My ring is turning gold already!!

[ChicagoPT]

So my FI proposed about 3 months ago. He gave me a white gold ring. I noticed last month that the ring was already turning gold on the bottom. I took it in finally this week and the lady told me that the chemicals in my skin must be changing it faster than normal. Im not sure I believe it. I am a physical therapist and do use/wash/lotion my hands alot, but should it cause my ring to turn this fast? They are dippping it in irrodium (sp?) to change it back to white gold. They said they would do that as often as needed but that is super annoying and a pain. Has this happened to anyone else??

[~*Kathy*~]

I had my ring rhodium plated about a year after I received it, I think it's a fairly common issue with white gold, which is probably why lots of people want/get platinum but it's so darned expensive. Sorry to hear yours is doing that already!!

[SuzyQ76]

well I believe the ring was probably yellow gold to begin with and that they dipped it in rhodium plate (which is used to change yellow to white gold or for 18k white gold and for platinum)...this is why we chose 14 white gold, never has to be dipped, all the others seemed way too high maintenance for me. I originally wanted platinum, but even that has to be dipped regularly!

[JaimeandBrandon]

It took about a year for mine... I'm wishing I had gone with platinum! So annoying!

[Ashlynn039]

Wow - I feel kind of silly because I didn't even know that white gold turned yellow!!

[mspattemac]

Hi!

The lady isn't explaining it to you correctly (or probably doesn't know herself).

24 karat gold is naturally a mustard yellow color. What you see in stores is usually 18kt (which is 75% gold, 25% another alloy), 14kt (58% gold) or 10kt (41% gold). Natural gold is soft so it is mixed with other alloys to make it more durable.

You get white gold when they mix gold with alloys that will make it turn white. Most of the white gold jewelry that you see in the stores has a rhodium plate on it to give it a whiter appearance (lots of silver is also sold with a plate over it to give it a shinier look).

With time the plate will wear off and expose the metal beneath which in a lot of cases (not not always) will have a yellowish tint to it. You white gold will never look at yellow as a yellow gold ring but you will notice that slight yellow tint.

On my ring I only really notice it around the bottom where it probably gets dinged more.

[SuzyQ76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaime+Brandon It took about a year for mine... I'm wishing I had gone with platinum! So annoying!

Platinum has to be constantly dipped too...well not constantly but periodically...that's why we didn't get platinum! Our jeweler told us that the only one that doesn't have to be dipped is 14K...

[FutureMrsLewis]

My original e-ring was 10K "white" gold, actually yellow gold coated in rhodium, and I was getting it dipped every 6 months when I was wearing it, but may have been able to go a year without it. However my new ring is 14K white gold, actually white gold, and never needs to be dipped. I can get it dipped if I want to make it shiny again when it gets scuffed, but it will never turn yellow on me. It all depends on the type of "white gold" you end up with, and sadly the salesperson you buy it from doesn't usually disclose that information to us poor buyers I was saved with my old ring though because the dipping was covered by the lifetime warranty that we purchased, maybe you can purchase something similar from the store where you got your ring? Something to look into.

[BrideMichele]

Ummmm... my ring is Platinum and have I had it for 2 years. I have worn the inside of it as I am hard on my ring but it is still pure in color (the color has never changed and I have never had it 'dipped' in anything).

 

Does anyone actually have a Platinum ring that needed to be dipped?

[debbmach]

I had no idea that this was an issue! I got 18K white gold cause I thought it'd be more durable...guess this is what I have to expect!