How to Clean Your Jewelry with Home Products
You take care of your car and house investments. Why aren’t you doing the same with your jewelry?
Though custom and designer jewelry greatly varies in price, it’s all made to last and made to be cared for. When the shine starts to fade, it’s easy to put the piece back into its box and choose another bracelet or necklace that looks better. But you know you’ll get busy and forget to have it cleaned. You also don’t want to hand over the cash it’s going to make it look like new.
Not to worry, dear. There’s an easier way. With a couple of products lying around the house and a few minutes of your spare time, you can renew your jewelry and keep it looking fresh without having to pay a wrist or a finger.
Clean diamonds each week to make them shine spectacularly.
Cleaning Jewelry Metals
Let them see you shining from a mile away. In a tasteful fashion, of course. All silver needs is a little warm water and mild dish soap. Wet a soft towel with the mixture, clean the jewelry by rubbing away the ick and rinse the pieces in cool water. Buff it with a cloth to dry it off.
If that won’t eliminate the gunk, break out the baking soda. Mix three parts baking soda and one part water. Clean the jewelry with the paste using a lint-free cloth, rinse and buff it to dry. If you want to take a wackier route, Reader’s Digest suggests rubbing ketchup or hand sanitizer over your tarnished silver.
As for gold, do a regular cleaning with warm water and mild dish soap, just as you would with silver. For tougher jobs, add a little ammonia to the water—a few drops should do. Place the gold in the water and gently clean it with a soft toothbrush. After rinsing it with warm water, let it dry on its own.
What to Watch For
When scrubbing silver, be sure to use a cloth without any abrasiveness. Try a polishing cloth or soft sponge. Good Housekeeping recommends the Connoisseurs UltraSoft Silver Jewelry Polishing Cloth for a simple and speedy shine.
Thinking of using the shower-with-jewelry technique to bring more gleam to your gold? Woman’s Day warns chemicals in your hair and body products will only add a film to your jewelry, making it even more dull. If you want to do preventive maintenance on your gold, avoid chlorine at all costs. It can actually permanently ruin your gold jewelry.
Try using a soft toothbrush to get gunk out of crevices on metal and gemstone jewelry.
How To Clean Gemstones
To rejuvenate diamonds, try soaking it in water and mild dish soap. If the soak didn’t get the dirt out of the crevices, try using a soft toothbrush to nudge the grit free. If your piece uses a tension setting or remains an antique, don’t scrub too hard with the toothbrush. Be delicate. After you’re finished, rinse the diamond with warm water and dry it with a lint-free cloth.
For other hard gems, the traditional trio of warm water, dish soap and a soft toothbrush will work as well. However, you can also wipe them with glass cleaner. The aforementioned baking soda mixture and the ammonia trick used to clean metals will also work with cleaning gemstones as well.
What to Watch For
To keep your diamond sparkling, GIA suggests to avoid touching it with your hands unless absolutely necessary. Just as the effect from continually touching your face with oily fingers, greasiness causes diamonds to look worse, which results in more frequent cleaning for you. So make sure to look rather than touch.
Be cautious with stones like turquoise. Submerging the beauties in water can discolor the gemstones, as they’re porous, and water can easily enter, according to Woman’s Day. Commercial jewelry cleaners can also discolor gemstones.
When to Take It to a Jeweler
A common cleaning mantra among jewelers includes needing only very diluted ammonia, a soft toothbrush and soft, lint-free cloths for at-home jewelry cleaning. For people who want a more professional approach, try a jewelry-cleaning kit from a store. Make sure it’s one with safe supplies.
However, if cleaning your jewelry with do-it-yourself methods doesn’t suit you, it’s okay to take it to a jeweler. It may cost you a bit, but resources like ionic or ultrasonic jewelry cleaners usually reside at professional jeweler shops, which can be more reliable than using at-home versions of the tools. If you simply can’t eradicate the yuck from your pieces, your local professional jeweler will be able to help.
Unsure Whether You Can Clean It Yourself?
Don’t risk ruining your rocks at home when you can clean them professionally and safely. Reiner’s Fine Jewelry in Houston can make your pieces shine and last longer with proper maintenance. Visit Reiner’s Fine Jewelry to learn about our services for cleaning and creating custom jewelry.