Jewelry TLC: At-Home Jewelry Care Tips

We all love wearing our jewelry, especially when it's brand new and it sparkles and shines.  However over time, it can become dirty and tarnished due to everyday wear, and not properly storing it when you are not wearing it. 

Your jewelry needs a little pampering and tender loving care every so often.  So here are some of my favorite jewelry care and cleaning tips to help keep your jewelry in ready-to-wear condition all year long.

Don't Store It, Wear It
I know this sounds simple, but jewelry is meant to be worn. If you wear it, it will not tarnish as quickly because your body oils help protect it.  However, if you just let it sit in a box, or worse, exposed to the air on the top of your dresser, it will surely tarnish because the air contains humidity and tiny dirt particles.

Beware of Chemicals
Chemicals are everywhere, and one of the worst chemicals that affects jewelry is chlorine, which is found in swimming pools and hot tubs.  Chlorine can discolor precious metals and often cause damage to some gemstones and pearls.  Take your jewelry off before entering either of these bodies of water if you want it to last. 

This goes for cleaning products too.  If you plan on cleaning with chemicals, remove your rings. You don't want to know what a luminous pearl or stunning piece of turquoise looks like after it has been submerged in bleach. Trust me, it's pretty scary.

Your Jewelry Doesn't Need a Shower Every Day  
I know we all have those meaningful pieces that we wear all the time and very rarely take off.  But did you know that soap, shampoo, hair conditioner, body lotions, and perfume can affect jewelry?  Jewelry should be taken off before you shower, and should be the last thing you put on after applying any body lotions, perfume, or hairspray.  

Remove Jewelry Before Sleeping
Always remove jewelry after daily wear. The last thing you need is to wake up and find your hair tangled in your necklace or earrings, or your ring or bracelet caught on your bedding.  This can cause chains to break and stone settings to become loose, making your jewelry susceptible to even greater damage. 

Polish It Every So Often
There are a couple of ways you can clean your jewelry.  First, you should hand-polish it every on occasion with a soft jeweler’s polishing cloth. These cloths are made for cleaning jewelry gently by removing tarnish and restoring the metal's luster.  Plus, some of these cloths are gentle on stones. My favorite jeweler’s polishing cloths are Sunshine Polishing Cloths. Don’t have one but need one? You can purchase a Sunshine Polishing Cloth here.

Deep Cleaning Does Wonders
Does your jewelry need a deeper cleaning?  Look no further than your kitchen. To help restore shine to your gold and silver jewelry, soak the pieces in a solution of warm water and a few drops of gentle liquid dish soap.

Let the jewelry sit in the solution for 3-5 minutes and then lightly scrub with a clean soft toothbrush to dislodge any dirt or oils. Rinse the pieces under warm water and pat dry with a soft cloth. After you let them dry completely, you’ll have your sparkly jewels back.

CAUTION – do not do this to jewelry set with porous gemstones such as pearls, or soft stones like malachite, turquoise, or opals.  Precious metal jewelry that contains soft stones should only ever be cleaned with a polishing cloth. And pearls need special care as well.  Click here for more tips on how to care for pearl jewelry.

Check the Stone Settings
Every so often inspect stones and settings. Do any of the stones seem loose or chipped? If so, stop wearing it and take it to a jeweler before it's too late.

How To Detangle Chains
Tangled necklace and bracelet chains happen to everyone.  And if you don't get these knots out soon, they can distort and even break the chain.  Straight pins are my favorite tools to detangle chains.  Place the tangled chain on a flat, sturdy surface with the ends of the chain unclasped. Stick the pins in the knot and gently tug back and forth to loosen the knot.  Once it's loose, gently and carefully detangle the chain so as not to misshapen the links.

JEWELRY STORAGE TIPS

Keep Them Separated
Storing silver and gold jewelry next to one another is not a good idea. Sterling silver tarnishes, and if it's sitting next to gold, it can help darken gold jewelry over time too. The best thing to do is keep them in separate containers.

Earring posts are notorious for scratching gemstones and metals that they come in contact with. Place earrings in their own container to prevent their posts from scratching other jewelry.

Ziploc Bags to the Rescue
One of the best ways to prevent jewelry from tarnishing is to store it in a jewelry box, but if you don’t have a jewelry box, you can store your jewelry in a plastic Ziploc bag. They may not be the prettiest bags around, but these bags will keep your jewelry clean and keep humidity out, which is a major culprit causing your jewelry to tarnish.

For the Love of Flannel
As mentioned above, silver should be kept away from high humidity otherwise it will tarnish quickly. If you tuck pieces of flannel in with your silver jewelry, it will help prevent the tarnishing process. 

Flannel is the material used to line most jewelry boxes.  It's also what many jewelry anti-tarnishing cloths are made of. So, if you have an old flannel shirt you are thinking of tossing, think again.  Cut it up and put little pieces of it in with your jewelry.  Your jewelry will thank you, and you'll be recycling! 

So there you go!  Now go spring clean your jewelry collection and start wearing it again. It will thank you with plenty of sparkle and shine!