Introduction

It is always nice to start your day with a cup of coffee and a quick shower, just before you get dressed in your most elegant outfit. It feels even better when you are having one of those perfect hair days. Standing in front of the mirror, you notice how beautiful and elegant you look.

Yet, something is missing, people may not notice it but it feels imperfect to you because your favorite necklace is sitting at the bottom of your jewelry box, needing care and love to look as shiny and luxurious as it was before.

Just like hair and clothes, jewelry pieces constantly need the care to stay as they were when you first bought them. They could get ruined by a lot of different factors, such as cleaning products, humidity, everyday use, cosmetics, or it could be simply a chemical reaction to oxygen in the air.

What Is Jewelry Made Of?

Jewelry could be made of a wide variety of materials, different metals, and gemstones. People usually prefer some materials more than others, it could be gold, silver, copper, or a gemstone such as amber, coral, or onyx. Some people even believe that jewelry made from one material or another, or a gemstone could bring them luck and happiness, which is also common in many cultures and mythologies.

In general, we could love a piece of jewelry for different reasons, it could be a dear gift, a belief, or simply an accessory we fell in love with once. That is partially why we try to take care of these pieces and work hard, but we may end up with some unpleasant results.

How to Take Care of Your Gold Jewelry?

Gold is not a hard-to-clean material, what you should consider here is whether your golden jewelry has gemstones or not. Golden jewelry without gemstones could be cleaned with only soap and water, all you need to do is the following:

Fill a small bowl with water.

Add some dishwashing soap.

Soak your golden piece of jewelry in the mixture.

Keep it soaking for 20-30 minutes.

Use a soft brush or a soft cloth to clean the dirt.

Rinse your golden piece and dry it with a soft cloth.

You can also use ammonia to clean gold jewelry, soak the piece for a minute in a mixture of one-part ammonia to six parts of water, then rinse it with water and dry it using a soft cloth. If your golden piece of jewelry has gemstones, it is not recommended to soak the piece in water, That might hurt the gemstones. So, here is what to do:

Prepare a mixture of water and dishwashing soap.

Take a soft cloth and dip it into the mixture, then rub the gemstone and the metal part of your piece gently.

After cleaning your piece of jewelry, dip another cloth into clean water, and wipe your jewelry with it.

Dry your piece of jewelry with a clean and dry cloth.

How to Clean Your Silver Jewelry?

Just like golden pieces of jewelry, silver pieces are not hard to clean, but they can easily look dirty and ruined. Silver pieces of jewelry get ruined when exposed to salty air, chlorine, sulfur, humidity, perspiration, cleaning products, and cosmetics. There are some good methods to clean your silver jewelry, such as the following:

Soap and water: this is a really good method to clean your silver jewelry, you can soak your pieces into a mixture of water and soap, then clean them with water and dry them with a soft cloth.

Baking soda and water: this is also a recommended way to clean your silver jewelry. You can make a paste of baking soda and water, apply a small amount on a cloth or a soft toothbrush and gently rub your piece of jewelry with it, then dip a clean cloth in water and rub your jewelry with it before you dry it.

White vinegar and baking soda: this method is used to clean heavy tarnish, mix 1\2 a cup of white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of baking soda, and soak your piece of jewelry in the mixture for 2 to 3 hours, then rinse the jewelry and dry it with a soft cloth. Repeat this process as often as needed, and keep your silver jewelry box in a dark and dry place away from any cosmetics and cleaning products.

How to Take Care of Your Copper Jewelry?

Our copper jewelry can also be cleaned with soap and water, but there are some other methods to clean your copper jewelry, such as:

Table salt and vinegar: you can use this mixture to clean your copper jewelry, just pour some table salt and vinegar on your jewelry and rub the pieces until any tarnish is removed, then rinse with water and dry it with a clean and soft cloth.

Salt and lemon: pour salt on half of a lemon and rub over your jewelry, or pour salt on some lemon juice and gently rub your jewelry in the mixture. Rinse with water and dry with a soft cloth.

Copper jewelry usually gets tarnished when exposed to oxygen, moisture, chemicals, and even human skin. You can store your copper jewelry in a plastic bag to slow the tarnish and clean it as often as needed to keep it shiny and beautiful.

How to Take Care of Your Onyx Jewelry?

Onyx is a beautiful gemstone, it is a variety of mineral chalcedony. When cleaning and taking care of this gemstone you should know that onyx is soft, meaning it could be easily damaged, so you can’t apply too hard cleaning products or too much pressure.

You can clean your onyx jewelry by simply rubbing it with a dry and soft cloth, or you can dip the cloth into clean water to make the cleaning easier. After that, you can dry it with a clean and soft cloth. You should also consider that onyx is an absorbing material, so soaking it in water is not a good idea.

As we mentioned, onyx is an absorbing material, so when storing jewelry that has onyx, you should keep them in a clean and dry place, away from any cosmetics and cleaning products.

Cleaning onyx is such an easy thing to do, it only needs water. Also, we don’t recommend you use any common cleaning products such as white vinegar, baking soda, ammonia, or even soap. When cleaning the metal parts of these jewelry pieces, make sure that you don’t hurt the onyx parts, so you would have to be delicate and careful.

Conclusion

There are also some products that are manufactured especially for jewelry cleaning, you can always buy them to guarantee a better cleaning process, or you can take your jewelry to the store to get them professionally cleaned.

The only goal here is to clean your jewelry, so you can enjoy wearing your pieces of jewelry every day and look completely flawless. You can start taking proper care of your golden, silver, copper, and onyx jewelry now, all you have to do is start your first step into taking better care of your jewelry and enjoy having a perfect look every day.