There’s one major myth about sterling silver jewelry that turns your fingers green-- and we want to put it to rest. Just because your fingers turn green while wearing a silver ring, does not mean that the ring is fake silver or low quality.
The real reason behind the development of a green tint on your skin lies in a ring’s metal composition. There are a few important things to know about your sterling silver rings:
- Pure silver generally takes a liquid form.
- For this reason, jewelry made from silver needs to be alloyed, or blended, with another type of metal.
- The most common type of metal combined with sterling silver for the purpose of jewelry-making is copper.
When your jewelry is made of 925 Sterling Silver and 925 Sterling Silver coated with 14kt Yellow or Rose Gold, it means that the composition is 92.5% pure silver which has been alloyed with 7.5% copper. The mix with copper provides the durability and workability necessary to create jewelry.
While the copper is a vital part of the creation process, it has a tendency to result in the green coloring on your fingers. Keep in mind: everyone’s skin reacts differently to copper. There are many reasons that people react differently to copper, including:
- the varying content of chemicals in the skin,
- the composition and severity of sweating,
- the products and creams one uses.
