4 Most Common Problems With Earrings

I was recently browsing celebrity photos from this year’s Cannes festival in search for upcoming jewelry trends. What I found instead inspired or rather pushed me to write this post. I saw a picture of the gorgeous Sharon Stone wearing a stunning white gown with a golden snake detail across her back. Miss Stone matched her outfit with quite impressive pair of diamond earrings. So impressive, that Miss Stone’s earlobes almost doubled in length! I was shocked. Why would one suffer so much just to make an impression… with a pair of earrings?  Wasn't the dress enough?

Sharon Stone's excessive and regular earlobes

Then I started looking around me and saw that many girls do the same on a daily basis. Current jewelry trends impose chandelier or long dangling earrings on us and we happily comply, but how can we make this experience more bearable?

Here are the four biggest earring sins and how to deal with them.

Problem 1: Heavy Weight

Earrings which are too heavy for our earlobes may cause our holes to stretch or droop in the long run. Also, it is not very aesthetically pleasing, as Sharon Stone’s example shows. There are two easy solutions to this problem. You can or use additional transparent discs to secure the back of the earring or invest in translucent patches that are applied to the back of the earlobe, such as EarLift or Lobe Wonder. In both cases, some of the weight of the earring will be transferred onto the disk or patch support, making it easier to wear. At Love My Pearls, we offer two types of disk support for larger earrings: larger discs made of hard plastic and smaller and softer ones, made of silicone, just like on the photo below. However, the best solution is to wear such earrings only once in a while and for a few hours at a time, just for special occasions to minimize the chance of permanent damage to our earlobes.  

Types of additional earring support offered free of charge at Love-My-Pearls.com

Problem 2: Wrong Fit

Sometimes we just want our earrings to be big. Unfortunately, larger or multidimensional earrings tend to fall off the ears or don’t sit straight. For example, larger pearl studs (think 10 mm or more) require extra support to sit snugly on our ears. In such case, you can consider getting a larger earring back or wearing larger disks with your existing earring backs. A larger back support will fix the fit of a rebellious earring, just like on the photo below.

Difference in fit between regular and enlarged earring backs in large pearl stud earrings. 

Problem 3: Total Discomfort

Some earrings, especially those for non-pierced ears, are simply not comfortable to wear. They pinch too much, they slip, or their intricate designs dig into our delicate skin. A simple solution is to try a different type of back or to use earring cushions that help to relieve pressure on the ears and make the earrings more comfortable. Alternatively, you can ask a jeweler to adjust their tight grip or consider substituting them with screw-on mechanisms that allows for adjusting the pressure. 

Problem 4: Allergy Boosters

Finally, earrings may be made with metal alloys that cause allergies. Oftentimes, it is an allergy to nickel which can be found in many types of jewelry, even 14K or 18K gold. Some people are also allergic to gold, so keep in mind that nickel may not be the only culprit. The best solution for keeping your allergies at bay without going bankrupt is to order your earrings from reputable jewelers, where all jewelry has been screened for allergy-causing agents. For instance, at Love My Pearls, we are testing all our jewels for allergic reactions in-house, in addition to working with reputable silver and gold suppliers. Another solution is, if possible, to replace problematic findings with hypoallergenic ones. Finally, you can opt for platinum earrings and get one pair of earrings every two years instead of the usual 10 pairs per season. ;o)

As women, we tend to compromise on our comfort for the sake of fashion. A feminine paradox; we suffer to feel better about ourselves. We force our feet into high heels with pointy toes, we constrain our bodies in seriously breath-taking shape wear, and we accessorize with heavy-weight statement jewels that give us sore necks. We consciously and consistently punish our cute little earlobes with earrings that are too large, too heavy, or even harmful to our health. These few tips should be helpful in minimizing the negative impact of our fashion consciousness.