We, women, do love a good bargain on beautifying tools and cosmetics. During the last few years jade rollers have become really popular among beauty seekers. Honestly speaking, you may easily loose your mind when hunting for the right jade roller. So many to choose from and they all are marked being original and genuine. Every beauty influencer proudly states selling a face roller with “natural jade” and how good it is to your face skin. The truth is, online beauty market is overloaded with fake jade roller pieces and purchasers don’t even realize that their face roller is worthless. They are made of colored glass, fake jade or synthetic material imitating natural jade gemstone. Sadly, the tool was strongly marketed to make easy money of unaware and uninformed consumers.
The only way to distinguish difference in genuine jade roller and fake jade roller is to educate oneself about natural jade as a gemstone itself. There are tons of information about China jade, its genealogy, its history and how jade is used for beautifying purposes. In order to save your time on digging and reading lengthy articles, we would like to present you our short guide on fake jade roller and how to figure out if this beauty tool is fake or not.
Fake Jade Rollers are Trending
It is unlikely you will find a face roller with genuine natural nephrite stone in any beauty shop on street or online. Almost all jade rollers are cheap replicas of ancient Chinese beauty tool costing in the range of $10 to $70. Genuine natural nephrite is hard to find and costs a lot more. Roller-head sized piece of natural nephrite should cost more than most ready to use jade rollers offered today. Finding a high quality jade rock, certifying it, manufacturing it into smooth and perfectly finished face roller parts, assembling it, adding packaging, transporting and ending at retail shop should total in high price for purchasers. A good quality jade roller with natural nephrite or jadeite crystal should cost somewhat $200 at least. It can be less and can be much more, price depends on the quality of genuine jade, ant it’s geological origin.
After reading a number of articles and research papers, it would be more than fair to say that jade roller is in deed beneficial to the skin and can help preventing skin aging, but face roller with jade must be made with natural gemstone.
You should remember that there are two types of natural jades: nephrite jade and jadeite jade. Nephrite and jadeite look very similar but are of different mineral composition.
If you want to experience healing powers of jade rolling, your face roller should be made of nephrite jade that is mined in China. According to history, jadeite jade was introduced to China in the 18th century only. Before that, nephrite jade was the only jade mineral used in ancient times of China. Fortunately, genuine ancient nephrite jade is still mined in China today.
How to Tell if Nephrite Stone is Natural?
Despite being very similar, nephrite and jadeite do have few distinctive features that can be quickly visualized to determine if jade is genuine or not. Most importantly, you should understand that nephrite and jadeite come in great variety of colors. Fortunately, they soon become quite distinct when you give yourself a bit of time to explore some images of natural jades presented, for example, by laboratories or respected genuine jade gem sellers. Another important aspect, all pieces of natural jades usually have natural flaws, inclusions and may show different surface fractures. Visible irregularities reveal that jade is likely authentic.
Seek Laboratory Certified Nephrite
First of all, your nephrite jade roller should come with laboratory certificate. All colored natural jades, including nephrite or jadeite, should be certified by an approved gemstone testing laboratory, for example by GIA (Geological Institute of America). Jades are also classified into A, B, C and D grades. Class A jade is chemically untreated, meaning natural stone was washed with grape juice and polished with beeswax without enhancing its color with dyes or any chemical treatment.
Certificate provides data about specific color, density, Mohs hardness, refractive index, infrared spectrum and other testing detail. This certification means that an independent laboratory has examined, scanned and identified the jade and has given it a grade from A to D. Obtaining a gem certificate require some expenses, and it raises a retail price of any final product made of jade. That is why most very affordable jade rollers in current beauty are fake jade rollers.
Please also remember that jadeite jade is more expensive than nephrite jade.
Most cheap ($10-$50) jade rollers are made of serpentine also known as “Xiuyu jade” (may also be “helu jade”). Xiuyu jade is neither Nephrite nor Jadeite crystal. It is a variant of marble stone or other softer mineral that has been chemically treated to pass as a real jade. Besides, budget-friendly jade rollers are usually made of glass infused with dye to make it look like jade gem and such face roller is basically worthless.
Remember, there is no such thing as “certified nephrite jade mine”. This term is just a marketing trick to make fake jade roller sound more reliable and worth spending your money.
Stay away from jade rollers that are made of “Korean jade”, “Canadian jade”, “Indian jade”, “Australian jade” (Chrysoprase), “Transvaal jade”, “Amazon jade”, “Malaysian jade”, “South African or African jade”, Oregon Jade, “He Tian jade” or “new jade”. It means they are jade substitutes. They are neither natural nor genuine jades. Cheap jade rollers on the market are usually made of nephrite or jadeite substitutes or cheap stones.
Jade rollers can also be made of other gemstones, such as rose quartz.
Serpentine is the most common stone used to imitate nephrite or jadeite gemstones. It is synthetically treated to look as a jade. Serpentine changes color over time. However, jade mineral stone has a much better polish and smoothness than serpentine and it is noticeable on closer observation.
Jade rollers made of opaque dolomite marble look too perfect to be considered as natural jade. Marble rollers do not have natural irregularities and are heavily dyed using synthetic additives.
Natural Jades are Heavy and Cold
All natural jades are heavy, cold and give a ‘soapy’ feeling when held in hand. Natural stones need a minute or so to warm up in your hands. Furthermore, they stay warm longer than any glass or fake jade. When holding a natural jade in the hand, it feels somewhat heavier than it looks. Nephrite and jadeite are of a very high density, even a small piece of jade feels quite heavy and solid comparing to its size. Natural jades are heavier than glass.
