Cleaning

How to Clean Jewelry

homemade Jewelry Cleaner

I don’t know about you, but I love sparkly, shiny things. My favorite thing to do while shopping is to gaze at the pretty things in jewelry counter. Sometimes I’ll stop for a minute and Husband has to come back and find me. So, naturally I like to keep the jewelry I already have clean and sparkly. I like to clean my jewelry that I wear regularly about once a week. I have a little jar of cleaner that I normally use but I’m going to share with you a diy jewelry cleaning solution that works just as well. You will need:

  1. Water
  2. Mild soap
  3. Rubbing Alcohol*

*If you are cleaning opals, pearls or other soft stones, do not add the alcohol. Also, do not use this solution for porous or non solid stones as any liquid may damage this type of stone.

This diy cleaner works well for precious and semi precious stones like diamonds, rubies, topaz ect. I cleaned my white gold diamond ring, a yellow gold topaz ring and earrings.

  1. Add a few drops of mild soap to a bowl or container.
    DIY jewelry cleaner
  2. Add warm water
    Jewelry cleaner
  3. Add one capful of rubbing alcohol
    homemade jewelry cleaner
  4. Soak the jewelry for five minutes
    How to clean jewelry
  5. Scrub the jewelry with a soft brush, I used an artists brush. A soft toothbrush will work well too.
    homemade jewelry cleaner
  6. Rinse the jewelry in warm water
    diy jewelry cleaning solution
  7. Dry with a lint free cloth

The warm water and soap help to get the gunk off of your ring and the rubbing alcohol is to help disinfect and polish the ring. Just to re-iterate, you can use this solution minus the alcohol to clean solid pearls and opals; use a slightly damp cloth if soaking them concerns you. As compared to the jewelry cleaner from the jewelry store, this homemade solution works just as well but minus the cost.

Tips to keep your jewelry clean

  • Take rings off while cooking, i.e. kneading dough, stuffing pasta. This well help prevent fine particles like flour from settling into the ring. Fine particles can loosen diamonds over time and may cause them to fall out.
  • Take rings off when putting lotion on. The oils from the lotion will leave a layer of oil on the stones, dulling the shine and sparkle.
  • Do not wear jewelry while applying hair products as they can adhere and attract dirt and dust to the ring.
  • Take rings off while cleaning with chemicals, especially if you’ll be wearing tight gloves. Wearing rings with small diamonds like mine loose diamonds more easily than large diamonds as the prongs wear and bend easier. I had just replaced one of the small diamonds in my ring when I went on a cleaning spree. I did not remove my ring and when I finished cleaning, I noticed that another diamond had fallen out. Boo. I’m pretty sure it was the excess baking soda that made it fall out.
  • Leave rings on while washing your hands. Think of this as mini ring cleaning sessions. Just be sure to rinse and dry thoroughly.

How often do you clean your jewelry?

Angela

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