Lots of jewelry has nickel in it — in fact, it’s a very common metal in all kinds of industrial uses. But increasingly, jewelry buyers are shying away from jewelry with nickel components. So why is nickel in jewelry? And why does acredo produce nickel-free jewelry?
Why You Should Choose Nickel-Free Jewelry
The main problem with nickel is that it can cause “nickel allergies.” Technically, a nickel allergy is a form of contact dermatitis, and can be caused by long-term or repeat exposure to nickel against bare skin.
Symptoms include a rash or bumps on the skin, itching, redness, dry patches of skin, and in very severe cases, blistering. Even people who don’t currently have any sensitivity to nickel can develop a nickel allergy over prolonged or repeated exposure to items containing nickel. However, once a nickel sensitivity is developed, it’s permanent — you’ll always remain sensitive to nickel going forward.
Standards for Nickel-Free Jewelry
In the US, there are no federal standards for how low the nickel content in a piece of metal has to be for it to be considered “nickel-free” or “hypoallergenic.” Some manufacturers don’t use nickel in the plating on their jewelry but still use it to reduce costs and increase durability in the base metals. When the plating wears off, the skin comes into contact with a nickel-containing alloy and irritation can occur.
What acredo Uses Instead
At acredo, we don’t use nickel in alloys with our precious metals. We create custom jewelry from a variety of precious metals and use a wide range of supplementary metals to enhance their strength, color, and versatility.
Gold is a warm, yellow color, but 24 karat gold is not very strong or durable; so it’s mixed with copper and silver to preserve its color while strengthening it. To make white gold, we mix in palladium to give the gold a brilliant white-gray color. To make rose gold, we simply increase the copper content of the alloy to bring in a rich red color.
For the purest of all alloys, we offer a platinum-gold alloy that has a gorgeous clear white color and excellent material properties, making it easy to shape into brilliant and breathtaking shapes. Platinum gold is at least 97.3% precious metals and doesn’t contain allergy-causing substances, so the allergy risk is extremely low.
No matter what color ring you want, acredo can create the beautiful piece of your dreams. You want a ring that you’ll be able to wear for the rest of your life — we can make it for you.