made from). Nickel by far is the most common allergen. I don't think you need to give up earrings altogether just be careful that hooks are made from ss. By the way, QVC and HSN has nice selection of stainless steel jewelry

12 years ago

Tara A.

Active Member

I appreciate everyone's comments and tips! Thanks.

12 years ago

Katja

(website)

Active Member

I gave up on earrings, except very occasionally for special nights out (probably not even once a year, and then for no longer than a couple of hours). I just concentrate on necklaces, scarves and other accessories.

12 years ago

Joy

Veteran

My sister can only wear 18kt. gold for her sensitive skin, so has a couple pair of white gold earrings. Stainless and silver will not work. 14 kt. gold is ok for short periods only. We look for necklaces and bracelets with no metal. I've heard that this sensitivity can get worse over time but not sure that's true. I've also read it usually starts with a piercing not done with hight quality metal. The rash on your belly may be due to a metal zipper.

12 years ago

Irene

Veteran

I can only wear silver and gold, so I stick to silver -I don't like gold on me. Silver is not that expensive, anyway... I have some cheap earrings and will try a pair tonight, let's see how it works out. Years ago I was allergic to any other metal.

12 years ago

Jjsloane

Veteran

The best solution is to change out the earwires to something you know doesn't cause you a reaction. I made jewelry for years and some people can only wear titanium (which are quite expensive and harder to find).

12 years ago

Tara A.

Active Member

A couple years back, I used to break out to the metal on the back of the button snap on my jeans. And even belts! I would use bandaids, tape, nail polish, etc. One day I stopped breaking out all together! And now it seems that it's coming back again?? Goodness gracious!!

12 years ago

Refugee

Veteran

I have a similar history (I won't bore you or gross you out with the details). But I will share what I learned and what helped when it came back. For some reason earrings were the weak point with me when my once allover metal sensitivity returned. As long as I didn't ear earrings I was fine, but if I did all h*ll would break loose. I didn't use either nail polish or covers or anything like that but I found the following things helped immensely:
Clean all of your jewelry with a jewelry cleaner. Not just earrings. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, everything. I'm of the opinion that I may have a sensitivity to the oxidation on jewelry that is a catalyst to severe metal sensitivity episodes.
Clean your earring posts/wires both before putting in and upon removal.
Wipe your earlobes with alcohol before putting in earrings.
Upon removing earrings wipe with alcohol again and then follow-up with a light coating of neosporin or other antibiotic ointment. Just the alcohol along dried my skin out too much and contributed to skin openings that grabbed a hold of all the irritants and sent them flying through my body. The antibiotic ointment really helped with that.

12 years ago

Rainy Rainboots

Active Member

I share your pain. I've been getting more and more sensitive over the last 6 months or so. Right now I can wear them for an hour or so, but any longer and my ears start to swell fast. Mostly people are suggesting to just get earrings made out of the hypoallergenic metals, like titanium or

argentium silver. What I'm doing now is coating all my earrings with nail polish and I've also ordered some coconut oil, apparently if you put some on the wires it buffers the allergic reaction. But for long term it's probably best to change out the wires for ones made out of surgical steel or something like that. Your reaction sounds pretty bad so you probably shouldn't risk it and just change out the wires for better metals or buy new earrings.

I asked this same question on reddit a few days ago. Got some helpful answers. They directed me to this article. It kind of sums up the options, most importantly it mentions the diet. I'll see if I can manage my sensitivity with a low-nickel diet. Apparently, grains, beans and seedy foods have lots of nickel. Try eating green vegetables. Also interestingly whole grain foods contain more nickel than the processed versions I eat whole grain pasta and bread almost every day which kind of explains why I'm getting this nickel allergy suddenly. Anyway, good luck!

9 years ago

helpful person

Member

I'm pretty late, but I thought it would help. For me, I'm probably allergic to just about any metal out there on my ear other than 100% sterling silver and 18 kt gold. What I do so I can wear fake earrings is actually pretty easy. You soak the fake earrings in hydrogen peroxide for maybe about 5 minutes, by then you'll see bubbles all around the earring. After that, you soak the earrings in rubbing alcohol for a few minutes.

Then you can wear your favorite earrings you've always wanted! It saved me a significant amount of money, and I won't get severe allergic reactions or get an infection.

I also recommend all the suggestions above along with that if it helps too.

7 years ago

laura13600

Member

Hi!

If your skin reacts when you wear costume earrings, you may be
allergic to Nickel. This means that the Nickel contained in costume
jewelry can be responsible for redness or rash. This rash can last
from a brief instant to many hours depending on your degree of Nickel
allergy, and the concentration of Nickel contained in the earrings for
instance.

If you want to wear your fake earrings longer, you can try:
- Skintifique Protective Cream HPS which is a cream that protects the
skin from Nickel. It seems quite good:
https://www.amazon.com/Protect.....B00N2Y7QG2
- Athena Allergy Nickel Guard which seems to work pretty much as a
nail polished: https://www.amazon.com/Athena-.....B00JCYZUZK

I hope this is helping!

Laura

7 years ago

tulle

Veteran

My daughter had a similar allergic reaction to all her earrings--nickel is hiding in so many things--and even developed a rash where the metal fastener on her jeans touched her stomach. She worked in a jewelry store that Summer, and her boss took her downtown to a serious piercing parlor, where her gold earrings were replaced with surgical steel studs containing absolutely NO nickel. She wore only those for months, until the holes in her ears toughened up a bit, then slowly ventured into regular stainless-steel-post earrings, watching for any signs of re-sensitization. Eventually she was able to wear all sorts of earrings without reacting. I hope you will, too.

7 years ago

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