The Serious Health Risk When Buying Cheap Costume Jewellery

 We all want nice shiny things, but most of the time they don't come cheap. 

 

Jewellery is one of the best examples for that. In an attempt to make it available to everyone, manufacturers have resorted to making low-cost jewellery. These are widely available in major retail chains such as Claire's, Forever 21 and H&M among others. 

 Have you ever wondered what your costume jewellery is made up of? 

According to an article from Dailymail, most of the cheap costume jewellery that are easily bought in the market are packed with harmful chemicals that are toxic to the body. Below is an infographic of the most prominent chemicals found by the non-profit environmental safety organisation, The Ecology Center when they tested 99 items from different fashion and retail stores. 

I was surprised to learn that serious health risks may arise over a tiny piece of jewellery, thinking that contact dermatitis and allergic reactions are the greatest concerns that I would have buying cheap jewellery, but I guess I was wrong! This may explain why it's so cheap.

Most costume jewellery is especially harmful when ingested, you are probably thinking why on earth would I want to eat a piece of jewellery anyway? Well, how many time do you see people putting their necklace in their mouth whilst day dreaming of thinking of the proposal for that next meeting (you may gnaw on your necklace when you're deep in thought, admit it). Cheap jewellery can easily chip off, and you have unknowingly ingested some bits of the costume jewellery that you have been wearing. However, the scariest part is when your kid may swallow a piece or bite off a part of what they're wearing. Children have a habit of placing things in their mouth and the percentage of them ingesting foreign objects are quite high. You wouldn't believe the things that hospitals have to deal with over children eating things other than food, but I digress. Now, I guarantee you wouldn't even want your child to suffer from a mosquito bite, never mind allowing them to wear jewellery that could pose serious health risks.

It's a good thing that we now have alternatives that won't break the bank. I, myself, have sensitive skin and have always been irritated by cheap earrings. As much as I want to buy the fancy stuff, my pockets furiously say no. I found out that one of the best earrings for allergies is surgical steel earrings. This post appropriately explains why it is preferred since it's also being used by medical professionals. While it may not work for the entire population, various researches have backed its claim of having a low reaction rate. Personally, I am not allergic to surgical steel and I hope it works for you as well. After learning about the health risks of buying cheap jewellery, I will probably stick to my surgical steel jewellery now. There aren't a lot of retailers which offer surgical steel jewellery especially in the UK but if you want to try them, check out our collection. Other metals that are also thought to be hypoallergenic are platinum and titanium but they can still be relatively expensive. 

I know it is very rare that you hear about people suffering from this stuff, but make sure you know what you are buying the next time you are browsing in those high street retail stores!