Price is per 16-inch string of these slick matte beads. Each measures 13mm x 4mm - about 31 to the string. Grey is this years in colour!

Hematite makes great jewellery because it's inexpensive and look shiny and sleek. People wear it as rings, bracelets and necklaces not only for style, but because they believe the magnetic variety relieves rheumatism. Magnetic therapy has been around for over 4,000 years.

The idea is that a magnetic field can relax capillary walls in the body. This causes an increase in blood flow, similar to the effect of massaging your muscles, and stimulate the areas around the muscles to speed up healing. Others say, magnetic jewellery allows the body to produce endorphins, the natural pain killers.

What is hematite
Hematite is one of the most common minerals, formed by oxidized iron. Although usually black in jewellery, it adds to the red colour of garnet and ruby. All non-crystalline forms of hematite come from the mineral Limonite that lost water due to heat. Hence recent excitement of the discovery of grey hematite on the planet Mars - suggesting there was water once present. Only well-formed crystals are cut and polished into cabochons for jewellery, beads, and ornaments.

Hematite comes from a Greek word for "blood-like" because of the colour, and ancient superstition believed that hematite was formed from battles.

31 Sleek Matte Hematite Rectangle Beads - 13mm x 4mm

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