Jewelry tarnishes because of chemical reactions. Therefore, you have to ensure that it is protected from reactive elements if you want to maintain its original shine. Preventing these chemical reactions depends on how your store, clean, and use your precious possessions.
If you ever find yourself with tarnished jewelry, you don’t need to panic because you can bring back the gloss. You only need to know how to remove the ugly marks and restore the glittering look that made you buy it. You also need to know how to choose the correct cleaning methods.
This article will help you understand how to take care of the jewelry so that it doesn’t tarnish. Read on to learn more.
Clean Your Jewelry Regularly
It is easy to clean jewelry at home as long as you know how to do it. Make sure that you do not use reactive detergents, especially when handling sensitive jewelry. For instance, when you are cleaning sterling silver, you have to be very careful because it can quickly react with various elements.
Choosing a jewelry cleaner depends on the type of jewelry you want to clean. If you want to clean gold jewelry, ensure the cleaner you use brings back the original gloss. However, you do not have to worry when you cannot do it at home because commercial jewelry cleaners are always waiting to help you.
Some people say that they use baby shampoo to get the best results when cleaning jewelry products. When used together with a toothbrush, this method removes the most hidden dirt, especially when your necklace, bangles, and other accessories have several joined parts. The best part is that baby shampoo does not react with any material, gold, silver, aluminum, plastic, or any other.
For directions about using a natural liquid jewelry cleaner: see more here.
Storing Your Jewelry
Most jewelry products tend to discolor when they are not worn for too long. It means that the tarnishing happens while in storage. You have to be careful with how you store them. Start by ensuring that they are protected from all the elements that are likely to lead to tarnishing.
You have to understand the conditions that are likely to lead to tarnished jewelry so that you can avoid them. Some of the elements that cause tarnishing to jewelry include:
- Excessive moisture
- Reactive chemicals
- Unfavorable temperatures
- Reaction with each other
Experts recommend storing jewelry in enclosed containers to protect them from these elements. You may choose to put them inside a plastic bag or a wooden box, as long as they are safe. If you keep hanging them on the walls, they will gradually lose their shiny look no matter how good they look.
You also need to know that different types of materials require different storage conditions. For example, how you store aluminum products may not be the ideal way to keep gold or silver. While some materials are likely to rust and discolor when exposed to moisture and chemicals, others do not.
Dry Before Storing to Avoid Tarnished Jewelry
One of the mistakes that most people make when storing jewelry is to store them with all the moisture after cleaning. They do not bother to let them dry or at least wipe off the liquids. When you do this, you expose these precious accessories to discoloration that makes them unattractive.
If you rinsed them with lots of water, you have to use a soft piece of cloth to wipe them until they are dry. Focus on the areas where different parts join each other because that’s where moisture hides.
After drying them, you also need to ensure that your storage boxes are free from moisture. You need to find out if any holes are likely to let in moisture, especially when you want to store these items for a long time. It would be useless to clean silver jewelry and leave it to discolor during storage because you did not bother to dry it.
Do Not Mix Your Jewelry
Instead of putting all your jewelry in one storage box, sort them out based on the materials. Find a separate box for silver, gold, aluminum, and every other piece in your collection. Some of these materials often react with each other, and the result is fast discoloration.
Tarnishing that occurs due to different materials reacting with each other can be challenging to reverse, and it could leave ugly marks on the jewelry even after cleaning. Sometimes, you can clean gold jewelry only to find out that some marks cannot be removed. It takes a professional cleaner to restore them, which means that you will have to go through a longer process.
When you buy these products, always look for information on how they should be stored. If possible, talk to the supplier and ask for storage tips. You will be surprised to find out that there are many tricks that you did not know about, yet they can help your jewelry to last longer without losing its shiny look.
Maintain the Right Temperatures
Maintaining consistent temperatures during the storage period will also help to stop jewelry from tarnishing. Various materials react to excessive heat, and therefore, they will lose their shiny look when you do not regulate the temperatures. Heat also acts as a booster for chemical reactions, and that is why you have to ensure that your jewelry boxes are stored at the right temperature.
The best way to maintain temperatures is to set your AC and ensure that it remains constant for the entire duration of storage. You may also want to keep jewelry that requires different temperature levels in different rooms.
Get the Best Jewelry Cleaning Products
Now that you know that tarnished jewelry results from poor cleaning and storage, you have to know how to choose the right cleaning products. Ensure that you buy high-quality cleaning products for your gold and silver to keep them as good as new. Find a reliable supplier and compare various products too.
Read more articles on our website and learn how to get the best value out of your jewelry.
