How to Care for your Fine Jewelry
1. Keep Your Jewelry Clean and Dry
Jewelry cleaning is important to restore shine and remove any oils or dirt build-up. But if you’re cleaning a gold necklace or cleaning pearl earrings, you may need to use different tools for different materials. Look for the cleaning tips specific to your jewelry.
To maintain your pieces, remember a few things:
- Many jewelry types can be cleaned with warm water and a mild dish soap. Be careful to use a gentle cloth or brush for cleaning, especially with soft gems like pearls that are easy to scratch.
- Avoid any cleaning products not specifically designed for jewelry. Many cleaners can contain harsh chemicals that can damage gems or metals.
- Put water into a separate bowl to rinse jewelry rather than over the sink, where it’s easy to lose a piece down the drain.
Clean VS. polish?
When you clean an item of jewellery, this means that you’re removing any dirt or dead skin that’s gathered on its metal surfaces, on the diamonds or gems, and in the nooks and crannies between them.
When you polish an item of jewellery, you remove tarnished spots from the metal surfaces to maximise shine.
2. Avoid Contact with Lotion or Perfume
Precious metals, colored gems, and pearls are very sensitive to chemicals. That can include even the products you put on your skin. If you’re applying perfume, make sure to do so before putting on your jewelry rather than spritzing afterwards. The same goes for any sort of makeup setting spray, lotion, or skin refreshing spray. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Be careful, especially of pearls and porous gems—they can have permanent surface damage from some cosmetic chemicals.
- Make sure that your skin is completely dry after applying any sprays before putting jewelry on.
- If your precious metals become exposed to any chemicals, immediately rinse and wash off any residue with a gentle cloth.
3. Store Your Jewelry Properly
When you’re not wearing it, keeping your jewelry in careful storage can help prevent damage and discoloration. Storing jewelry together can get them entangled with one another, which risks scratches on soft gems or broken links on necklaces. Here are some storage tips:
- Keep padded boxes or cloth bag pouches that new jewelry comes in.
- Look for jewelry storage that allows you to have some separation between pieces to avoid tangling or damage, such as with padded ring boxes with individual slots.
- Use a padded box or cloth bag to keep pieces separate from other items when traveling.
- If keeping pieces in long-term storage, seal them in vacuum storage pouches to keep moisture and air out.
4. General Rules
A professional should regularly check jewellery for damage or wear. If you have any concerns about your jewellery condition, take it to a trusted jeweler.
- Take your jewellery off if you’re involved in any activity which could scratch, knock or damage it. If in any doubt, take it off and keep it safe.
- Take it off when you go to bed.
- Keep it well away from chemicals, especially chlorine. If it does come into contact with chemicals, rinse it in water immediately.
- Make sure chains and necklaces are fastened when storing to avoid tangling.
- Remove jewellery while cooking and cleaning or put on rubber gloves to avoid any unwanted contact or scratches.
- When storing jewellery, please keep it away from sunlight, excessive heat or damp conditions
