5 Quick Tips to Clean your Jewellery

Jewellery Care and Cleaning Tips

Let's face it: everybody's jewellery needs a good clean occasionally. If you take a look at your own collection you'll probably notice your precious jewellery getting tarnished or just plain grimy. So how do you go about cleaning your jewellery quickly, easily and safely?

All jewellery needs some care and attention to be kept at its sparkling best. If you're not sure where to start, we're here to help with our quick top 5 tips to help you learn about how best to easily clean and care for your gold, sterling silver and gemstone jewellery.

So let's get started...

1. Check your jewellery

It can be easy to not realise that your jewellery needs a clean, either because you wear it all the time and don't notice the changes or because it's put away somewhere and you don't look at it too often.

I suggest that every 6-12 months you take some time to have a good look at your pieces - especially the most precious ones - and give them an objective assessment. Chances are some or all could do with a bit of a spruce up - and sterling silver jewellery, in particular, is likely to be tarnished.

The good news is that cleaning for most jewellery pieces is pretty easy. Read on to find out how.

2. Give it a wash

Watch our short video on how to clean your jewellery at home

3. Remove tarnish with a polishing cloth

Sterling silver, in particular, will tarnish over time, but other precious metals can as well, including lower carats of gold. This is a normal process with metal and the tarnish is easy enough to clean off precious metals.

If your precious metal jewellery is tarnished, use a precious metal polishing cloth to remove it.

Once you're happy, give the piece a rinse and dry it to remove any chemical residue.

4. Avoid harsh cleaning

Never use 'old wives' jewellery cleaning methods involving toothpaste or baking soda which is rubbed onto the metal. This will remove tiny amounts of metal every time you do it and over time it will damage and deplete your precious jewellery.

Also take care when using a polishing cloth, brush or anything else which is rubbed against the metal, particularly if your jewellery has a more delicate finish (such as vermeil, plating or any patina or colouring).

Too much enthusiasm with jewellery cleaning may not be a good thing!

5. Store your jewellery carefully

Now your jewellery is nice and clean, have a think about how best to store it to avoid needing to clean it again too soon.

Avoid storing precious metal jewellery in particular in a humid place - especially the bathroom. Humidity will speed up tarnishing a lot, so it's best avoided. If you live in a humid place, then extra care should be taken and more cleaning is undertaken.

Ideally, precious metal jewellery should be stored away from free-flowing air. This will also slow down tarnish, plus it will help keep dust at bay. Keep it in a pouch, small jewellery box or similar if you can. Have a look at our amazing Jewellery pouches.

If you like having your jewellery on display, then be aware that it's likely to need a clean more often, so keep an eye on it.