Permanent jewelry that’s welded onto the wearer’s body is the latest craze in accessories, partly because it’s not as difficult or costly to remove as a tattoo, nor painful to add to your body.
The novelty of its (relative) permanence was even played up on season three of “Love is Blind,” when then-engaged couple Bartise Bowden and Nancy Rodriguez got 14-karat gold bracelets welded onto their wrists at Dallas-based jewelry store Mod + Jo five days before they were meant to get married, as a way of symbolically committing to each other.
“This is as permanent as it gets, I guess, huh?” Bartise asks Nancy as he gets the jewelry welded on. “And hopefully that’s what marriage is. I’m not going into the marriage hoping it’s not permanent, so this is a big step for us.”
Thankfully for Nancy, when Bartise left her at the altar just days later, she seemingly was able to easily rip the supposedly permanent jewelry from her wrist.
“It means nothing to me now,” she tells him as they say their final goodbyes.
“I think in our wedding episode you can see Nancy ripping hers off,” Bartise tells Insider via email. “I had a friend rip mine off not too long after wedding day. It requires some force.” (Nancy did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.)
The former couple’s jewelry commitment may not have lasted for long, but Insider’s travel and lifestyle reporter, Jordan Parker Erb, whose own welded-on bracelet has stayed on her wrist without an issue for a year, highly recommends that anyone who loves to accessorize hop onto the trend.
“I still consider my permanent bracelet both a sweet memory and a fabulous accessory, and I’m itching to go back for more,” she wrote of her experience getting a “forever bracelet” with her mom for $144 at Catbird in New York City.
And if you’re nervous, don’t worry, there’s no need to be. ‘”You’ll see a little flash and hear a crackle, which is the welding tool ‘zapping’ the chain together,” Erb wrote of the process after someone fits the jewelry around your wrist. She described the experience as “painless.”
While the bracelets aren’t immune to accidents, reclasping the jewelry at Catbird only costs $10, Erb reported.
“Love Is Blind” is streaming now on Netflix.
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