Material & Care
Can You Wear Jewellery in the Sauna, Hammam or Hot Tub?
· 2 min read
Water is the easy part: 316L stainless steel doesn’t mind a shower, the sea or a pool. A sauna adds heat, a hammam adds steam, a hot tub adds chlorine or bromine at 38 °C. They don’t ask the same thing of your jewellery.
The short answer: the steel is fine in all three. Your skin may not be, in the sauna.
The sauna: metal gets hot
A Finnish sauna runs at 80 to 100 °C. Steel won’t be damaged by it, and neither will a PVD gold finish. But metal takes the heat and holds it: a thick ring or a chain lying on the chest can get hot enough to be unpleasant, sometimes to sting.
So take off what touches a lot of skin, chunky rings, cuffs and long chains, and keep small studs or a fine ring if they don’t bother you.
The hammam: steam is just water
A hammam is around 45 °C at near 100% humidity. For steel and PVD gold that is a warm shower: keep them on. The same goes for black soap and the scrub, though a rinse afterwards keeps the shine.
The hot tub: rinse after
Chlorine and bromine don’t harm 316L steel at hot-tub levels. They do attack silver, brass and cheap plating, which darken or flake. After the tub, a rinse with fresh water and a dry with a towel is all steel needs.
What to take off anyway
- Stones set with glue rather than claws: long heat can loosen the glue.
- Anything plated on brass: heat and chlorine speed up the wear.
- Rings that are already tight: heat makes fingers swell.
FAQ
Can stainless steel go in a sauna?
Is chlorine bad for steel jewellery?
Can I wear gold-coloured jewellery in a hammam?
Steam and water: keep it on. Dry heat: keep it small.
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