Hold Me, Clasp Me: Choosing Sterling Silver Earrings with the Right Clasp for You

Earrings are amongst our most favorite types of jewellery: they're fun, they're flirty, and they come in so many styles and colors, you can collect hordes of them to suit every outfit and mood. But when choosing earrings, it's important to look at their quality, and the type of clasp they have, no less than at their suitability to your personality and wardrobe.

Our first word of sisterly advice is to prefer sterling silver earrings, if you can: They are usually hypo-allergenic, they're high-quality, they are lightweight, and they look smashing no matter the color and length of your hair, your skin tone, or your fashion sense.

Sterling silver earrings should also have sterling silver clasps. These won't irritate your ears, and certainly won't turn them green, as less expensive earring clasps can do. As you may have noticed, a variety of clasps exist for sterling silver earrings. Here's a word about some of them.

The stud or post clasp for sterling silver earrings is composed of a straight rod that goes through the piercing in the earlobe, and is held in place with a backing, which usually looks like a bowtie or loopy butterfly. Most often, post and stud sterling silver earrings lay close to the earlobe, with the clasp itself invisible at the back of your ear. In this case, the sterling silver base of the earring may be used to hold a gemstone, or the sterling silver earring may involve a play of gemstone and silver.

Of course, it can also be made of sterling silver only, in a ball or a geometric shape.  Wearing earrings of this type is principally a matter of taste: they tend to be favored by those who prefer a conservative look, for example, or need to dress conservatively - for example, at the office. Post and stud clasps can also be used as a basis for longer sterling silver earrings, and in fact make a good solid basis for the heavier ones of this variety, such as chandelier earrings.

One of the most common clasps for sterling silver earrings is the hook clasp: that is, a single strand of wire shaped like a hook that is inserted through the earlobe.  Often, the hook has no backing; however, to prevent the earrings from falling out and getting lost, you can secure the end of the hook with a small plastic ring, whose diameter fits the slim width of the hook. The hook clasp is most often seen with dangling sterling silver earrings; say in a filament, orb, or teardrop shape.

For sterling silver earrings that you really care about, though - perhaps ones with sparkling zircons or cultured pearls, which you wear on those special occasions - it is best to seek a Leverback or omega clasp, so-called because it is shaped like the Greek letter omega. This clasp is shaped like a shepherd's hook connected to a curved piece of silver, which prevents the sterling silver earring from falling out. This is the most secure type of clasp for sterling silver earrings, and indeed often indicates that a piece is of high value, or of heavier weight.

Of course you've seen hoop sterling silver earrings, which have a unique means of closure only to them: one end of the hoop is extended past the other end, and either fits into a "winch" of sorts at its top, or straight into the hollow center of the other side of the hoop.

Lastly, for those who have not had their ears pierced but nevertheless want to enjoy the beauty of sterling silver earrings, there is the clip-on clasp which, as it sounds, merely clips under the earlobe to hold the earring in place, using a spring or a screw mechanism. Clip-on earrings of the stud or post variety will be a bit larger than their pierced-ear cousins, so that the body of the earring will hide the clasp. Otherwise, clip-ons exist for all types of sterling silver earrings.