How To Clean Your Jewelry at Home… Really!
As part of the Masterpiece Jewelers’ Monday Moments videos from your Florida family jewelry store, we have a simple concept for you today that a lot of people who visit the store ask about… how to clean your jewelry at home!
Keeping your jewelry clean is more of a time issue… that is, if you know what products to use to clean your jewelry. For example, I have a dear friend, Katie, who has a beautiful, three stone past, present and future diamond ring that she got years ago from our store. Every time I see her, it looks phenomenal.
Now, as a professional jeweler who loves jewelry, what she does doesn’t work for me, but her secret works for her. After she takes a shower, while still in the bathroom, she takes a few moments to clean her ring with jewelry cleaner and a toothbrush! This keeps the soap scum and lotion from building up.
Katie keeps her ring clean all the time, but this isn’t the case for most of us. In fact, when I’m out, I’m always asking people to see their jewelry. And the first thing they usually tell me is that it’s “really dirty.”
Yes! People who wash their hands a lot have “dirty” jewelry. If you wear your jewelry all the time, a build-up gets behind your diamonds and it also dulls your chains, stud earrings and more. And sometimes, it’s just a collection of soap and lotion. This means that if you are a clean person who washes frequently, you probably have “dirty” rings so...
If you wash your hands all the time and use lotion... you may have dirty rings!
How Do You Clean Your Jewelry at Home?
Keeping your jewelry clean is more of a time issue… that is, if you know what products to use to clean your jewelry. For example, I have a dear friend, Katie, who has a beautiful, three stone past, present and future diamond ring that she got years ago from our store. Every time I see her, it looks phenomenal.
Now, as a professional jeweler who loves jewelry, what she does doesn’t work for me, but her secret works for her. After she takes a shower, while still in the bathroom, she takes a few moments to clean her ring with jewelry cleaner and a toothbrush! This keeps the soap scum and lotion from building up.
Katie keeps her ring clean all the time, but this isn’t the case for most of us. In fact, when I’m out, I’m always asking people to see their jewelry. And the first thing they usually tell me is that it’s “really dirty.”
Yes! People who wash their hands a lot have “dirty” jewelry. If you wear your jewelry all the time, a build-up gets behind your diamonds and it also dulls your chains, stud earrings and more. And sometimes, it’s just a collection of soap and lotion. This means that if you are a clean person who washes frequently, you probably have “dirty” rings so...
If you wash your hands all the time and use lotion... you may have dirty rings!
How Do You Clean Your Jewelry at Home?
There are some simple methods you can use. To start, there is a ridiculously efficient and effective way that we’ve been using the last couple of decades. Use equal parts of sudsy ammonia and very hot tap water. Then, you soak your jewelry for about five minutes in the liquid, rinse it and brush it with a toothbrush. For stubborn dirt, repeat the process. In just a short while, your jewelry can look as beautiful as the day you bought it!
(But one note of caution, be sure to close the sink drain if you are working over the sink! You don’t want to see your favorite jewelry go right down the drain!)
Now when Tracy and I do speaking-engagements, a lot of people ask us if they can use toothpaste to clean their jewelry at home. This dates back to when toothpaste was made of simple ingredients like water and baking soda. Today, there are a lot more chemicals in toothpaste that can interact in a bad way with your jewelry.
Brushing your jewelry with a toothbrush is a good idea to get into all of the small crevices of your jewelry, but avoid toothpaste. Also, do not place your jewelry into boiling water or submerge your pearls in water.
For pearls, you use a soft cloth every time you take them off. This removes body oils, lotions and more. While this is a simple process, it will save the nacre, or shiny part of the pearl, from being stripped off, and this is something that can’t be replaced.
(But one note of caution, be sure to close the sink drain if you are working over the sink! You don’t want to see your favorite jewelry go right down the drain!)
Now when Tracy and I do speaking-engagements, a lot of people ask us if they can use toothpaste to clean their jewelry at home. This dates back to when toothpaste was made of simple ingredients like water and baking soda. Today, there are a lot more chemicals in toothpaste that can interact in a bad way with your jewelry.
Brushing your jewelry with a toothbrush is a good idea to get into all of the small crevices of your jewelry, but avoid toothpaste. Also, do not place your jewelry into boiling water or submerge your pearls in water.
For pearls, you use a soft cloth every time you take them off. This removes body oils, lotions and more. While this is a simple process, it will save the nacre, or shiny part of the pearl, from being stripped off, and this is something that can’t be replaced.
How do you clean your pearls at home?
In the last few years, we have started selling this amazing jewelry cleaner called Lavish. I don't know what they put in it, but my sister and I think it must be pixie dust because it works better than any jewelry cleaner we have ever had!
In fact, if you bring your jewelry into Masterpiece Jewelers, your Florida family jewelry store here on Beville Road for a free cleaning, we will use Lavish instead of the ultrasonic machine, the machine that jewelers have used for decades and generations to clean jewelry!
Not sure how to clean your jewelry? We're here to help!
Previously, we would turn this machine on in the morning to ensure it was hot and ready to clean customers’ jewelry. Now, we don’t even turn the machine on because the Lavish cleaner works so well!
If you are in the local area and would like to try Lavish, please get in touch with us. If not, try using sudsy ammonia and hot water. Then, you should be pretty covered with any of your gold, gemstone and diamond jewelry.
Regular Jewelry Cleaning is Key!
As I mentioned previously, my friend Katie cleans her ring after her shower every day, and it looks spectacular. Life can definitely get in the way, but if you create a new habit of cleaning your jewelry on a regular basis, you’ll be able to wear rings, necklaces, earrings, and more that look shiny and new all the time!
In fact, if you bring your jewelry into Masterpiece Jewelers, your Florida family jewelry store here on Beville Road for a free cleaning, we will use Lavish instead of the ultrasonic machine, the machine that jewelers have used for decades and generations to clean jewelry!
Not sure how to clean your jewelry? We're here to help!
Previously, we would turn this machine on in the morning to ensure it was hot and ready to clean customers’ jewelry. Now, we don’t even turn the machine on because the Lavish cleaner works so well!
If you are in the local area and would like to try Lavish, please get in touch with us. If not, try using sudsy ammonia and hot water. Then, you should be pretty covered with any of your gold, gemstone and diamond jewelry.
Regular Jewelry Cleaning is Key!
As I mentioned previously, my friend Katie cleans her ring after her shower every day, and it looks spectacular. Life can definitely get in the way, but if you create a new habit of cleaning your jewelry on a regular basis, you’ll be able to wear rings, necklaces, earrings, and more that look shiny and new all the time!