How to stop losing your earrings: backs, checks and habits

You look in the mirror and something’s missing from your earlobe: one earring has vanished and the other one’s on its own. If you’re wondering how to stop losing your earrings, the answer comes down to three habits: knowing the fastening you’re wearing, checking it every time you put your earrings in and knowing when it’s better to take them out. No fastening is foolproof, but every one needs to be understood and checked.

How to stop losing earrings: start with the fastening

Each fastening is checked in a different way. Here are the most common, with examples from our range.

Click fastening on huggies

Huggies are small hoops that hug the earlobe. Usually part of the hoop opens and closes again with a click. In our range you’ll find it on the Plain Huggie Hoops, on the Flower Hoop Earrings, 12 mm midi huggies, and on the Cloisonné Flower Earrings, 10 mm. The Maxi Flower Hoop Earrings, 25 mm hoops, have a wire fastening instead: the thin end goes through your lobe and slots into the other end.

How to check it: close it until you hear the click, then gently pull the hoop downwards. If it stays shut, it’s fastened. If the click is weak or the hoop opens on its own, close it again and check before you go out. Don’t force it sideways to open it.

Post with butterfly back

The classic: the post goes through the hole and a butterfly back slides on behind to hold it. The butterfly back is listed on the Solitaire Stud Earrings and the Puffed Teardrop Earrings. The Flower Drop Earrings and Bow Earrings have posts too, and so do the Chunky Hoop Earrings, with a hidden post.

How to check it: push the butterfly back until it sits against your lobe, without squashing it. In general, the little wings of a butterfly back can open out with wear: if it slides too easily along the post, gently squeeze them together with your fingers. Check that the post is straight, too.

Silicone stopper

Instead of the classic butterfly there’s a small soft stopper that holds the post by friction. It’s the fastening on the Mini Green Flower Earrings, 8 mm studs.

How to check it: push it all the way down the post and give the earring a gentle tug to feel it grip. If the stopper has stretched or worn, replace it. And if a stud earring feels loose, you can add a silicone stopper behind the butterfly for extra hold.

Pull-through

There’s no fastening here: the earring threads through the lobe and stays in place thanks to its shape. Like the Infinity Oval Hoops, a long oval that threads through with no fastening and slides into place.

How to check it: in the mirror, look side-on to make sure the back part hasn’t ridden up towards the hole and, if it has, reposition it. Precisely because nothing holds it in, it’s the first one to take out before you pull on a jumper or go to bed.

Ear cuff

An ear cuff doesn’t go through a hole: it sits on the outer ear and you squeeze it to fit. The Twist Ear Cuff is adjustable and worn without a piercing.

How to check it: squeeze it a little at a time until it stays put, without forcing it and without opening and closing it over and over. Then move your head: if it slips, squeeze it a little more. Watch out for hoods, scarves and headphones, which can pull it off.

When to take your earrings out

Even a well-fastened earring isn’t made for every situation. These are the times it’s best to take them out:

• Sport and the gym: between helmets, headphones, towels and hair tied up in a hurry, it’s easy to catch something. Put them in a zipped pocket, not loose in your bag.
• Sleep: you turn over lots of times and the pillow presses on the fastenings. Drops, pull-throughs and big hoops should come out. If you keep a small pair in, check the fastening when you wake up.
• Jumpers, scarves and roll necks: knitwear catches hoops and drops and pulls them out while you’re getting dressed. Put the jumper on first, then your earrings; at night, do the opposite.
• Shower and hair: towels, hairbrushes and hair ties snag easily.
• Pool and beach: in the water, an earring that slips out is almost impossible to find. And to make them last longer, take them out at the pool and the beach: you’ll find more tips on the jewellery care page.

How to store them

An earring can disappear without you even leaving the house. A few simple rules:

• Always take them off in the same place, never on the edge of the sink.
• As soon as you take out a stud, put the butterfly or stopper straight back on the post: they’re the bits that go missing first.
• Keep each pair together, in a jewellery box with compartments or in a little pouch for each pair.
• Close huggies before you put them away, so they don’t catch on anything.
• Ear cuffs and pull-throughs go in a separate compartment: they’re open and snag easily.
• When you travel, use a case with compartments or a pill box, never loose earrings in your bag.

If one’s missing: where to look

Before you give it up for lost, check between the sheets and under the pillow, in the hood and collar of your jumper, in your pockets and the lining of your bag and coat, and around the sink. And keep the other one with its back: sometimes the missing one turns up a few days later.

If you’re choosing a new pair, start with the fastening and think about when you’ll wear them: at work, at the gym or in the evening. In the earrings collection you’ll find huggies, studs, drops, pull-throughs and ear cuffs.