Earrings smell because a piercing channel is a small, enclosed, warm space lined with skin. Skin sheds cells and produces oils continuously, those build up where there's little airflow, and the ordinary bacteria that live on everyone's skin break them down. The result has a smell. It's completely normal and it isn't a hygiene failure. Our Polished Surgical Steel collection is designed to give it less to cling to.
Nobody talks about this and almost everybody has it
Worth saying plainly, because a lot of people quietly assume they're the only one.
This is one of the most searched questions about earrings and one of the least written about. It happens to adults and children, to people who shower twice a day, and to piercings that are years old and perfectly healthy.
It isn't a sign that something is wrong.
Why earrings smell, mechanically
A pierced ear has a channel through it lined with skin, the same as the skin on the outside of the lobe. That skin does what all skin does: it sheds dead cells and it produces sebum, an oil.
On an exposed surface those get washed away without you noticing. Inside a channel that's covered by an earring at both ends, they can't go anywhere. They accumulate.
Then the bacteria that live harmlessly on everyone's skin do what they do, which is break down oils and proteins. Some of the compounds produced by that process have a strong smell.
That's the whole mechanism. It's the same basic process behind other body odors, happening in a very small space.
Why it's often described as cheesy
Because the comparison is more accurate than people expect.
Cheese ripens through bacterial breakdown of fats and proteins, producing a family of compounds including butyric acid and various sulfur compounds. The bacteria on skin produce chemically similar compounds when they break down sebum and dead skin cells.
So the resemblance isn't coincidence or imagination. It's genuinely related chemistry.
What makes it worse
A back that traps material. Anything that seals the channel more thoroughly gives debris fewer ways out. Flat backs are worth knowing about here: the disc creates a small cavity that holds moisture and debris against the lobe.
A rough or porous surface. Debris clings more readily to a surface that isn't smooth. A well-finished, corrosion-resistant post gives it less to hold onto than one that has started to tarnish or pit.
Leaving the same pair in for months. Contact time is the main variable. Earrings that never come out never get cleaned, and neither does the channel.
Moisture. Water left sitting after swimming or showering, and perspiration in warm weather.
Products. Shampoo, conditioner and styling products run down the ear in the shower and end up in the channel.
What to do about it
Take them out and wash both. Warm water and mild soap on the earring, and gently clean the lobe front and back. Dry properly. This alone resolves most cases.
Do it regularly rather than intensively. Once a week is more useful than a deep clean once a season.
Don't twist or rotate the earring in the hole. It's often suggested and it works against you, abrading the channel and pushing debris further in.
Don't over-clean with antiseptic. Frequent alcohol or antiseptic on a settled piercing dries and irritates the skin, which makes it produce more, not less.
Jewelry on last, off first. Shampoo, conditioner and hairspray go on before the earrings and the earrings come out before anything else comes off.
Give the ears an occasional night off if she wears the same pair continuously.
Look at the material. A smooth, corrosion-resistant surface accumulates less than one that's tarnishing or worn.
When it isn't just this
Smell on its own, from a settled piercing, with no other symptoms, is ordinary.
Smell alongside heat, spreading redness, swelling, colored discharge or pain that's getting worse is a different situation. That's a question for your pediatrician rather than an article, and it needs someone who can look at it.
The distinction is that ordinary build-up doesn't hurt. If it hurts, something else is going on.
What the metal has to do with it
Less than the airflow does, and more than nothing.
A metal that corrodes develops a rougher, more textured surface over time, and debris clings to texture. A metal that pits or tarnishes gives sebum and skin cells more to hold onto.
S316L Surgical Steel is chosen for medical instruments and implants partly because it resists corrosion, so it holds a smooth surface. Pure 24 karat gold is chemically inert, so it doesn't tarnish at all.
A plated earring is smooth while the plating holds. Once the layer wears through, usually at the post first, the base metal underneath is exposed and often begins to corrode, which changes the surface inside the channel.
What we do
purepixxi uses two materials, and on one range only one.
S316L Surgical Steel, the same grade used in medical instruments and implants, chosen because it resists corrosion and keeps a smooth surface. On the Polished Surgical Steel range that's the entire earring, one material throughout, with no coating to wear through and expose something rougher underneath.
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 the gold has no alloy in it, so there's nothing in the finish that tarnishes.
The setting, the post and the butterfly back all carry that same core. The post is the component sitting inside the channel where all of this happens, and it's also the part most commonly bought in from a different supplier and left out of any testing.
We use butterfly backs rather than flat backs, and this is one of several reasons. A butterfly leaves the back of the lobe open rather than sealing a cavity against it.
Independently tested by SGS to ASTM F2923 and CPSIA, with nickel release not detected under EN 1811. Report BTO 341803/1. More in our safety FAQ.
The easiest pair to keep clean is the one with the fewest places for anything to gather, which is why we make the 4mm Ball Stud Earrings in Surgical Steel.
Questions parents ask next
Does it mean the piercing is infected? Not on its own. Infection usually brings heat, spreading redness, swelling and discharge as well. Smell alone in a settled piercing is ordinary build-up.
Why do her earrings smell and mine don't? Skin chemistry, how much sebum she produces, hair length and products all vary. Longer hair holding moisture against the ear makes a noticeable difference.
Does it mean she isn't washing properly? No. The channel is enclosed and ordinary washing doesn't reach inside it, no matter how thorough she is.
Will changing earrings fix it? It helps, because taking a pair out gives you the chance to clean both the earring and the channel. A smoother, non-corroding metal helps too.
Should I use alcohol on the posts? Occasionally is fine. Frequently dries the skin inside the channel, and dry irritated skin sheds more, which makes the underlying cause worse rather than better.
Related reading
- Why does my earring hole smell?
- Why do earrings smell like cheese?
- How do I stop her earrings from smelling?
- Why her ears react to earrings, and what to do about it
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.
