Can anyone wear jade? Men, first-timers and the culture question

Some of the most common jade searches aren't about the stone at all. They're about permission. "Can men wear jade?" "Can white people wear a jade bracelet?" "Is jade only for Chinese people?" These are fair questions, and they deserve a straight answer.

The short version: yes, anyone can wear jade. The longer version is more interesting.

Jade belongs to a lot of histories

In China, jade has been carved for more than 7,000 years and was valued above gold. Scholars, officials and emperors wore and carried it. Jade has never been only a women's stone there.

On the other side of the world, the Olmec and the Maya prized jade over gold. Maya kings were buried in it. Their jade came from the Motagua valley in Guatemala, which is still where Guatemalan jade comes from today.

Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, nephrite is pounamu, a taonga to Māori, and Ngāi Tahu are its kaitiaki. We're a New Zealand company, so we want to be clear about this: our jade is Guatemalan, Burmese and nephrite from outside New Zealand. It is not pounamu, and we don't sell pounamu.

That's three very different cultures that each found their way to the same stone. It isn't a single tradition that outsiders are borrowing.

Can men wear jade?

Yes, and men always have. The idea that jade is mainly for women comes from the bangle, which is the piece most people picture. A jade Cuban link is just a chain made from stone instead of metal. If you'd wear a steel or gold Cuban, you can wear a jade one.

For a first piece, dark stones are the easy start. Black jade reads like a solid dark chain from across the room and shows its grey marbling up close. Translucent greens and blue-greens are more of a statement.

Can people outside Asian cultures wear jade?

Yes. Wearing jade isn't taking something from anyone. What causes harm in the jade world is misrepresentation: calling a stone something it isn't, selling dyed or filled stone as natural, or passing off imported stone as pounamu.

If you wear it because you like it, and you know a little about where it comes from, you're doing it right.

What about luck and energy?

A lot of jade marketing promises luck, protection or healing. We don't make those claims. The people who wear jade often talk about something simpler: a grandparent who wore it, a piece given on a birthday, the weight of it on the wrist. That kind of meaning doesn't need a promise attached.

Tips for a first piece

• Start with a bracelet. It's the easiest piece to wear every day and the easiest to buy as a gift.
• Measure the wrist. Wrap a strip of paper around the wrist bone, mark it, and measure it flat. Stone links can't be adjusted like a metal chain, so choose a length a little longer than the wrist and check the size guide on the product page before you order.
• Wearing a watch? Put the jade on the other wrist, or stack it on the same wrist if the bracelet is loose enough not to rub against the watch case.

Every jade piece we sell is natural jade, never dyed, bleached or polymer-filled, and named by stone. You have 90 days from delivery to return it unworn, so there's time to have it checked or to make sure it fits. See our returns policy, or start with the jade bracelets.