Tips to Keep Your Jewelry Looking Good
Your jewelry needs to be clean to look its best. Jade, turquoise, malachite, tourmaline,
pearls, opals, and lapis are among softer more porous stones that should not be
cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner or soaked in jewelry cleaner solutions – just
wipe off with damp soft cloth and air dry.
In fact, it’s not a good idea to soak your jewelry regardless of the
metal or stones involved. Stones such
as those listed above require extra careful treatment. You should avoid using hot water on these
stones, too. If more cleaning is
required try wiping off with soapy water on a soft cloth. Dry thoroughly.
damage your jewelry. Remove your jewelry
before dealing with chemicals. Pearls and other porous stones can obviously be
damaged by the chemicals, but even karat gold can be discolored by chemical
exposure (chlorine, for example), even something like a soak in a hot tub. Use rubbing alcohol to remove grease from
karat gold. Remove earrings when you
have your hair done, especially if you are having it colored.
perfume before putting on your jewelry.
Remove bracelets and rings before applying hand lotions and creams. Remember that you should remove your jewelry
before working in the garden or engaging in other physical labor, exercising,
swimming, bathing, etc.
Finally, please don’t just toss your jewelry into a jewelry box or drawer –
your pieces will scratch each other. Jewelry often comes in a protective bag or box and you
should store your jewelry in these boxes and bags or flat in a plastic bag in a
clean dark dry place. Store pearls in
soft bags away from other jewelry which might scratch the pearl’s surface. Store your silver jewelry in tarnish
resistant bags.