I've never heard anyone discuss this topic before so here goes: Comfort of necklaces.
You can use almost any material to make a necklace so I'm going to rate them from most to least comfortable:
- Fur: This feels like a cuddly animal around your neck! Awesome! Not good for summer in Texas where I live however.
- Silk or velvet: Soft fabrics are extremely comfortable and generally breathable on the neck. Try silk ribbons, velvet cords, and satin chokers.
- Cotton: This is a very soft and breathable fabric and designers such as Mignonne Gavigan have become famous from creating beautiful, bead-embroidered, cotton bandana necklaces.
- Other fabrics: You could literally use canvas or upholstery fabric, lycra, denim and so on to make necklaces but they won't be as comfortable as the above.
- Leather: Skin to skin. Generally pretty comfortable as long as it's not a large piece, which is usually only semi-breathable. I love to use leather cords for my necklaces and don't we all have at least one pair of those popular leather drop earrings? Most are comfortable enough to sleep in.
- Moderate width chain: Large chains tend to be heavy and bulky, whereas thin chains can sometimes tend to dig into the skin depending on how much pressure is applied.
- Wide or thin chain: These are fashionable but I do think they can be less comfortable than the above.
- Chain that pinches: Some serpentine chains tend to do this, so be careful!
- Wire necklace cable with protruding ends: Please don't do this to yourself or anyone else. Make sure the ends of the wires are not going to touch skin or snag clothes! As long as the ends don't protrude, necklace wire is fine.
Other considerations:
Pointy beads: I've never understood how people can wear clothes with spikes on it but hey, it's certainly legal!
Heavy beads: We've discussed this but do be careful of making necklaces too heavy.
Awkward: Necklaces that keep ending up tangled on themselves, with the charms turned around the wrong way, or catching on clothes are just too inconvenient to be considered "comfortable." Be aware of usability concerns.
Hope this helps!
--Pam