Not to clean jewelry or maintain jewelry has terrible outcomes. Jewelry pieces, when not cleaned, start to look worn out. This makes your jewelry look bad. Apart from that, uncleaned dirt and debris on your jewelry can damage it. This makes jewelry cleaning an important job that every jewelry owner must know.
While jewelry cleaning is an important thing, what’s more, important is learning the correct way to clean your jewelry. With jewelry being sensitive and delicate, knowing how to handle and clean them is essential. Don’t worry if you don’t know it already because we will help you with that.
Clothes, be it casual, formal, semi-formal, or almost any other type, can be enhanced by jewelry. This makes jewelry a fashion item cherished and valued all over the world. Well, rightly so, jewelry makes you look better, improves your outfit, and makes you look more eye-catching.
Jewelry has significant importance and value in the eye of people. Many like to wear it and collect and own various pieces and sets of jewelry. Suppose you are also someone that fancies jewelry and holds a collection of it. It’s likely that you face problems with cleaning and maintaining those precious pieces of jewelry on your own.
Benefits having clean jewelry
While cleaning your jewelry is a big part of owning and collecting jewelry. Sometimes, it is boring and mundane for many jewelry owners. While cleaning jewelry and taking care of it is a tedious job, it comes with a lot of hidden benefits that are seldom discussed. To motivate you towards cleaning your jewelry, a few benefits are attached to it.
It keeps the jewelry piece young
If you are a frequent jewelry wearer. You might have experienced problems with dirt and dust ruining your jewelry pieces. Cleaning dust is a little tricky, but regular cleaning keeps the jewelry pieces safe from it. When a jewelry piece stays away from dirt and debris, its look stays preserved, thus making the jewelry piece look young even after years of use.
It gives you satisfaction and makes you feel better
This benefit, while rarely discussed, is quite true. According to different psychologists, performing essential tasks makes you feel less lazy. It gives you a sense of achievement and importance.
Jewelry cleaning is a time-consuming and challenging task. However, the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment after doing it are great. Since jewelry has a lot of value, you also feel suitable for taking care of the valuable stuff. Thus the next time you feel down or have nothing important to do, try cleaning your jewelry.
It helps identify the damage in your jewelry
When not cleaned for a long time, Jewelry can collect dust layers. These dust layers, at times, can hide out damaged spots in the jewelry. People continue to wear the jewelry without actually knowing about the damage in their jewelry. This leads to the jewelry pieces not getting repaired.
This damage on the jewelry, when not identified early stars, worsens. This further diminishes the quality of the jewelry and ultimately destroys the beauty and value that the jewelry piece once possessed. Thus, cleaning the jewelry is very important to identify any damages and get them repaired.
You start to like wearing jewelry more often
Jewelry pieces once kept inside your safes and cupboards without being used for long periods start to lose the shine they once had. Without this shine, the jewelry piece fails to look as eye-catching and appealing as it once was, thus making you uninterested in wearing it.
However, when you clean your jewelry and protect it from degrading and losing its shine. Once you do this, you will start liking your jewelry more and wear it more often.
Taking care of the different types of jewelry
As we all know, jewelry comes in a lot of variety, materials, and designs; thus, the processes behind the cleaning and care of each of these items are also different. Gold, for example, is other than diamond. Thus the cleaning process of jewelry of both materials is very different. A responsible jewelry owner or collector should always understand the different types of jewelry and the best ways to clean them.
It helps identify the damage in your jewelry
As we all know, jewelry comes in a lot of variety, materials, and designs; thus, the processes behind the cleaning and care of each of these items are also different. Gold, for example, is other than diamond. Thus the cleaning process of jewelry of both materials is very different. A responsible jewelry owner or collector should always understand the different types of jewelry and the best ways to clean them.
Gold jewelry
Shiny, scarce, and attractive, gold has been a status symbol since the historical era. Gold is used for making a significant percentage of the world’s jewelry. If you are a jewelry lover, you might own it too. Gold, when not cleaned for a long time, can collect a whole lot of dust which makes it look not very interesting and takes away its sparkle. To prevent this, you should work towards cleaning your gold jewelry.
A typical use case in cleaning gold jewelry would be how cleaning a wedding ring can prolong its shining life and also the thing that your wedding ring has.
Steps to Clean Jewelry that’s Gold
The steps to clean off any piece of gold jewelry are pretty straightforward. Starting, you need to create a solution of dish soap with water in a big bowl that can easily fit big jewelry pieces. Next, you need to take each of your jewelry pieces and lay it inside the bowl.
