Almost all the women and men love to try new pieces of jewelry and look beautiful. Some love to try silver, some love to go for gold, and some opt for diamond, as it is after all a special piece for anyone.
While jewellery is common, the problem arises when expensive pieces of jewelry in your wardrobe begins to look weary, dull and old. This happens when proper care is not given to the jewelry.
If you want to make sure that your jewelry continues to shine and maintain its beauty and luster then you must be careful with how you carry it.
Here’s how to take care of your jewelry:
Cleaning Your Jewelry
It is vital to clean your jewelry after every use. When you wear jewelry, it comes into contact with different chemicals and substances such as cosmetics and even sweat, which can damage it.
A common way is to use commercial cleaners to clean them. However, you can also soak gold, silver, diamond and platinum in warm water and scrub them gently with a soft brush.
Chemicals should be avoided because they can deteriorate the natural beauty of certain metals and even cause discoloration in some pieces of jewelry. However, there are some cleaners specifically made for this purpose. If you can get your hands on a good one then it might be a good idea to give it a try, but make sure to only opt for a quality cleaner as ones that contain a lot of chemicals can do more damage than good.
Polishing Gold And Silver
Gold and silver are two of the most preferred metals by jewelry lovers due to their look and shine. Plus, they can be modeled as desired. However, with time, the shine starts to fade away. This happens due to wear and tear.
It’s essential that you follow steps to safeguard the shine of your jewelry and to do that, you need to have your jewels polished every once in a while.
If you don’t have the time to take it to a jeweller for polishing then you can do it yourself, too. Buy a polishing kit and use a clean polishing cloth.
Towels and tissues are strictly prohibited to polish gold and silver jewelry because their fibers can get stuck in the jewelry pieces and further damage the jewelry.
Image cleaning a necklace with your name on it, if even a single letter gets damaged, the whole necklace would be useless for you.
Caring Tips For Gold Jewelry
Do not take a shower, wash hands or face while the jewelry’s on you because soap residue can damage the jewelry and affect its shine.
Before doing certain activities such as exercising, cooking, eating, sleeping etc., all jewelry must be removed to avoid wear and tear due to accidental damage.
Also, make sure no piece of jewelry is on you when you are cleaning the house. The dust can harm the jewelry, especially when there are tiny spaces in between a jewelry because dirt can accumulate in between the cracks.
Similarly, when cleaning the floor, bathroom or kitchen with harmful chemicals like bleach, detergents etc,, remove the jewelry or it can sustain serious damage.
First Off Last On: The rule of thumb with wearing and removing jewelry is that it should be worn last and removed first. Doing so makes sure that tiny stones or accents do not get stuck in clothing or your hair because it often leads to pulling off of tiny details in a jewelry.
Do not sleep with jewelry on no matter how tired you are. Doing so cannot only cause injuries but can also damage jewelry, especially pieces that are not very solid.
In addition to this, avoid keeping pieces of jewelry together because they can scratch with one another and cause damage.
Prevent Jewelry From Tarnishing
Most of the jewelries worn are some forms of metal and metals have the tendency to react with various elements. With time, your jewelry is exposed to your sweat, oils, air, water, perfume and whatnot. This leads to jewelry tarnishing.
Tarnishing is a process where jewelry loses its shine and luster due to it being exposed to moisture and air.
Tarnishing occurs in both silver and gold jewelry. In silver, the tone of the jewelry begins to turn dark because external elements react with it. Same happens with gold jewelry (10k – 18k).
To avoid jewelry from tarnishing, keep it dry. Also, keep it in a separate box with a silver anti-tarnish strip inside the box where you keep the jewelry in.
These are some of the most effective ways in which you can take care of your jewelry and protect it from damage. The key lies in being careful when wearing and taking off jewelry and to keep it safe and sound.
