A Little Tip: Keep Jewelry Clean

We have talked before about how to use individual plastic bags to slow down the tarnishing process when storing your jewelry. You may have thought... “that is great, but I have jewelry that I wear every day, how can I avoid tarnishing for the pieces I wear?”

Many of us have those favorite everyday pieces, that we...well...wear every day.  This week we are going to go over a few things to avoid while wearing those everyday pieces to keep them clean for as long as possible. As discussed before we advise wearers not to store jewelry in the bathroom because a place with high moisture and warm temperatures causes the metal to tarnish, the same suggestion holds true for the jewelry we wear. We want to limit our piece’s exposure to moisture and a good rule of thumb is avoiding direct contact with water, so remove your jewelry before stepping into the shower.

I know we are approaching winter and our time spent in the water for leisure has come mostly to an end, but if you are lucky enough to live in a permanently warm area or are going on vacation to one we suggest you remove all jewelry before jumping into the pool or water. It is important to remember that saltwater and chlorine do poor things to jewelry and can cause tarnishing or discoloration relatively quickly. I hope that when you are hitting the beach you are putting sunscreen on to protect your skin from the sun’s rays, but protect your jewelry from the chemicals in sunscreen too and remove your pieces before applying.

Just like sunscreen perfumes and lotions can do damage to jewelry as well, it can contribute to discoloring and fading of plated or filled pieces as well as tarnish sterling silver. When you get ready in the morning simply remember to remove jewelry before applying your perfume and lotions to avoid these changes.

If your sterling silver has had the unfortunate experience of tarnishing do not despair! There are some fantastic silver cleaning products out there to save the day. At Dana Reed Designs we are a fan of Ellanar Dip Instant Silver Cleaner, simply dip your piece in the solution and immediately rinse with water and dry. The transformation is like magic! A little tip: hook the extension of your necklace with a piece of wire to avoid getting the solution on your fingers while submerging the whole thing.