Jewellery has to sparkle, shine and shimmer in many colours: this is simply part of its essence and the reason for its incomparable magic and often so spectacular beauty. Of the radiance of new jewellery we are therefore often dazzled – even in the subdued light of the moon enchants us its seductive, profound shimmer.
However, it also belongs to the essence of jewellery that it gradually loses its lustre after a while. This is partly due to superficial dirt that is almost inevitable while regular wearing: for example through contact with our skin, perspiration, make-up residues or other cosmetics and personal care items such as perfumes, creams or lotions.
On the other hand, external influences such as strong sunlight or chemical processes also affect the condition of jewellery. Above all, the blackish tarnishing of metallic jewellery, in particular silver jewellery, is known. Here, the precious metal reacts with the oxygen or hydrogen sulphide contained in the air. The unsightly discolourations can be exacerbated by improper storage of the jewellery. Metal jewellery should neither be stored on cotton wool nor kept open so as not to increase its tarnishing. We will come back to suitable forms of jewellery storage later.
Even with the most careful handling and correct storage, however, certain natural signs of wear can hardly be avoided over the course of time, given the particular longevity of jewellery. Especially rings through their truly exposed position quite prone to minor damage such as scratches: too often they encounter in everyday life literally "hard resistance" when they directly get in contact with door handles or banisters made of metal.
But the most important news for you is that you can usually clean your jewellery yourself. Costly cleaning at a jeweller is rarely required. Although there are of course very special cleaning and care products for jewellery, also very often simple household remedies help your favourite pieces to a new magnificent shine. When cleaning your jewellery, it's best to always remember the following motto: only what's really clean can really shine – and make you shine as well!
Gold is without a doubt the most shiny of all precious metals. Therefore, it is optically in gold jewellery all the more significant if its radiant colour effect is getting visibly weaker and mat. It plays an important role that gold is not only a very precious, but also in its most common alloys a quite soft and sensitive metal.
The specific hardness, scratch resistance, but also corrosion resistance of, for example, your gold rings, gold necklaces or gold bracelets are determined primarily by the fineness or purity of the alloy. Of this, the susceptibility to dirt or damage of all kinds depends. For example, if you have a 333 gold alloy, you will need to clean your gold jewellery more often, whereas 750 gold will largely retain its shine for extended periods of time.
The easiest and most effective way to clean your gold jewellery is to use a bath of lukewarm water and put some washing-up liquid or mild soap in it. Clean your jewellery after bathing with a toothbrush with very soft bristles, rinse with lukewarm water and rub dry with a soft cotton or deerskin cloth. In particular, the deerskin provides for an intense renewal of shine. Never use harsh cloths or coarse brushes, and do not use aggressive chemical cleaning agents. If necessary, polish with a fine, lint-free polishing cloth.
An alternative, also very good method to bring your gold jewellery back to shine is the treatment with baking soda. To do this, apply the powder to a soft microfibre cloth and simply rub the piece of jewellery until it is shiny again. Then rinse the jewellery under clean water and dry it with a soft cloth.
If you neither succeed with the soap bath nor the use of baking soda alone, an additional bath in an ultrasonic cleaner is recommended. This allows even more stubborn dirt to be removed in a very gentle, yet efficient way and even to clean areas that are difficult to reach or not to reach manually. Especially if you have a lot of jewellery and therefore need to clean more often, the purchase of such a device can be rewarding for you – especially as it can also be used to clean your glasses or metallic watch bracelets.
In principle, the same applies to the correct storage of jewellery made of gold as with other types of jewellery: the most effective way to prevent your jewellery from damage or discolouration is to protect it from light and moisture and ideally store the individual jewellery forms such as necklaces, rings, earrings or bracelets separately in padded compartments or a multi-tiered jewellery box.
Chemically, the so-called tarnishing of silver jewellery comes about through an oxidation process. The silver reacts with the hydrogen sulfide contained in the oxygen of the air to silver sulfide, which then settles as an unsightly dark grey or black film on the silver and takes the silver jewellery its unmistakable, sparkling shine. Especially rarely worn jewellery is often affected.
Similar to gold jewellery, when cleaning silver jewellery you should primarily rely on household remedies and, above all, avoid aggressive cleaning agents. So baking soda is also very suitable for the gentle treatment of silver. Just stir it with a little water, then apply the mixture with a very soft brush and allow it to take effect a little. Then simply rinse the pieces with water – and enjoy your freshly shining jewellery!
Alternatively, you can lay out a bowl with some snippets of aluminium foil and fill it with hot water. Dissolve a little salt in it and then put in your silver jewellery. The aluminium of the aluminium foil emits electrons, which are absorbed by the silver. The salt in the water accelerates this process, which is why you do not have to wait long for the reaction: the aluminium foil suddenly turns black – while your jewellery regains its silver shine. Please place the jewellery in the bath only for a few minutes, then rinse it with warm water and let it dry.
As already described for the gold jewellery, the ultrasonic bath is probably the gentlest, but at the same time one of the most effective methods for cleaning silver jewellery. You place the tarnished jewellery in the water bath of an ultrasonic cleaner. When switched on, this generates an ultrasound whose vibrations remove dirt and deposits. For example, the method is also particularly suitable for jewellery with engravings, as its fine and narrow spaces are otherwise difficult to clean.
By the way, in connection with the cleaning of silver jewellery, it is interesting that for some jewellery lovers silver only looks really attractive when it is no longer completely bright and shines sparkling-silvery. Especially in deepenings of patterns, for example of necklace pendants or wider bracelets, the dark areas provide a delightful contrast and also characterize the special, somewhat antique look of the pieces.
