Jewelry Care 101: How to Clean Your Jewelry

Your jewelry is meant to sparkle and dazzle everywhere you go, but exposure to oils, lotions, sweat, dirt, dust, and other environmental debris can dull their shine. Luckily, caring for your jewelry is not too difficult — and if done right, can extend the life of your jewelry.

To give a comparison, jewelry is just like your teeth. If you brush your teeth daily, if you floss and get dental care, your teeth are cared for and will stay strong. Likewise, jewelry that is cared for, maintained, and cleaned can stay strong for a long time. In this case, jewelry needs at-home cleaning if there is gunk and buildup around the prongs or on top of your stones. Better yet, we recommend seeing a jeweler every year for a check-up.

How Do I Take Care Of My Jewelry at Home?

To prevent any scratch marks or buildup in your ring, there are a few ways you can take care of your jewelry at home.

We recommend taking off your rings when you use lotion or hand sanitizers. If your ring is white gold, hand sanitizers will slowly remove the plating. It is also advisable that you remove your jewelry when exercising with machinery and weights. Doing so can potentially crack your rings, cause them to bend, or loose stones. Necklaces and bracelets can get caught and pulled, which can harm you, and your piece of jewelry.

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How Do I Clean My Jewelry at Home?

We recommend purchasing an at-home jewelry ultrasound machine and following the manufacturer's instructions. Essentially this machine uses water and a mild cleaner in addition to gentle vibrations that will gently clean your jewelry. However, if your prongs are damaged, there is a possibility that this machine will loosen the stone and cause them to fall out.

You can also mix in a few drops of dish soap with warm water and drip a soft cloth into the solution. You can gently rub the tarnish from your jewelry. Just rinse with cool water and buff dry with a soft cloth. You can also substitute the mixture for a little bit of toothpaste.

How Do I Store My Jewelry?

Traditionally, it is best to store jewelry in a fabric-lined box or a soft felt pouch to prevent jewelry from getting scratched. You can also put your favorite to-wear jewelry in a ceramic tray for easy access and store the rest of your jewelry in individual felt pouches to prevent necklaces from tangling and rings from scratching each other.

Sterling silver can oxidize so it's best to keep them in pouches. If your sterling silver jewelry is oxidized, a silver polishing cloth can be purchased. Just rub your ring with the polishing cloth and the oxidation will be removed.

"Jewelry care is easy when you know exactly what you need to do. However, you should still allow your jeweler to inspect and do a checkup on them to keep your jewelry with you for a long time."

What Does A Gilded Leaf Do During a Checkup?

Yes, checkups are also done on jewelry to keep them in top shape! Here at A Gilded Leaf, we inspect the overall shape and state of your ring before we start to clean them to give your jewelry its original sparkle.

Here is a more detailed look at what goes on during our checkup:

1. Inspect the condition of the prongs.

Prongs can break or move out of place. Our jeweler will repair the prong if there is any damage.

2. Check the overall shape of the ring.

Over time, rings conform to your finger’s shape. Thus, they usually lose their original round shape. If this is the case, we will reshape your ring accordingly.

3. Check the condition of the shank.

The shank is the body of the ring. We might have to add gold back to the shank, depending on how worn out it is.

4. Polish the ring

The final step is sending your ring to be polished. This removes any scratch marks and brings back the shine and sparkle of your ring.

Taking Care of Your Jewelry

Jewelry care is easy when you know exactly what you need to do. The best thing to do for your jewelry is to always remove it during the times when you are exposing it to various substances or using it during strenuous activity.

It is also better that you store your jewelry in places where it wouldn’t get scratched or damaged. And while cleaning them at home is a good way to keep them in nice shape, you should still allow your jeweler to inspect and do a checkup on them to keep your jewelry with you for a long time.