Pure gold doesn't tarnish. It's one of the least reactive metals there is, which is why gold objects come out of the ground looking much as they went in. When gold earrings tarnish, it's the other metals in them doing it. What tarnishes is everything mixed in with it. The lower the karat, the more of that there is, and the more likely a pair is to dull, darken or mark her skin. Our materials page sets out exactly what's in ours.
What tarnish actually is
Tarnish is a surface chemical reaction. A metal meets oxygen, moisture, sulfur compounds or the mild acids in skin, and the outermost layer converts into something else. That new compound usually has a different color, which is what you see.
Gold barely participates. Copper and silver do it readily. Since copper and silver are the two metals most commonly alloyed with gold in jewelry, most gold jewelry can tarnish to some degree.
So the honest answer to the question depends on a number nobody usually looks at.
Which gold earrings tarnish, and which don't
Karat measures purity. Picture the metal divided into 24 equal parts, and the karat is how many of those parts are gold.
- 24 karat is all gold, and it will not tarnish
- 18 karat is 18 parts gold, 6 parts other metal
- 14 karat is 14 parts gold, 10 parts other metal
- 9 karat is 9 parts gold, 15 parts other metal
At 9 karat there's more other metal in the earring than gold, so the behavior of the piece is driven mostly by the alloy rather than by the gold. It will tarnish, and how fast depends on a recipe that's almost never published.
The pattern is consistent: the higher the karat, the less there is in the metal capable of reacting.
Plated gold is a different situation
If the earrings are plated rather than solid, tarnishing means something else, and it's more useful information.
A plated earring is a layer of gold over a base metal. While the layer is intact, the surface is gold and it stays bright. When you start seeing dullness, patches or darkening, it usually means the layer has worn through and the base metal underneath is now exposed and reacting.
That's why the pattern of the tarnish tells you as much as its presence. Uniform dullness across a solid piece suggests alloy. Patchy dullness, concentrated where the earring gets the most friction, suggests a coating that's going.
Look at the post. If the front still looks gold but the post has gone a darker steel color, that's a coating that has worn through at the point of most contact, and the post is the component sitting inside her piercing.
What speeds it up
Perspiration, which is mildly acidic and in contact for hours at a time.
Water left sitting, after swimming, showering or bathing.
Products applied over the top. Perfume, hairspray, sunscreen, lotion, shampoo and soap all end up on the lobe and on the metal.
Chlorine and salt water, both of which are harder on alloys than plain water.
Sleeping in them, which doubles or triples the daily contact time.
Skin chemistry, which varies between people. How much she perspires, and its composition, changes how quickly a metal reacts. Two sisters can wear the same pair and get different results, and neither is doing anything wrong.
When tarnish is telling you something worth acting on
Dullness on its own is cosmetic. Two situations aren't.
Marks on her skin. Green marks are usually copper compounds. Dark gray or black marks often come from abrasion or from a reaction with cosmetics and soaps. Either way, the metal is transferring onto her, which means it's also transferring into the piercing channel.
A color change on the post or the back. These sit against and inside the ear for the whole time the earring is worn. A post that has changed color is a post whose surface is no longer what it started as.
Both are worth acting on, because prolonged exposure to reactive metals is what leads to sensitivity over time. Nickel allergy affects around one in five people in North America, and the American Academy of Pediatrics reported in 2020 that nickel allergic contact dermatitis in children has nearly quadrupled over three decades. Sensitization builds through exposure and it's generally permanent once established.
Cleaning, and what not to do
For a solid piece, a soft dry cloth is enough for ordinary dullness. Warm water and a little mild soap, then dried thoroughly, handles the rest.
Two things to avoid.
Don't use abrasive polishes or cloths on anything plated. They remove plating faster than wear does. A polishing cloth is designed to take off a microscopic layer of metal, which is exactly what you can't spare.
Don't use ultrasonic cleaners or harsh chemical dips on children's earrings without knowing what the piece is made of. They can loosen settings and attack alloys unpredictably.
And the habit that prevents more tarnishing than any cleaning routine fixes: jewelry on last, off first. Everything else goes on before the earrings, and the earrings come out before anything else comes off.
What we do
purepixxi uses two materials.
S316L Surgical Steel, the same grade used in medical instruments and implants. It's chosen for corrosion resistance, which is the same property that keeps it from tarnishing. On the Polished Surgical Steel range it's the whole earring, one material throughout.
24K Pure Gold, which is pure 24 karat gold finished onto a solid S316L Surgical Steel core with Aunix™ 24K, our engineered gold finish. At 24 karat there's no alloy in the gold, so there's nothing in the finish with a tendency to tarnish.
The setting, the post and the butterfly back all carry the same S316L Surgical Steel core, which matters here because posts and backs are the components that usually show tarnishing first, and they're frequently bought in from a different supplier than the earring itself.
Independently tested by SGS to ASTM F2923 and CPSIA, with nickel release not detected under EN 1811. Report BTO 341803/1.
You can see the range on the 24K Pure Gold collection.
The plainest way to rule this out is a pair with nothing plated over anything, which is what the 4mm Flawless Crystal Stud Earrings in Surgical Steel are.
Questions parents ask next
Is tarnish the same as rust? No. Rust is specific to iron and steel with enough exposed iron content. Tarnish is a broader surface reaction that affects copper, silver and their alloys.
Can tarnish be removed permanently? On a solid piece you can clean the surface, and it will happen again because the alloy hasn't changed. On a plated piece, once the layer is gone it can't be restored by cleaning.
Does tarnished jewelry cause reactions? Tarnish itself isn't the cause. It's a visible sign that the metal is reacting, and a metal that's reacting on its surface is also releasing into skin.
Why do some pairs never tarnish? Either the karat is high enough that there's little to react, or the metal is a stable one such as surgical steel or titanium, or the coating is still intact.
Should I stop her wearing them the moment they dull? Not necessarily. Uniform dullness on a solid piece is cosmetic. A color change on the post, or marks appearing on her skin, is the point to take them out.
Related reading
- What is PVD coating on earrings?
- Why do gold earrings turn my ears green?
- Do gold earrings contain nickel?
- What children's earrings are actually made of
About the author. Matt Westmore is the founder of purepixxi. He came to children's jewelry from manufacturing and sourcing rather than marketing, which means he has walked the factory floors and knows what is actually inside a product rather than what a label says about it. purepixxi uses two materials only, names them exactly, and has them independently tested.
