How Long Will A Bracelet Last?
So, how long will a bracelet last? The material used to make the bracelet and how you maintain it determines it’s lifespan. Copper and other metal bracelets will last for 20+ years, a rubber bracelet will last for 7+ years, but it will lose its polish, plastic and leather bracelet will last for 3-7 years.
Types Of Bracelets
There is various kind of bracelets without knowing about these bracelets you won’t be able to identify their lifespan. So here is brief info about multiple kinds of bracelets.
These days bracelets get made from precious metals, studded with gemstones and rhinestones. You also have the leather bracelets, made from genuine leather, with varied thickness and designs.
There are friendship bracelets made from various artifacts, stringed together. You also have charm, diffuser, and magnetic bracelets. Let’s look at the different types of bracelets in little more detail:
Bangles
Rigid bracelets that get made from metal, alloys, wood, glass, and even shell adorn the wrist of women worldwide. Precious and semi-precious stones get set on these bangles to add value and significance to this jewelry.
You need to choose the right size, as per your wrist width, since they get worn by sliding through your fingers and hand.
Beaded Bangles
Beads get threaded together in string or elastic, to give bangle like shape, to slip into your hands. Quality of the beads and stones sets its value and the occasion where they can get worn. Charms and personal trinkets get threaded together and worn with sentiments attached to such jewelry.
Link bracelets
Some bracelets get made from metal links connected, one after another. These links get made out of various metals, including gold and silver. Stones could also get set on these links to give it a vibrant appearance.
They usually have locks at one end. Depending upon the type of links, they are either fixed or adjustable.
Leather Bracelets
Friendship Bracelets
The friendship bracelet is a decorative hand band that is given by one friend to another. This denotes as a token of their emotion for each other. They usually get made by hand, using embroidery thread or cord.
You need at least two threads to create simple friendship knots, tied one after another, to create a simple band. More threads get added, to make the bracelet colorful and wide. Teenagers earlier wore these.
Now everyone across the world adorns friendship band as a token of affinity for their friend. They get worn on various occasions, including daily activities, since the embroidery thread will not get damaged with wear and tear, including moisture.
Magnetic Bracelets
Suitable quality magnets get used to these bracelets. These magnets could be beautiful individual pieces, set on holding structure, or drawn out into fine wires, twined around other materials.
The magnet could also be in the form of a thin sheet, coated with a protective covering. Magnetic bracelets, though available in a massive array of designs, they are primarily worn for therapeutic reasons. It gets felt that wearing such a bracelet would help in a better flow of blood and thereby make you feel fresh!
Charm Bracelets
Different colored beads are joined together with string or elastic to form bracelets, worn by the younger females as part of their attire or other jewelry ensembles. Charm bracelets are in vogue today. Various materials get used to assemble such a bracelet.
They get marketed for multiple purposes, and all young adults get seen wearing them. They usually get made of metal links or chain links, which goes around the wrist, and a charm pendant hangs in front. You also have varied trinkets fixed to each segment or hanging from these links.
Cuff Bracelets
These bracelets are very similar to bangles but are open at one end. They usually are broader in design and could hold stone settings on the bracelet surface. It can get worn with different wrist sizes.
Sports
Silicon-based wristbands got introduced in sports and sporting gears. They get used extensively in tennis, climbing, and many other sporting events. Similar materials get used nowadays for various awareness campaigns, similar to ribbon worn on the arm or the chest.
Memorial Bracelet
These got made of brass, steel, aluminum, or leather. They got worn for a specific event, where there has been a loss of life – tragedy, calamity, or terrorist attack. The person’s name, the event, and the date got engraved on these bands.
This got worn as a bracelet on the wrist. They got worn at events to mourn the loss or a period to show solidarity and support to a cause.
Similar memorial bracelets got made after the Iraqi and Afghanistan war by the American army personnel. They inscribed their colleague’s name, rank, the place where they lost their life and date. This got worn by them as a remembrance of the lost soldier!
Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan is an annual festival of the Hindus in the Indian subcontinent. The sister ties a bracelet or “Rakhi” around the wrist of her brother on this day. The brother, in turn, vows to protect her.
This rakhi is similar to the friendship band and got generally made of strings knotted together with simple beads in the center. These days, they come in various sizes and shapes and get made of many materials, including semi-precious stones. On this day, the sister feeds him to a meal. The brother, in turn, presents a gift to the sister.
Salvation Bracelet
The Jesuit priests got this bracelet introduced to connect with young children and spread the teaching of Christ. This bracelet got made of colored beads and a cord and got worn by the child around the wrist. Each of these colored beads had a reference point as follows:
Black represented sin.
