Question about earring wires

[MaggieTheCat]

For anyone who has sensitive ears or allergies to certain metals, can you tell me if silver or gold-plate brass earring hooks are a decent hook for making earrings with? I purchased a bag of each of these:

http://www.theclaystore.com/pages-pr...-per-pack.html

http://www.theclaystore.com/pages-pr...-per-pack.html

and am wondering if it was a bad idea. I don't want people to not buy my earrings 'cuz I picked a bad base metal for the hook...

[Shpepper]

I'm thinking that anyone who is alergic to metal is going to ask for hypoallergenic hooks. For everyone else it isnt going to matter. Just get a few hypo ones and you should be fine.

[CSR Kim]

The plating will eventually wear off, and the brass will most likely tarnish. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most people with truly sensitive ears either stick to hypoallergenic earrings or earrings made from quality metal (i.e. 14k gold or sterling silver).

[jedimaster91]

I generally try to buy either 14k gold or surgical steel. Silver makes me break out in a rash and brass turns my skin green.

[Kittish]

I'm going to have to agree that brass, plated or not, is probably not a good idea for people with metal allergies or sensitivities. Stainless steel doesn't cost much more and is much more likely to be acceptable for those with allergies. If you can find reasonably priced nickle free earring wires, I'd definitly also have those in stock, even if you have to charge more for them, as that seems to the the most common specific metal allergy.

[Food Lady]

I can wear stainless steel or silver. If I want yellow metal, I do gold-over-silver, which will take a year to fade with daily wear. Gold-plated brass or copper can tarnish almost instantly on some people with certain body chemistry. I am one of those, but have no problems with gold-plated silver.

[MaggieTheCat]

Thanks for all the info, everyone. I know of a place that sells stainless steel (and other high quality metal) earring hooks. Unfortunately, they're located in Canada (I'm in the US) so shipping is a little high, and I just finished placing an order with them last week without thinking to add any earring findings to the order. What do these look like? It says "Gold plated over base metal" which makes me a little suspicious, but it also says hypo-allergenic and nickel free:

http://www.artbeads.com/gp-ear03.html

[lush]

http://www.firemountaingems.com/ has sterling or solid gold findings, I used to order from them a bit and they seemed reasonable..

I have metal allergies so I stay away from anything plated.