Allergies to metal is a sensitive topic (no pun intended!) especially when it deals with people with pierced ears.

You do not know you are allergic until you notice that a certain pair of earrings makes your earlobe sore, puffy and itchy. It feels hot and it looks red. And the only relief comes for taking them out. How do I know? because I am allergic to nickel which is the most common type of metal allergies.

After researching the issue of metal allergies (please note that I am not an allergy specialist. I am just an allergy sufferer who has done some research on the subject), I have opted to propose my ear wires in a choice of 3 metals:

1- enameled copper wire.

Byzantine earrings in enameled copper silver and peridot.

This is the metal used to make most of my earrings.

It is a pure copper wire, silver plated, then coated with a thin layer of polyurethane, clear or colored. The polyurethane will preserve the surface of the metal and keep it hypoallergenic. In the case of the non tarnish copper that I use in my copper series, the pure copper wire is not silver plated and the layer of polyurethane is clear.

Allergies to copper are far less common than allergies to nickel. And in this case, copper is not in contact with the skin, polyurethane is. Polyurethane is a type of plastic and plastic does not give allergies.

2- sterling silver.

It is common belief that sterling does not give allergies and this is correct for most people.

However, sterling silver contains a small percentage of copper and may contain traces of nickel. Although it is not very common, we find people who cannot wear sterling.

Fine silver, which is pure silver, would be preferred if it was not too soft to make ear wires.

3- niobium.

This is the metal used to make pacemakers and it is guaranteed to not contain nickel. This makes it a true hypoallergenic metal.

The natural color of niobium is grey. To match the rest of the earring, I propose niobium ear wires in two tones: silver or gold, which are created by anodizing the niobium wire.

The anodizing process does not alter the hypoallergenic properties of the niobium. Another perk of the niobium is that it does not tarnish.

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