Leave the jewelry pieces to soak inside the dish soap solution for around 5 to 6 minutes. Once thoroughly soaked, you can set aside and dry more minor details such as earrings and keep them away. For more significant pieces, such as necklaces, you can use a small soft bristle brush to rub any dirt or debris off them. This will make your gold jewelry clean and spotless moreover, doing this often will elongate the jewelry’s shine.
For example, cleaning 14k gold is one of the most common searches regarding cleaning gold, this is due to many people having 14k gold engagement rings and also wedding rings.
Silver Jewelry
Although not as scarce as gold or diamond, silver is a shiny and valuable metal used to make jewelry all over the world. If you own even a little bit of jewelry, there is a big possibility that you might have a piece or two made of silver. When not cleaned for more extended periods, silver jewelry can get dirt spots and be damaged, which is why learning to clean your silver jewelry is essential.
Clean jewelry based in Silver
Silver pieces being easily tarnished are cleaned off and coated with silver polish, which you can buy from online or nearby stores. This silver polish covers the damaged area of the silver jewelry and prevents further damage. You can apply the silver polish onto the jewelry yourself only if you think you can pull it off; otherwise, we would suggest taking the help of an expert.
Other than coating your silver jewelry with silver polish, you can use multiple easier ways, like dish soap solution or toothpaste to clean the silver jewelry. At the same time, these more accessible solutions will not polish the jewelry surface. Still, they will surely clean any dirt or debris off them.
Gemstone Jewelry
Gemstone is a collective term used to describe difficult stones to mine. Stones like diamonds, ruby, sapphire, and emeralds come under the gemstone category. Though these stones are hard, they can get scratched and lose their value which is why their cleaning should be done with extra care and effort.
Cleaning Gemstones
Gemstones, when worn daily, can get affected by dirt and debris. To clean this debris from gemstones, however, is pretty straightforward. All you got to do is make a solution of dish soap and sparkling water. Using sparkling water here would carbonize the solution, thus helping it remove dirt.
Once the solution is ready, you can dip in your gemstone jewelry inside it and soak it for 5 to 6 minutes. Once soaked, you have to take the jewelry out, clean off the gemstone with a soft bristle brush, and wipe it in a circular motion using a microfiber cloth.
Pearl Jewelry
Unlike gold, diamond, and silver, Pearls are not mined from the ground. Still, they are actually produced inside the shell of a mollusk. When worn in polluting or dusty environments, Pearls can get stains and damage; thus, wiping and cleaning them often is essential. These are sensitive; therefore, you should carry out the cleaning process with extra care.
Clean Jewelry with Pearls
Unlike gold or gemstones, pearls have pores in them. This makes soaking pearls in water or any solution a terrible idea. Once water soaks inside a pearl, it weakens it or, at times, can even break it.
To clean a pearl, you must first wipe it with a clean and smooth piece of cloth. Next, you can use a soft brush, dip it in a small shampoo solution and run it over the pearl. Once done with this, you should dry off the pearl with a soft and absorbent cloth.
Precautions you should take when you clean jewelry
While cleaning your jewelry surely is an essential step towards keeping it safe. Another important factor involved in doing so is to follow different jewelry-related precautions out there. Here we have prepared a list of protection that you should follow to protect your jewelry.
Keep jewelry away from chemicals
Living in the modern world, we are constantly surrounded by chemicals. These chemicals are harmless to us but can be harmful to our jewelry. This can include surf, floor cleaners, and chlorine in swimming pools.
Put it on last when dressing up
While many know this rule, some people still wear their dresses and clothes with their jewelry already on them. Doing this can scratch or damage the surface of your jewelry. To protect your jewelry, it should always be the last thing you wear in your outfit.
Wipe your clean jewelry before storing
It is always a good idea to wipe off your jewelry pieces with a fine microfiber cloth before storing them. Wiping off the jewelry before storing it will ensure that no dirt or debris stays on the jewelry piece.
Keep out air when storing jewelry
While storing jewelry and keeping it away for a long time, you should keep it in a place that is not very airy. This is because air can carry a lot of dirt with itself, thus damaging the jewelry. To further protect the jewelry from the perspective, you can store it in small plastic packets. You can seal these packets, thus further protecting the jewelry.
Conclusion
While wearing and collecting jewelry looks fantastic. There is a lot that goes inside protecting the jewelry pieces you own. If you love jewelry, you should also learn how to clean and take proper care of it. We hope that we were of help explaining the importance of jewelry cleaning and teaching you how to do it—wishing for your jewelry pieces to always be clean and shine bright.