Red was the color of blood.
Blue referred to the baptism or bringing to the path of God.
White meant purification or cleansing.
Green signifies growth.
Yellow denotes salvation or going to heaven.
Various other similar bracelets got used by different religious bodies, and the colors had some significance or the other.
Distance Bracelets
Over the years, various bracelets get worn for multiple purposes. There is one type of bracelet that gets worn by couples, friends, and siblings to narrow the distance of their stay and feel connected. These types of bracelets are known as Distance bracelets.
These bracelets get worn by both the parties, staying apart. By wearing a similar type of bracelets, gives them a feeling of proximity with each other.
They get named differently – bond bracelets, you complete me a bracelet, boyfriend girlfriend bracelet, relationship bracelet, long-distance relationship (LDR) bracelet, or couple bracelet. They all serve a similar purpose and get worn by parents, siblings, friends, couples, and lovers.
Relationship Bracelets
When such individuals wish to exhibit their affection and liking for the other, they tend to bind them into physical form. One such manifestation is the relationship bracelets. They decide to wear matching bracelets during their initial friendship days, courtship period, and ultimately culminates with marriage vows.
Similarly, such couples feel and stay connected and wear distance bracelets when they get separated for various reasons. It could be for a while or a long duration. Different bracelet options get used, depending upon the situation, such as couples find themselves.
Stretch Bracelets
Beads, precious gems, and metal segments get ringed together with quality elastic in this type of bracelet. It is comfortable to wear such bracelets by slipping over your fingers.
Diffuser Bracelet
Any bracelet, which can hold on to the essential oils applied to them, can get termed as diffuser bracelets. Throughout the day, the diffuser oil present on the bracelet’s surface reacts with the atmospheric air and provides you with a pleasing aroma. This acts as your diffuser, and hence the name for your bracelet!
How Long Will These Bracelets Last
We have seen above the different types of bracelets and the materials they get made of. Can they get wet or soiled? How do we take care of our bracelets? Let us go through the details.
Metals
Bracelets get made from various metals, from the very precious platinum, gold, silver, and their alloys. We also get bracelets made from stainless steel, copper, and bronze. Some of these metals, like gold and stainless steel, do not react with water or mild soap. They can be rinsed and dried with soft tissue or cloth and can get worn regularly.
However, metals such as silver and copper, get oxidized with atmospheric air. They turn dark due to a layer of a coating formed on its surface. You need to clean them regularly with cleaning agents and water and wipe dry. If you wear copper bracelets daily, there will also be a greenish deposit on your skin surface, though it will not harm you.
Magnets
Leather
Leather bracelets get made from genuine hide, properly tanned and processed. They are braided together or embroidered, with ends tied together with knots. These bracelets are typically polished, or if they get dyed with a particular shade, then natural polish gets applied.
Leather can withstand moisture to some extent and has to be quickly pat dried with a lint-free cotton cloth. Do not drench your bracelet or go to your shower with them on.
The material will lose it’s shape and tenacity and will not look regal anymore, even after drying. Oils and detergents will stain your band, and it is advisable to store it well, when not in use. Polishing your leather strap regularly will provide longevity.
Embroidery Thread
Friendship bands usually are get made with embroidery thread and beads. They can get wet and subsequently dry, without much effect on the bracelet. Constant wear may lead to wear and tear, and also fading of the thread colors.
Charm bracelets and rakhi also get made with the help of fabrics, threads, and beads. Usually, these bands get worn regularly, and hence it is alright to drench or soil it.
You can go for your swim or take a shower with these bracelets. Over time they might fade and fall off. The purpose of these bracelets is for constant wear, and hence the materials used serve the purpose.
Lava Beads
These are molten lava rock, shaped into beads, with which we create the diffuser bracelets. The diffuser oil permeates into these natural rocks and emanates fragrance throughout the day.
If they get wet, they can get pat dried with lint-free cloth or tissue. If you wish to change the oil, they can get rinsed with mild soap and warm water, and different oil can get rubbed into them.
Conclusion
Bracelets are jewelry that gets worn on our wrist, and some wear multiple bands on their hands. The way we take care of our other ornaments, we must equally manage our bracelets. In case they get wet, we must pat dry and store them in a moisture-free environment.
Some bracelets like the friendship bands, which get made of materials that can get wet, fade over a while and discarded, has a specific life span. Others can last you in direct proportion to how you look after them. Bracelets from precious metals and stones will last you a lifetime and can get passed on to your heirs!