It makes sense to take special care of your precious pieces of jewellery and it doesn’t have to cost you a great deal.
You can purchase a range of products that will ensure your jewellery stays sparkling. However this cleaning hack will keep your silver and gold sparkling for longer.
How frequently should I wash my jewellery?
As a rule of thumb you should give your jewellery a weekly polish with a polishing cloth and an even deeper clean monthly, especially when your jewellery is starting to tarnish.
Are you able to over clean jewellery?
Whilst precious metals like gold and silver and hard gems like diamonds can take regular cleaning some the softer semi precious stones need to be treated with a bit more care.
Extra care needs to be taken when cleaning pearls as they are easily made dull by a lot of cleaning products including vinegar and baking soda.
It’s best to use a product such as Connoisseurs Jewelry Cleaner Delicate to clean your pearl jewellery and only clean them when absolutely necessary.
At home DIY jewellery cleaning hack
1 – What you will need
For this cleaning hack you’ll need a bowl, one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent, one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of baking soda, 250ml of hot water, a cloth, an old soft toothbrush and a sheet of aluminum foil.
2 – Ion Transfer
Line the bowl with the foil and then put in the salt, baking soda and detergent followed by the hot water.
The concoction will fizz and it’s time to drop your jewellery in and watch as a process called an ion transfer cleans the precious metals.
3 – A gentle scrub
Remove your jewellery from the liquid and then gently scrub each individual piece with the soft toothbrush trying to get into every groove, indent and prong you can.
Rinse each piece and then pat dry with your cloth.
Look at that! Your silver, gold and gems are sparkling like new.
Professional jewellery cleaning products
There are a number of great jewellery cleaning products on the market and if you’re buying your jewellery new then it pays to talk to your jeweller about the products they would recommend.
Most jewellers offer a range of cleaning products from specially prepared liquids to polishing cloths and brushes.
An all-in-one solution is Tiffany’s jewellery home care kit.
Ultrasonic cleaners
Home Ultrasonic jewellery cleaners are popular right now, there are a number of options on the market.
These devices suspend your jewellery in a special cleaning liquid and then bombards them with high frequency ultrasound waves in the 20-400 kHz range that will dislodge dirt from your precious jewellery without harming them.
Note that softer gemstones such as pearls, opals, emeralds and turquoise shouldn’t be cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner as it may damage them.
If you’re really serious about keeping your precious metals and stones clean then you’ll need to get an ultrasonic cleaner.