Tips for Cleaning and Taking Care of your Jewelry

With a little attention and care your jewelry can last a very long time. I always recommend getting into the habit of cleaning your jewelry, storing it properly, and removing your jewelry when doing certain tasks.

It is always recommended to remove jewelry during these activities:

• House chores or yard work: Harsh chemicals used for cleaning and yard work can damage or create pits in metals. They can also discolor stones.
• Sports: Metals can be scratched and stones can be damaged or cracked if they are accidentally hit.
• Showering. Shampoos and bath soaps all contain substances that can damage the metal or stones.
• Before apply make-up or any lotions.
• Operating equipment. Jewelry can get easily caught on any tool while in use and can cause injury.
• No swimming in pools: Chlorine will discolor your metal

Cleaning tips:

• I always recommend having your jewelry cleaned by a professional jeweler.
• You can also use at home Dawn, soft baby tooth brush and warm water to remove some of the dirt residue on metal jewelry.
• If your jewelry has porous stones like turquoise, pearls, onyx, emerald, amber coral, and opals. These are softer stones and can suffer from water damage or become pitted if using cleaning solutions for jewelry.
• Do not use baking soda or toothpaste to clean your jewelry. Both these items are very abrasive and can cause scratches or even damage certain stones.
• Some ultra sonic cleaners can be used on jewelry with diamonds and sapphires but are risky for other gemstones like pearls, amber, opals, or emeralds.
• Using polishing cloths for jewelry also helps keep your jewelry shiny. It should be kept it it's package when not being used because dust or abrasive elements may accumulate on the cloth over time.

Wear, Tear Tarnish and Scratches:

• It is normal for your jewelry to have some scratches over time. Silver will have more scratches compared to palladium, gold or platinum jewelry.
• It is normal for patinas to fade over time.
• A professional jewelry can polish out small scratches.
• Tarnish on silver and lower karat golds can develop over time if not stored correctly, or in damp areas like bathrooms or in sulfurous locations.
• Cosmetics and certain lotions can cause tarnishing.
• Hot tubs and swimming pools can cause tarnishing.
• The wearers body chemistry can also accelerate the tarnish.
• Stones can also be easily scratched. It is common knowledge that the diamond is the highest on the Mohs scale (check chart for more info) If you are hard on your jewelry you may want to make sure your stone choices are higher up on the scale.

 Storing your jewelry:

• Get in the habit of  keeping  your jewelry in the same location when you are not wearing your jewelry. Sometimes we can be forgetful.
• For long term storage one should store jewelry  in a jewelry box padded with fabric. I also recommend a safe if your jewelry collection has high value.
• Keep a fabric pouch with you in your purse. This way when you are out and about and need to take your rings off to wash your hands you don't leave it on a sink somewhere.

 I hope you have found these tips helpful. If you have any questions feel free to contact me HERE

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