When choosing studs and earrings, it’s a good idea to pay attention to top-quality materials that are best suited for your clients. By choosing top-quality materials for their new ear piercings, your clients will best support the healing process. Besides, they can avoid allergic reactions by staying away from sub-standard materials. We generally recommend to avoid earrings containing health hazards such as the heavy metals lead and cadmium or the metal cobalt.

Studex studs and hoops are available in the following materials:

18 karat gold (750), as yellow gold or white gold

14 karat gold (585), as yellow gold or white gold

titanium

surgical stainless steel

All Studex studs and hoops are hypoallergenic, nickel-safe, lead-, cadmium- and cobalt-free. They meet or exceed European Union standards and FDA regulations (U.S. Food & Drug Administration).

 

What’s the meaning of “nickel-safe”?
Today, nickel can be found in all kinds of objects, such as jewelry, eyeglass frames, wrist watches, zippers, buttons, buckles or scissors. Any steel contains nickel and other materials. Nickel can be found even in lettuce and chocolate. Bargain jewelry can often contain rather large amounts of nickel. Since some people are allergic to nickel, the EU nickel directive regulates how much nickel may be released onto the skinper week. For earrings, these are a maximum of 0.2 micrograms per square centimeter per week (i.e. 0.2 millionth of a gram). All Studex studs and earrings fall well below this allowable value and are thus nickel-safe.

 

What is “surgical stainless steel”?
The surgical steel used by Studex is a stainless steel with the 316L designation. Just like any other steel, this steel contains nickel. However, the nickel release rate for our studs and earrings is well below the allowable value given in the EU nickel directive, which makes them nickel-safeand well suited as piercing studs and fashion earrings. This steel is also used for medical purposes, such as surgical implants, which remain in the human body for a lifetime without any harmful side effects.

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What do the numbers 585 or 750 mean as they relate to 14 karat or 18 karat gold respectively?
Originally, the purity of gold used to be measured in karats. In the metric system, these values were then expressed in parts per thousand. The numbers 585 and 750, for example, refer to the amount of pure gold per 1,000 parts of the alloy, in weight (not in volume). In the case of 14 karat gold, 585 of the 1,000 grams of the alloy are pure gold, whereas with 18 karat gold, 750 of the 1,000 grams (i.e. three quarters) of the alloy are pure gold. The higher the purity of gold, the richer the gold color.

Yellow gold is a gold alloy which consists of fine gold (pure gold), silver and copper. The ratio of these materials determines the color.

The term white gold describes gold alloys which in addition to fine gold contain other white metals, such as palladium or silver. Depending on the ratio of the materials used, its color is a pale white to gray.

All Studex earrings made from yellow gold or white gold are also nickel-safe.

Titanium is a natural material which is very corrosion resistant, hard and comparatively light. Medical titanium is used for high-quality surgical implants. It is perfectly suited for earrings and piercings studs, as it is non-toxic and does not chemically react with the body, thus accelerating the healing process.

Titanium grade 23 (also known as 6AL4V-ELI) is used for Studex piercing studs. This alloy isn’t just extremely pure and resilient without being brittle, but also offers more shine compared to other alloys. This alloy grade is nickel-free and therefore well suited for prolonged periods inside the body.

Our Studex titanium studs are subjected to an additional, patented, special process, which produces a sealed surface consisting of 99.9% pure titanium. This will neither corrode nor tarnish. Additionally, this achieves the color tones of our titanium earrings ranging from a light gold to a champagne color.

 

How well suited are earrings made from plastic?
We advise our customers to avoid studs made from cheap plastic materials, especially when their place of origin is uncertain. Plastic can bend or splinter when it gets cold. Therefore plastic simply cannot be compared with brand name studs made from top-quality materials such as gold or titanium.

Customers who have their ears pierced with our hypoallergenic, nickel-safe piercing studs or hoops at your Studex partner store are also likely to choose top-quality earrings made from gold, platinum, titanium or silver later.