Just an update for anyone like me who is new to cross stitching and were as confused about this as I was lol. Here are a few things I've figured out from tips I got here and things I've researched:
As you can seen the whole needle is black now except for the tip and the eye.
Cleaning did not help. I think it actually made it corrode faster.
As several people have said, once it corrodes it becomes more difficult to use as it doesn't glide at all anymore. It's not terrible with 14 count Aida, but anything smaller would probably be a real pain to use it with.
Gold plate needles will NOT fix this issue. In fact, everything I've read online says they will actually corrode much faster. There are good reasons to pay for gold plated needles, but this is not one of them.
I did find a company online that sells stainless steel non corrosive cross stitch needles, but they cost almost NINE US DOLLARS PER NEEDLE... 😭😭😭
So ultimately it seems if your needle turns black, your best bet is to just keep using it until it becomes difficult to do so, then just throw it out/repurpose it, and use a new one!
Considering needles are like $8 for 20 (I’m using Gold plates Permin) is it really that big an issue? I’ve done like 20.000 stitches without it turning black. It’s getting darker but isn’t an issue at all yet.
Just curiosity mostly. I hadn't seen a sewing needle turn black like this before.