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Expat wanderer

Ruby Necklace

One year, AdventureMan bought me a ruby necklace. Yeh, it sounds glamorous, but it wasn’t one of those sparkly ruby necklaces you wear to the ball, it was a rough cut ruby necklace, the kind I like. I was thrilled when I found it in the tip of my Christmas stocking.

I put it on to wear to dinner that night, and as soon as I put it on, my neck started burning, and AdventureMan said “Your skin is all red!” I wore it anyway; I really loved the necklace.

The rash took about a week to fully go away. I figured they must have used some compound to polish it that I was allergic to. I didn’t wear it for a year, and then got around to washing it. And washing it. Nine times, I washed it:

The rubies in these necklaces are not the high quality kind, just rubies, rough cut. I guess they must have thought I wouldn’t like it unless it were really bright ruby red . . . it took nine washes before it stopped bleeding red. I am hoping it was the dye I was allergic to – I’m still afraid to put the necklace on, afraid I will get big red welts again.

January 25, 2010 - Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Christmas, Customer Service, ExPat Life, Experiment, Kuwait, Living Conditions

2 Comments »

  1. Try wearing it for very short periods and gradually extend how long you wear it. If a rash starts to develop on the initial short wearing period it should be minor. If no rash appears, then you judge the tolerance as you increase the time – hopefully you won’t have a reaction at all and can wear to your hearts content.

    Good luck!

    bitjockey's avatar Comment by bitjockey | January 25, 2010 | Reply

  2. Good advice, bitjockey, and thank you. I know I need to do it, I’m just sort of afraid to get those hives again. aarrgh.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | January 25, 2010 | Reply


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