A woman is warning against cheap earrings from Amazon, Shein, and H&M after she developed keloids on her ears from wearing them.
In a TikTok with over 334,000 views, content creator Sailor Rozema (@sailor.rozema) sends a PSA to her fellow “dangly earring girls”: fast fashion’s cheap jewelry can adversely affect your health.
“If you need any more reasons why you should never, ever wear cheap jewelry from Shein, H&M, Brandy Melville,” Rozema begins, “I’m going to show you what I’ve been fighting for the last two years.”
Rozema pulls her hair back and closes in on the backs of her ears, revealing large keloids formed at the base of each ear where presumably an earring piercing once was.
From ‘dangly earrings’ to keloids
“This was my old earring rack,” Rozema says, an image of an earring rack with rows bright, dangly earrings appearing behind her, “every single earring on here is from Shein, Amazon, a few Kate Spade ones, H&M, and Brandy Melville.”
Rozema says she used to be a “dangly earring girl” before her keloids appeared. Now, the content creator says she doesn’t even wear her hair in ponytails in public because of her embarrassment about her keloids.
While some may say she could simply get them cut off, Rozema counters that the keloids would simply grow back. “They regrow almost 100% of the time,” she explains.
Instead, Rozema says she sees a dermatologist every ten weeks and receives a steroid injection to try and “soften” the keloids.
“They’ll literally never go away. I will never be able to wear earrings for the rest of my life because of Shein earrings,” she says.
As the video ends, Rozema sends a final warning. “Even though the earrings are literally $1, don’t buy them.”
Viewers offer advice
In the comments, users shared their reactions and their advice for how they combat the risks of cheap jewelry.
“How the hell did THAT happen?!” one user exclaimed.
“Usually I’ll coat them with clear nail polish and ALWAYS clean them with alcohol before putting any jewelry in my ear and I have yet to have a problem with my super sensitive ears,” another viewer offered.
“Usually it doesn’t depend on the cheap stuff, you can also be allergic to certain things! Cheap or expensive! I can’t carry everything either,” a third viewer noted.
Someone else wrote, “I used to work for a very well known diamond jewelry company. I only buy pure silver or gold from now on. Metal allergies are more common than we realize.”
The Daily Dot has previously reported on the TikTok Rozema uses as the opening reference for her video, in which a woman battled a severe rash around her eyes, chin, and ears for 6 months before it went away only after she took out her Shein earrings.
A correlation between keloids and low cost jewelry?
A study referenced in the article by the American Academy of Dermatology found that about 18% of North Americans are allergic to nickel, a material commonly used to make low cost jewelry.
An article published by the National Library of Medicine found a correlation between the development of keloids on earlobes and “the exacerbation of local neurogenic inflammation” caused by the metallic backs of the earrings on the subjects evaluated.
To avoid pesky nickel in jewelry, dermatologist specialist Dr. Jean Ho recommends pure-grade sterling silver, and jewelry made from stainless steel as the safest option.
Gold lovers should be on the lookout as well. Dr. Ho says that even 14-karat gold has “leachable nickel,” which is nickel that can be drawn out by sweat, water and detergents. To avoid nickel in gold jewelry, she recommends 18-karat or 24-karat gold.
While fast fashion brands like Shein and H&M may carry all manner of cute and interesting earrings for low prices, Rozema argues that what you save in dollars you might pay for in your health.
@sailor.rozema #stitch @Erin this is ur PSA to splurge on expensive earrings- id rather pay for some solid gold hoops than my dermatologist bills😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁#keloids #earrings #shein #greenscreen ♬ original sound – sailor rozema
As the caption of her video reads, “I’d rather pay for solid gold hoops than my dermatologist bills.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Sailor Rozema via email for more information. We also reached out to Amazon and Shein via press email for comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
