New viral trend: permanent bracelet welding

Crazy’ pregnant woman paints baby’s toe to prevent switch

An emerging trend in permanent jewelry, weld-on bracelets, and other kinds of permanent jewelry are being hailed as an elegant alternative to tattoos and piercings.

Style blogger Jaclyn Forbes recently showed off her and her bestie’s matching Leah Alexander bracelets.

On Monday, Forbes posted a TikTok narrating his latest wrist tattoo. “Now two. Let me explain the method since it seems crazy.”

The hashtags #permanentjewelry and #permanentbracelet have a combined total of 160 million views on TikTok, among them Forbes, Victoria Jameson, and Vienna Skye.

For her second trip to have bracelets soldered on her wrist, Forbes chose chains from Sparks Studio’s Toronto collection, which includes many other independent designers.

Forbes and a buddy choose chains and have them adjusted with the correct length.

A million people have seen Forbes’ films about her permanent works. A jewelry welder then uses a “microlaser” to “zap” the ends together while wearing “magnifying goggles.”

“It’s not painful,” she tells doubters. “You don’t know. Neither zaps your skin.

Her caption suggests the movement has divided followers: “A PERMANENT BRACELET?!?”

“How do you take these off?” one commenter asked.

“Wire cutters,” said one viewer.

Others cited the myriad situations in which one can be forced to break their bijou.

One interesting commenter wondered, “What if you do sports?”

Others expressed medical concerns, questioning what happens if you need surgery or an MRI or x-ray when you can’t wear metal.

“I’m in medical school and you can’t wear any wristbands on in the OR :(“, wrote a medical student.

For those worried about breakage, Spark Studio and others provide repairs for a price.