For this reason, pieces of jewellery made of silver are often even specially provided with a finish, deeper areas are blackened and only then the surface is polished again. With such deliberately blackened silver jewellery accessories, you should of course be very careful with the cleaning and best use only a soft silver cleaning cloth.
In any case, remember that you do not store your silver jewellery in rooms with excessively high humidity, for example, neither in the bathroom or kitchen. The humidity of the air accelerates the tarnishing considerably. Optimal for storage is a dark and also airtight place, for example in a separate plastic bag in your jewellery box.
If you want to properly clean jewellery with gemstones or other minerals, you must first know their specific hardness. Hardness determination is still typically done using the Mohs scale. The scale named after the mineralogist Friedrich Mohs divides minerals according to their hardness or scratch hardness in a total of 10 levels: thereafter, stones with a Mohs hardness of 1 to 2 are usually considered as soft, from 3 to 5 as medium hard, with a Mohs hardness of more than 6 as hard and from over 8 as very hard.
So be sure to clarify whether the stones are rather soft or hard before you start cleaning your stone or gemstone jewellery. By far the hardest gemstone is the diamond with the maximum Mohs hardness of 10. He is not scratchable except for another diamond. A corundum and its two varieties – rubies and sapphires – with a Mohs hardness of 9 cannot be damaged easily, too. Also classified as rather hard are both topaz and amethyst. Opals, labradorites, as well as quartz varieties such as rose quartz or smoky quartz range between the medium hard and low hard areas of the scale. With a value between 2 and 2.5, amber is relatively soft.
One thing is certain: the softer your stones or gemstones are, the more sensitive they are. For jewellery with stones, therefore, do not use aggressive cleaning agents with chemicals such as ammonia or chlorine. For cleaning, it is best to simply use lukewarm water and mild, very diluted soap and a soft cloth or a very soft toothbrush. Such a soft toothbrush has the advantage that you achieve even narrow gaps and grooves with their ultra-soft bristles. Afterwards, simply rinse the cleaned jewellery with water and let it dry.
By the way, a similarly gentle procedure is also recommended for pearl jewellery. Keep away from aggressive chemical substances and rough materials so as not to affect the characteristic lustre of the pearls. Instead, simply use lukewarm water or a pH-neutral, especially gentle soap. To clean, dip a soft cloth into the water and rub your pearl jewellery very carefully.
Jewellery with pearls as well as jewellery with stones should always be protected from light and kept separate from other types of jewellery. Otherwise, hard gems may scratch other pieces of jewellery. Also, keep in mind that prolonged, intense sunlight on stones such as citrine, turquoise, rose quartz, or even chalcedony can cause them to lose more and more of their luminosity and fire and literally fade in colour.
Of course, every jewellery lover wants to enjoy his glittering, shiny and seductively sparkling eye-catchers for a long time. For this it is necessary to ensure the best possible state of preservation of his favourite pieces. To put it a catchy formula: prevention is better than aftercare – and careful handling better than constant cleaning. In concrete terms, this means for you: if you avoid damaging influences and dirt to a large extent, later on you will have to clean much less frequently and less intensively.
For example, rings which, due to their exposed place on the "gripping tools" of our hands, are highly susceptible to dirt and minor scratches, require a particularly careful handling in everyday life. Therefore, before home and garden work, and better also before sport, you should definitely take them off. Also, as a precaution, better remove your bracelets and watches to prevent them from becoming dirty or damaged. Whenever you go to the sauna or the solarium, or in summer to the beach or the outdoor pool, your jewellery should stay consistently at home. High temperatures, sweat and especially chlorine attack the surface of your jewellery.
For the same reason, you should always keep your jewellery away from harsh chemical cleaners, as they can usually be harmful to precious metals, gemstones and pearls and even make pearls porous. Moreover, always put on your jewellery after the application of cosmetics – no matter whether it is hair sprays, powders, perfumes, deodorants, sun oils or creams. The contact with the partly aggressive substances contained therein can cause damage to your jewellery and, for example, lead to unattractive discolouration.
Also before bedtime, you should always take off your jewellery. This is especially true for necklaces and earrings such as drop earrings. Nocturnal sweating and dust, but also friction and contact with blanket or pillow not only have a negative effect on the jewellery, but can also disturb you during your sleep.
In addition, always protect your jewellery from strong sunlight, heat and moisture. Humid rooms such as bathrooms or kitchens are particularly unsuitable for silver jewellery, but also for gold jewellery, since any form of moisture promotes the oxidation and the resulting tarnishing significantly. The hot rays of the sun, however, can lead to colour fading of minerals in stone jewellery.
Jewellery cases, which can be opened like small cupboards, and also have separate boxes or drawers for the different types of jewellery such as precious metal jewellery or gemstone jewellery as well as for the individual jewellery forms such as necklaces or bracelets, are particularly useful for storing jewellery. The separate compartments protect against oxidation and fading and are also softly lined inside. To avoid scratches, you can also wrap your jewellery individually in tissue paper or soft cloth.
To clean your jewellery, it is best to use a clean, lint-free cloth first. It removes sweat and finest dirt particles in a gentle yet thorough manner. For coarser dirt lukewarm water, mild soap and a lint-free cloth are also recommended for cleaning. Apart from pearl jewellery, which could get minor cracks due to the vibrations, ultrasonic baths are basically an excellent method of jewellery cleaning. The most important advantage is the extremely gentle cleaning of even the narrowest gaps that would otherwise be virtually impossible to access.
If you follow these tips to clean, care for and store jewellery and, above all, always carefully handle your jewellery, you are already well on the way to turn your personal favourite pieces into long-standing attractive companions. But more importantly, you and your jewellery highlights, with their overwhelming radiance and beauty, will remain the admired stars on every occasion.
