Gold Tarnish

You’ve finally decided to make the jump and invest in some high-quality, beautiful, solid gold body jewelry. You’ve spent weeks perusing Instagram and Pinterest, narrowing down your favorite pieces, and you are beyond excited when you head into your local studio to make a purchase. You are beaming when you look in the mirror at your new piece, and all is well. Many months later, however, you notice your beautiful piece isn’t as gorgeous and rich as it was when you first got it. In fact, upon closer inspection, the gold looks a little off. You hurry into your studio, wondering what is happening. Did they sell you something fake? Is the jewelry defective???

Can Gold Tarnish?

Yes! Solid gold, even 14k and 18k gold, can tarnish. This can happy to any alloy of gold, and is so common even the infamous tiffany’s jewelry discusses in their FAQ that their gold can tarnish over time (https://www.tiffany.com/faq/care-and-repair-faq/does-gold-tarnish/). Now Tiffany’s recommends not to wear your jewelry swimming, bathing, or during certain household chores. Body jewelry is generally designed to be worn 24/7, so we use different alloys that are more hardy against life's daily tasks. We understand that people's skin will come in contact with a variety of things in their day-to-day lives, and high-quality body jewelry is designed to withstand that. You are able to wear your quality body jewelry full time, through all life's ups and downs. But, some things still may be more prone to causing gold to discolor over time. It’s important to note that just because gold can tarnish, doesn’t mean it's ‘lower quality’ or fake. We often associate tarnishing and changing colors with “fake” jewelry and rightfully so.

But with costume pieces, they tarnish because it's a low-quality metal with either a thin layer of gold plating over it, or it’s not even plated at all and simply painted. This means when it tarnishes, there is no returning it to the golden color it previously was, and it can even cause irritation and damage to your piercings. Anyone who has worn something “gold” and worked up one morning with itchy, red, weepy lobes and their jewelry changing colors can attest to that. But when quality gold tarnishes, it doesn't cause any harm to the wearer; it simply takes on a discolored hue, usually a brassy or coppery tone. And- it can often be fixed with a quick polish. Some things that can cause this tarnish include:

Anatometal beads that tarnish from pH balance and skincare products

Chemicals: Strong chemicals can cause gold to tarnish. Some of the most common I see this with are hair lighter (often causing tarnish on the front beads of industrial bars or forward helixes), whitening products for the teeth (often discoloring tongue jewelry or the backs of labret posts), and strong skincare acids (which can tarnish facial jewelry over time.)

pH Balance: Certain clients may have strong natural bodily chemicals, that can contribute to jewelry tarnishing over time. I most often see this on genital piercings, oral piercings, and on surface anchors where the back of the piece is against the skin 24/7, and it's easier for buildup to become trapped underneath.

That being said, I probably only see 1-3 clients a year who deal with their pieces tarnishing, in comparison to thousands of pieces we sell every year. I chatted with some other piercers while writing this, and saw similar numbers for them as well. So the chances of dealing with tarnish on your gold body jewelry are generally quite low.

Quality Jewelry is Guaranteed

So the good news is you have a very very low likelihood of dealing with your gold body jewelry tarnishing. But what if you are one of the unlucky ones who does? Well- more good news!

The vast majority of the time the tarnish polishes off easily and simply. If a studio has an in-house polishing setup, its entirely possible they can polish it off for you in the studio. If they don’t, quality body jewelry is guaranteed for life! We can simply ship the piece back to the manufacturer for a repair, get it polished right back up, and get it back in you before you know it. So even if you do end up dealing with tarnish on some of your pieces, it’s really nothing to fret.

Now some clients I have found do tend to cause things to tarnish faster, just due to their lifestyle or natural body. I almost always see this exclusively on genital piercings, and it’s usually reserved to one material. For example, I had a client who would tarnish every piece of yellow gold she wore in her VCH in a few months, but white gold stayed perfect and brilliant and bright on her with no issues. If you are experiencing frequent tarnishing on your pieces, you might investigate different materials or see if you can identify the products causing it (I cover the front of my industrial bar when I lighten my roots- I know the bleach can discolor my pieces).

I think it’s important to be honest and transparent about the materials we work with, including the good and the bad. While I’ll continue to dream of the day someone manages to find a gold alloy that will never ever tarnish, and is safe and sturdy to be in the body, that’s just currently not a thing. But it doesn’t mean that gold is low quality, or unsafe to wear. It’s just a limitation of materials to be aware of! Hopefully, this helps you feel better informed about the materials you purchase, how you wear them, and the beautiful lifetime guarantee they carry. Happy healing!