Why Does My Gold-Filled Product Sometimes Turn My Skin Green/Black?

We regularly see the following message through our Essbe Jewelry Supply Instagram messages: Please help! A customer emailed me saying that the chain they bought from me is turning their skin green. The seller was reputable, but was I sold cheap products?

Simple answer...Quality materials are NOT always correlated with your skin turning black/green!

We often assume as soon as our skin is discolored, the product must be to blame, but that’s not always the case! The discoloration is often caused by a chemical reaction between the metal and the acids in your skin. When the metal reacts with sweat, lotion, hormones or other chemicals, it can form a green-colored compound.

This compound is not harmful, but it can discolor your skin and make it look green. Gold-filled products are less likely to turn your skin green than gold-plated jewelry. This is because gold-filled items have a thicker layer of gold, which minimizes the exposure to base metals that may cause skin reactions. However, factors like skin pH or prolonged exposure to moisture or chemicals can still lead to this discoloration.

Even karat gold can exhibit this effect! Because of the change in hormones around my cycle or if I'm somewhere really hot and humid, my solid gold wedding bands turn my fingers green. It washes right off and I just wait until the changes return to normal and the green/black marks goes away.

Example: My solid gold wedding rings cause green/black discoloration on my finger

I know the immediate reaction is panic when it revolves around quality & the product you have invested in. Before jumping to conclusions, you can research to educate yourself on the issue at hand. You have to remember that behind the beautiful jewelry, a lot of science goes into its creation! It is a metal and it is natural for it to react to iron levels, hormones, environmental factors, etc. Once the external effect, such as hormones, pools, oceans, etc., is complete, the green/black will wash off and won't affect the quality of the jewelry.