Origins of Mood Rings

Mood rings, which change color to reflect the wearer's mood, became a fashion trend in the 1970s. For many years, mood rings were worn as a serious piece of jewelry, but now, mood rings are worn more as toys.

Origin

• in 1975, at the age of 33, Josh Reynolds, a successful marketing executive from New York City, created the mood ring. Odd as it is, the mood ring was never patented.

History

• According to the New York University, Reynolds invented the mood ring to give people a visible means of tracking their moods, which was during the trendy times of self-awareness and introspection.

How It Works

• A mood ring contains a heat-sensitive liquid-crystal thermometer typically enhanced with a faux gemstone, usually made of quartz or glass. As the body temperature of the person wearing the ring changes, the crystals in the ring change colors.

Colors

• When not in use, mood rings are black, because the surface that the liquid crystal film is applied must be black or dyed black to make the color change clearly visible.

  Black represents frigid, and is the color when the body temperature is 80 degrees.
  Gray represents extremely nervous.
  Amber represents anxious and/or uncertain.
  Green represents calm.
  Teal represents calm and relaxed.
  Blue represents happy.
  Indigo or violet represents happy, romantic or passionate.

Accuracy

• Room temperature and a person's health can affect the color-change of a ring. A body fever can prompt color-change and not represent a particular mood. Basically, mood rings may not be completely accurate, but can be a lot of fun.