If earrings make your lobes red and itchy a day later, it is almost certainly nickel. Here is how to tell it apart from ordinary piercing irritation, and how to decode the eight phrases a product page might use for metal.

Hypoallergenic is not a regulated word — no US agency defines it for jewelry and nobody has to prove anything before printing it on a box. Here is what it actually points at, why the answer almost always comes down to nickel, and the four things to check on any product page.