Have you ever taken off your Bronze jewelry and thought, “why is my skin green?”
Turning green when you wear bronze jewelry can happen sometimes! In fact, it happens to us, too.
We get questions about “the green” every now and then and figured we could do a better job telling you about why bronze turns your skin green. So, we put together a whole blog post about why this happens and how you can help prevent it.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BRONZE
Bronze is composed mostly of copper (like the Statue of Liberty) and a little bit of tin. Each piece of our bronze jewelry is solid cast bronze without any plating or coating. This means the golden color you see on a freshly polished piece of ours is raw bronze! We use the highest quality bronze.
Bronze is durable and long-lasting (Lady Liberty looks amazing for her age 😉 And with a quick search online, you can find near-perfect ancient bronze coins, jewelry, sculptures, and artifacts.
WHY DOES MY SKIN TURN GREEN WHEN I WEAR BRONZE?
Bronze turning your skin green has everything to do with the acid in our skin. It reacts to the copper in the bronze and creates a tarnish that can rub off on us!
Ever notice it’s more likely to happen when you’re sweating or dehydrated? Some of us are naturally acidic, and it almost doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing — our skin turning green will happen.
You can prevent or reduce oxidation by cleaning your jewelry, washing it regularly with soap and water, and drying it thoroughly afterward.
To further reduce the possibility of oxidation, take your jewelry off at night, when doing yard work, and during exercise.
HOW TO CURB THE GREEN WHEN WEARING BRONZE
If you are someone whose skin turns green after wearing bronze jewelry, there are a few different things you can do to help curb it:
Paint the inside of the piece with clear fingernail polish. Even though we put a thick layer of polish, it wears of with use. We’ve tried all the fancy enamels, but clear fingernail polish is still our favorite. You will need to reapply the polish every now and then.
Don’t wear your pieces when you’ll be sweating.
We offer Silver and Gold Plating. Silver may tarnish with wear but will not turn your finger green. Gold is the best.14K gold is certainly an investment, but it’s an option we offer. Contact us for 14K gold pricing.
