It’s normal for well-loved jewelry to start looking a bit dull or dirty with regular wear. Over time, things like lotion, dust, and your skin’s natural oils can start building up on your jewelry, dimming its shine. This is especially true for engagement rings, wedding bands, and other pieces you wear every day.
Luckily, you can easily restore your jewelry’s sparkle with the right cleaning and care. Here’s everything you need to know to clean your engagement ring and other fine jewelry favorites at home. We’ll cover how to clean and store your jewelry, and share tips on how not to clean your jewelry.
Clean With Soap and Water
The easiest–and safest–way to clean your jewelry at home is with mild soap and warm water. These gentle materials can bring your jewelry back to life without damaging it.
This cleaning method has four steps: soak, scrub, rinse, and dry.
- Soak: Soak your jewelry to loosen stubborn build up and grime. Make a cleaning solution by combining warm water with a few drops of dish soap in a bowl. Place your jewelry in your soapy water solution and allow it to soak for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Scrub: Remove your jewelry from your solution and gently scrub it using a new soft toothbrush. It’s best to use a new toothbrush to avoid accidentally scrubbing your jewelry with remnants of toothpaste, which can be abrasive enough to scratch gold.
- Rinse: Rinse your jewelry in warm water. We recommend rinsing your jewelry in a bowl of clean warm water, rather than rinsing it under warm running water. You don’t want to risk dropping your jewelry down an open drain.
- Dry: Allow your jewelry to air dry or dry it with a soft cloth, like a microfiber cloth. Don’t dry your jewelry with paper towels, which can be rough enough to scratch gold and softer gemstones. Once your jewelry is dry, polish it with a polishing cloth if desired.
If your jewelry still looks a bit dirty or dim, repeat these steps as needed.
Tip: Be sure to use warm water, not hot water, when making your DIY jewelry cleaning solution. Sudden temperature changes can damage many gemstones, so you don’t want to put jewelry in extremely hot or cold conditions. Additionally, make sure the soap you use is non-moisturizing. Soaps with moisturizing agents in them can leave a cloudy film behind on your jewelry, making it look even dirtier.
Store Jewelry Safely
Store jewelry in a cool, dry place, like in its original ring box.
Jewelry can get dirty much more quickly if you never take it off, so remember to give yours a break when you’re sleeping, showering, working out, or applying cosmetics. Cosmetic products like hair spray, perfume, and lotion are particularly likely to leave residue behind on your jewelry, dulling its shine.
When you take your jewelry off, store in a safe place away from heat, humidity, and direct sunlight. Don’t store jewelry in a bathroom, which tends to get humid. This is especially important for types of jewelry that are very sensitive to humidity, such as pearl, opal, and sterling silver jewelry.
An ideal place to store your jewelry is a jewelry box with separate compartments. Another great option is the box or pouch it came in.
Have a Cleaning Routine
How often should you clean your jewelry at home? Really, this is a matter of personal preference. It’s also something that depends on how often you wear your jewelry. Frequently worn pieces, like wedding rings and everyday stud earrings, will need to be cleaned more often than pieces you only bring out for special occasions.
With that said, if you’re looking for some general guidelines, here’s what we recommend for weekly, monthly, and bi-yearly cleanings.
- Weekly: Polish your frequently worn jewelry with a polishing cloth to keep it looking sparkling.
- Monthly: Clean your jewelry at-home with the soap and water method to remove stubborn buildup and grime.
- Annually: Send in your frequently worn jewelry for professional cleaning. Under our lifetime warranty, an annual cleaning and polishing is included. This included service deep cleans your jewelry and inspects gemstone settings to help ensure you don’t lose any stones.
Avoid Chemicals
Soap and water is all you need to clean precious pieces like gemstone and diamond earrings.
Don’t clean your jewelry with household cleaners, which often contain harsh chemicals that can damage gemstones and precious metals. Products containing bleach and chlorine are particularly hard on jewelry, but know that many more “natural” products can also damage your jewelry. For example, white vinegar is acidic enough to strip protective finishes and erode porous gemstones, such as pearls and emeralds. To keep your precious jewelry safe, stick to cleaning with soap and water.
Avoid Abrasive Materials
Another thing to avoid when cleaning your jewelry is abrasive cleaning materials. This includes abrasive tools, like hard bristled brushes, and abrasive products, like ones containing baking soda.
Why avoid abrasive cleaners? Abrasive cleaning materials can easily scratch precious metals, softer gemstones, and protective finishings. The diamond part of a diamond ring may be too hard to sustain damage, but the metal part can easily be scratched.
Cleaning your ring with harsh products is also just unnecessary. You don’t need to use harsh chemicals or abrasive products to clean a piece of jewelry. Regular cleaning with lukewarm water, gentle dishwashing soap, and a soft brush is all you need to remove build up and restore shine.
Say No to Ultrasonic Machines
Keep gemstone set pieces like diamond hoops away from at-home ultrasonic cleaners, which are notorious for causing loose stones.
At-home ultrasonic jewelry cleaners may get your jewelry clean, but they can also easily damage it. These machines clean jewelry using a combination of high heat and vibration, both of which can harm jewelry. Heat can damage gemstones, while vibration can loosen stone settings, putting you at risk of losing smaller accent and delicate pave-set stones or even your center stone.
Since at-home ultrasonic cleaning comes with a high risk of damage, we recommend avoiding them entirely. Note that these machines are especially risky for pavé set pieces and pieces containing delicate or porous gemstones.
Final Thoughts
We hope this jewelry cleaning guide has helped you restore your jewelry’s sparkle.
Still have questions about cleaning or caring for your jewelry? Contact our jewelry experts for assistance.
1-855-368-2837
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