14 Kt. Gold - Material Guide
Gold is the preferred choice of material for lots of people. Piercing Jewelry made of 14 Kt. Gold has many benefits. Moreover, Gold has long been associated with luxury and class.
Golden Piercings are often available in various colors. Besides the obvious options of Yellow and White Gold, Rose Gold is also becoming more popular. In this Material Guide we take a closer look into this precious metal.
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Introduction to 14 Kt. Gold
Humanity's demand for Gold has been around for as long as we can remember. The price of Gold is at record highs for years now, resulting in older Gold Jewelry that most likely has been a good investment.
Gold Jewelry is considered expensive. Not every budget allows for a Piercing Jewel made of Gold. The amount of Gold needed to produce a Piercing can vary quite a lot. Especially small Piercing Types may result in such Jewelry becoming in reach for a wider audience.
Gold in its purest form is not hard enough to be used for Jewelry. Other metals are added to increase hardness. The purity of Gold is referred to in Karats. 24 Karat is pure Gold. In this Guide, we look at 14 Karat Gold, which is mostly used for Body Jewelry.
Pros and Cons
14 Kt. Gold Explained
Most of the Gold Body Jewelry available is made of 14 Karat Gold. Such Jewelry consists of 58.5% pure gold.
Other metals, chosen for color and hardness, like Copper, Zinc, and Silver, are added to make up for the difference.
14 Karat White Gold is created by adding Palladium and Nickel. People sensitive to nickel can safely order 14 Karat Yellow and Rose Gold jewelry.
The fact that 14 Karat Yellow and Rose gold is free of any Nickel also makes such Piercing Jewelry a great alternative to Titanium for initial Piercings. For people sensitive to metals, including Nickel, 14 Karat Yellow or Rose Gold and Titanium Body Jewelry is the perfect alternative. Compared to Titanium, often considered quite Gray, Golden Piercings are the more appealing option for most. As Titanium is also known to be a bit expensive, upgrading the initial Jewel to 14 Karat Gold is not such a bad idea. Especially for small Body Jewelry, which requires less Gold, the Jewel's price is lower than most expect from Gold Jewelry.
"14 Karat Yellow and Rose Gold Body Jewelry is perfectly suitable to be used for initial Piercing Jewelry."
Gold itself is quite soft. Hence, other materials are added to increase hardness. Nevertheless, Gold remains a certain softness. This may lead to some scratches on the surface over time. 14 Karat Gold comes with a finish to create that beautiful shine we all love. If you take good care of your 14 Karat Gold Jewelry, it will last for years. Make sure to read the maintenance instructions further on this page.
Gold Stamps
When you hold a piece of Gold Jewelry, just by the looks of it, you cannot tell the purity. Gold Jewelry is stamped to inform you of the number of karats, such as 14 Karats. There is a difference between the stampings for Gold Jewelry manufactured for the U.S. and that manufactured for Europe. In the U.S. you will find a '14K' stamp, while '585' is used throughout Europe. As we source our Body Jewelry mostly from the U.S., you will find the 14K stamp on our Jewelry. Please note that Gold Jewelry weighing less than 1 gram is usually not stamped.
Maintenance Instructions
Gold is known for its beautiful shine. To keep your Gold Body Jewelry's shine, you should clean it regularly. Gold does tarnish and scratch over time. For cleaning, use lukewarm water and a tiny bit of dish soap. You may want to disinfect your Piercing with alcohol, but bear in mind that this can damage the finish. To polish your Gold Body Jewelry, we recommend using our polishing cloth. If you wear Gold Jewelry to the beach or keep it in when cleaning your Piercing with a saline solution, remember to clean your Jewel afterwards.
Chlorine can do serious harm to your Gold Jewelry. Always make sure to remove any Gold Jewelry before swimming in a pool or visiting the spa. Do not expose Gold Jewelry to perfume, lotion, hairspray, makeup, and chemical cleaners. Put your Gold Piercing Jewelry in after getting ready to limit the exposure.
We don't recommend using Gold jewelry for Tongue Piercings. When you do wear a Gold Tongue Barbell, keep in mind that acids can lead to discoloration and damage to the Jewelry's finish.
Other Material Guides
With Material Guides like this one, we want to help you make informed decisions when purchasing one of our Piercings online. We have written a Guide for most of the materials you will find in our webshop.
If you want to learn more about the differences between the materials used for Piercing Jewelry, read a bit more by browsing through all of our Material Guides. Our customer service can also assist you if you have any questions left before deciding what material best fits your needs.