Waterproof Earrings You Can Actually Swim In

Yes, waterproof earrings that actually hold up exist. Tula Blue's Pearl Drop Earrings pair hand-spun rope and real freshwater pearls with solid sterling silver or 14k gold-filled findings, not plating, so there's nothing sitting on the surface waiting to wear through in the pool, the shower, or the ocean.

I have worn the same pieces for months at a time. Sometimes a year or more. Once something is on, it's on, sleeping in it, showering in it, forgetting it's even there. Earrings were the one exception. I took them off every night for over a decade and never once asked myself why.

Then a few months ago I noticed I'd stopped. I'd been sleeping in my Pearl Drop Earrings, sterling silver, real freshwater pearls, and hadn't taken them off in weeks. This summer I switched into a pair of abalone earrings we made for a Whatnot live show, and I'll probably be back in the pearl drops again soon. Nothing dramatic happened. I just stopped taking them off, the same way I stopped taking off everything else years ago.

 

What Actually Happens to Most Earrings in Water

Most earrings marketed as gold aren't solid gold at all. They're gold plated, a microscopically thin layer of real gold, often less than a micron, electroplated onto a base metal underneath. That layer looks identical to solid gold the day you buy it. Then it meets sweat, pool chemicals, or salt water, and it starts to wear through, usually within a few months to two years of regular wear, faster with more exposure to moisture. Once the plating goes, the base metal shows through, and that's the green ring or the dull brassy look showing up right at the ear, one of the spots on the body that sits closest to hair products, sweat, and, for a lot of us, chlorine.

There's a second problem hiding under that thin gold layer. The base metal in most plated jewelry is brass or copper, and it's frequently mixed with nickel. Nickel allergy affects more than 18 percent of people in North America, and earrings are one of the most common triggers, since a pierced ear holds metal against broken skin for hours at a time. You can wear a plated earring for a year with no issue and then develop a reaction the moment the coating wears thin enough for the base metal to touch skin directly.

 

Sterling Silver and 14k Gold-Filled, and Why the Difference Matters

Tula Blue's Pearl Drop Earrings and Dainty Pearl Loop Earrings use solid sterling silver or 14k gold-filled findings. Gold-filled is not the same thing as gold plated, even though the names sound close. Gold-filled jewelry bonds a layer of real gold to a base metal that's 50 to 100 microns thick, somewhere around 100 times thicker than standard gold plating, and it's mechanically bonded under heat and pressure rather than electroplated on. That thickness is the whole story. There's enough real gold there to hold up to years of regular wear instead of a season or two.

Sterling silver works the same way from the other direction. It's a solid alloy all the way through, not a coating over something else, so there's no thin layer to wear off no matter how often it hits salt water or a hot pool. I'll be honest about the one real caveat here: sterling silver can develop a natural patina with heavy wear over time, a softening of the shine that's a normal characteristic of the metal, not a defect. It's not the same thing as a coating flaking off to reveal a different metal underneath.

The Dainty Pearl Loop Earrings use a sterling silver lever-back closure, which has a practical upside beyond the material itself. A lever-back locks shut with a small hinge instead of just hanging open on a hook, so it's built to stay put through a dive, a wave, or a workout, not just to look secure sitting still in a jewelry box.

 

Built to Swim In, Not Just Survive a Splash

There's a difference between jewelry that technically won't be ruined by water and jewelry you'd actually choose to wear into it. Tula Blue customers who've tested that difference in real pools and real oceans keep saying the same thing.

"These are the perfect no fuss earrings. Don't have to worry about them getting wet and needing to take them off. They go with everything from dress up to casual. Love them." Shannon Young, Tula Blue customer

"So love this beautiful jewelry. It's comfortable and durable to swimming in the ocean and pickleball. Will continue to buy more. My new obsession." Valerie Redwine, Tula Blue customer

That's the shift. Not earrings you're careful with near water, earrings you never take off, period. Never take it off is the promise behind every piece in the "jewelry you can live in" collection.

Our full guide to swimming in Tula Blue

 

The Pearl Drop Earrings, Up Close

The Pearl Drop Earrings are hand-spun rope paired with a single real freshwater pearl, available in White, Peacock, and Black pearl, each in your choice of sterling silver or 14k gold-filled. They're built for exactly what we've been describing, saltwater, chlorine, sweat, and showers, without asking you to plan around any of it.

If you want something even more minimal for daily wear, the Dainty Pearl Loop Earrings pair the same hand-spun rope and real freshwater pearls with a sterling silver lever-back, in White, Blush, Peacock, and Silver. Both are made to be worn continuously, the way most of your Tula Blue collection probably already is.

 

What If You're Looking for Waterproof Hoop Earrings

Worth being straightforward about this one. Tula Blue doesn't make wire hoop earrings. What we make are loop-style earrings, rope wrapped into a loop shape and finished with a real pearl, which land somewhere near the same look and the same reason someone searches for a hoop in the first place, something round, something that catches the light, something you don't have to fuss with. If a true metal hoop is specifically what you're after, that's not us. If what you actually want is an earring that moves with you and doesn't need to come off for the pool, the Pearl Loop Earrings are built for that.

 

Ready to Stop Taking Your Earrings Off

Pick a pair of Pearl Drop Earrings in sterling silver or 14k gold-filled, put them on, and leave them on. Swim in them, shower in them, sleep in them, and see how long it takes before you forget they're even there. That's jewelry you can live in, not jewelry you have to plan around. Browse the full waterproof rope jewelry collection to build out the rest of the stack, because once one piece earns the right to stay on, most people find they want that same feeling everywhere else too.

 

Written by Heather Macrae Stringer, Founder + Head of Brand at Tula Blue.
Heather started Tula Blue in 2014 because the jewelry she wanted didn't exist, waterproof, durable, and low-maintenance enough to keep up with her life as a busy mother of three. She still doesn't have time to baby anything, including her jewelry. Read more about Heather →