24 karat gold jewelry is jewelry made with pure gold, with nothing else mixed in. Karat counts gold in parts out of 24, so 24 karat means 24 parts of gold out of 24. Pure gold is very soft, too soft to hold the shape of a thin earring post on its own, so most 24 karat gold jewelry made for everyday wear is a layer of pure gold over a stronger metal underneath. Our materials page explains exactly how ours is built.
What 24 karat gold jewelry means
The karat number tells you how much of the metal is gold. The rest is other metals, mixed in to make the gold harder, cheaper, or a different color.
| Karat | Parts gold out of 24 | Gold content |
|---|---|---|
| 24K | 24 | Pure gold |
| 22K | 22 | About 92 percent |
| 18K | 18 | 75 percent |
| 14K | 14 | About 58 percent |
| 10K | 10 | About 42 percent |
| 9K | 9 | 37.5 percent |
So a 14 karat earring is a little over half gold. The other 42 percent is a mix of metals such as copper, silver, zinc, and in some white golds, nickel. That remaining share is where most of the questions about sensitive ears come from. We go through the karats one by one in Why does gold karat matter for children's earrings?
Why pure gold is too soft for an earring post
Gold is one of the softest metals used in jewelry. That's lovely for a ring a jeweler hammers into shape, and a problem for an earring post a child pushes through her lobe every morning.
A post made entirely of 24 karat gold bends with ordinary handling. A butterfly back gripping it would wear a groove into it. Claws holding a stone would open. This is why jewelers alloy gold in the first place, and why higher-karat jewelry is usually chunkier, with more metal to hold its shape.
For a small child's stud, the practical answer is a strong core for the structure, with pure 24 karat gold on the surface where it touches her skin.
Do gold earrings bend easily?
It depends on the karat and on how much metal there is.
High-karat earrings bend more easily. The closer to pure gold, the softer the metal.
Lower-karat earrings are harder, because the other metals stiffen them. They also carry more of those other metals against her skin.
Thin posts bend more than thick ones, whatever they're made of.
A plated earring behaves like its core. A post with a steel core holds its shape the way steel does.
Are gold earrings pure gold?
Most aren't. A gold earring is pure gold only if it's 24 karat all the way through, and that's rare in earrings for the reasons above.
What you'll usually find is one of three things:
- Gold alloy, such as 14K or 18K, where gold is mixed with other metals all the way through.
- Gold plating, where a layer of gold is applied over a different metal underneath. The karat of the plating says nothing about the metal below it.
- Gold-colored coating, where there may be little or no gold at all, only the color.
If you're trying to work out which one you're holding, the methods are in How can I tell if jewelry is real gold or gold plated?
Are gold earrings hollow?
Some are. Hollow gold earrings are formed from a thin sheet of gold around an empty center, which gives a larger look for less gold. They're lighter and cheaper than the same shape made from a full piece of metal.
The trade-off is strength. A thin shell dents and can crack, and it can't be repaired easily once it does. For a child's earring, a small stud made from a full piece of metal is the more practical choice.
Why rose gold and white gold can't be 24 karat
This is one I explain often. Pure gold has one color, a deep warm yellow. Every other gold color is made by adding something.
Rose gold gets its pink from copper. Take the copper out and it's yellow again, so rose gold can't be pure by definition. White gold is made by mixing gold with white metals, and it's frequently alloyed with nickel to get that color. That's why white gold is one of the more common culprits on sensitive ears.
So if a piece is described as 24 karat and it isn't yellow, something in the description doesn't add up. It's also why we only offer one gold color.
Can you be allergic to pure gold earrings?
Yes, though it's uncommon. A contact allergy to gold itself is recognized by dermatologists, and gold was named Contact Allergen of the Year in 2001 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. It's far less common than a reaction to nickel.
Most reactions blamed on gold come from something other than the gold: the metals in a lower-karat alloy, or the base metal under worn plating. Nickel allergy affects around one in five people in North America, which is why the metal under the gold matters as much as the gold itself.
If her ears react to every metal she wears, gold included, speak to her pediatrician, who can refer her for patch testing to find the cause. Which karat to choose for sensitive ears is covered in What karat gold is best for sensitive ears?
What we do
Our gold range is 24K Pure Gold: pure 24 karat gold applied onto a S316L Surgical Steel core with Aunix™ 24K, our engineered gold finish. It's a gold-plating process, and I'd rather say that plainly than leave you to discover it. All gold plating is only as safe as the metal underneath. Aunix™ 24K plates pure 24 karat gold onto S316L Surgical Steel.
The core runs through the setting, the post and the butterfly back, and the whole earring is then finished in pure 24 karat gold. The steel gives the post its strength. The gold is the part that touches her skin, with no other metals mixed into it. If the gold ever wears thin on the post, what's underneath is S316L Surgical Steel, the same grade used in medical instruments and implants.
Independently tested by SGS to ASTM F2923 and CPSIA, with nickel release not detected under EN 1811. Report BTO 341803/1.
The simplest place to see it is the 4mm Ball Stud Earrings in 24K Pure Gold. The full range is on the 24K Pure Gold collection, and the wider picture is in What are children's earrings actually made of?
Questions parents ask next
Is 24 karat gold the same as 999 gold? They describe the same thing in two systems. Karat counts parts out of 24, and fineness counts parts out of 1,000, so 999 is gold at the top of the scale.
Why is 24 karat gold jewelry so yellow? Because there's nothing mixed in to change the color. Lower karats look paler or warmer depending on what's been added.
Does 24 karat gold tarnish? Pure gold doesn't oxidize, so it doesn't tarnish. A plated piece can still change color if the plating wears and the metal underneath is reactive.
Are hollow gold earrings worth it? For an adult who wants a large look at a lower price, perhaps. For a child's everyday stud, they dent too easily to be good value.
Is 22 karat better than 18 karat for sensitive ears? It has less of everything else in it, which is the point. For a thin post, though, both are softer than a steel core.
Related reading
- What karat gold is best for sensitive ears?
- Why does gold karat matter for children's earrings?
- How can I tell if jewelry is real gold or gold plated?
- What are children's earrings 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.