Another important indicator is a feeling of cold. When you hold a real jade in your hand, it gives a cold, smooth and weighty sensation. Real jades do not heat up quickly and tend to keep warmness shorter than fake ones.
Color Variety of Jadeite and Nephrite
Nephrite jade color ranges from translucent to opaque, from light to dark green, cream (mutton fat), grey, yellow, brown, black or even white. Commonly natural nephrite comes in all shades of green, ranging from mid-green to dark or grey green. Often, green shades of real nephrite tend to be dark and dull. It can also be in creamy beige, yellow-green, dark brown or even reddish color. Nephrite colors are more muted than jadeite’s and can be spotty, stripped or cloudy. Nephrite is rarely semi-transparent, but most valuable clear and white nephrite is called “water jade”. Generally, nephrites are less vivid and intense than green jadeites.
Jadeite jades have a wider color range. According to Geological Institute of America, jadeite can be in many different shades of green, lavender, red, orange, yellow, brown, gray, white and rarely black or blue color. It often comes in a light purple or light grayish violet color.
Jade color variety is triggered by its mineral impurities. The most valuable jadeite is “Imperial Jade”, that is almost transparent in vibrant emerald-green color. Green transparent “Imperial Jade” found in Myanmar is very rare and most valued. “Imperial Jade” is high in chromium. A chunk of translucent green ”Imperial Jade” may be valued in millions of dollars. Higher value jadeite has no blotchy patches, is more saturated and more even in color itself.
Dyed green quartzite can be also mistaken for jadeite jade. Dyed jade can fade over time due to exposure to heat, light and chemicals. Also, if you immerse the fake jade to water often, you may see color fading over time. A color added to the surface of stone tends to fade because dyes are difficult to stick to the stone.
A Jade in Face Roller Must Have Irregularities
Closely observe structure and imperfections of rollers head. Stone structure, natural irregularities and various imperfections are very important when inspecting jades. Genuine jades should have naturally occurring blotchy areas, veins, specks, spots or clouds formed by different mineral clusters trapped inside the rock. Nephrite tends to have impurities similar to thin vein-like fibers. Nephrite usually has splintery fractures similar to broken wood.
Serpentine may also have splintery fractures and can easily pass as nephrite jade. Nephrites often contain randomly oriented, interlocking fibers and black chromite inclusions. In deed, black dots in nephrite are chromite and the whitish strips are parallel tremolite crystals.
Nephrite jade and jadeite hade both have slightly greaser luster than their substitutes. When polished, genuine nephrite has dusty fractures on its glassy but greasy-feeling surface. Because of its structure polished dark-green nephrite will have a greaser appearance than jadeite jade.
Jadeite stones go through sanding process, which results in grainy or dimple surface appearance. Usually natural jadeite has discolorations and granular fractures that resemble lumps of sugar. Jadeite structure is grainy and crystalline. If you see air bubbles inside, surfaces are smooth without any cracks and color is perfectly solid, a jade is artificial and likely to be made of dyed glass. The truth is, the more uneven the color, the lower in value a jadeite is. The other truth is, genuine jadeite jade without any irregularities or inclusions is the most valued and most expensive in global jade market.
Holding natural jade against bright light unfolds its internal fibrous structure with vein-like lines, natural inclusions and cracks connecting to matted texture. Real jades have various flaws and dark spots. You need to examine the stone carefully, advisably using a magnifying glass, but not necessarily as many important details can be seen with naked eye.
Always run your fingertip across the surfaces of nephrite or jadeite to examine their surface and structure. Today, a lot of jades on the market are made of other soft stones that are treated with chemicals and infused with colorants to resemble natural nephrite or jadeite.
Do Scratch Test on Jade Roller
Both, nephrite and jadeite jades are hard rocks and are naturally resistant to scratchiness. Both jades are harder than steel, but Jadeite is harder than nephrite. Natural jades can easily scratch a glass surface. Doing a quick scratch test on your jade roller can give you a hint if it is made of genuine stone. You may use sharp metal like object such as needle and on less visible area on the surface of a jade. After scratching metal residues make a white line on jade. Wipe it off and if permanent scratch marks appear on stone surface, your jade roller is probably made of glass or fake jade.
Real natural nephrite or jadeite cannot be scratched by steel. Please remember, performing a scratch test should not leave roller tool damaged, if you were brave enough to do it in the middle of the shop.
Be aware that, natural jades are delicate to impact and can crack or go into few pieces if you drop it on the hard floor surface.
Recap on Fake Jade Roller
Genuine nephrite and jadeite jades hold many positive metaphysical properties and are believed to have healing powers. Surely, natural ways to extend youthful beauty and maintain good health have been practiced for thousands of years. Today, new technologies and innovative scientific minds offer us a more detailed picture on how and why do natural products benefit our beauty and health.
Every girl likes a good bargain on beautifying tools. If you want to have a natural nephrite gemstone in your beauty kit, we advise to look for genuine and smoothly finished natural piece stone alone. Simply buy it from a certified gemstone shop and use it to massage your face. It will benefit your beauty much more than a fake jade roller filled with toxins and chemicals.
Moreover, instead of using a fake jade roller consider taking holistic stone therapy session or book for professional facial massage using other natural crystals and gemstones.
Educate yourself and learn that product marketing is a powerful tool to put any beauty tool in trend by pronouncing it as being something magical. Beauty market is a multibillion business, always remember it!
