We recommend removing all your jewelry before jumping into the shower. We know it can be so tempting to leave your stud earrings in or Love bracelet on but here is why bathing with your jewelry on is not a safe idea and the ways in which it can dull or damage your fine jewelry.

Water won’t damage precious metals but it will negatively affect their luster.
We often recommend cleaning jewelry with warm water with a drop of mild dish soap. However, prolonged exposure to water (particularly hot water) can leave your jewelry looking dull.

Steam will cause silver to tarnish faster.
If you love to turn your bathroom into a personal sauna, be sure to remove all your jewelry beforehand. Silver jewelry tarnishes when it is exposed to moisture and sulfur in the air. Humidity and the steam generated from your hot shower will act as a catalyst, causing your jewelry to tarnish faster.

Soap and water can wear away gold plating.
Commonly found on affordable pieces of fine or higher-end costume jewelry, gold plating is when a very thin layer of gold is electroplated on top of another less expensive metal (usually copper or silver). This allows jewelers to keep costs low by not crafting an entire piece of jewelry out of precious gold.

However, gold plating is an incredibly thin (sometimes as thin as .5 microns which is even smaller than the width of a human red blood cell at 6-10 microns). Therefore, it’s easy for the abrasive chemicals in your body wash to also scrub away at the gold plating, too. Read more tips on how to clean and care for gold jewelry here.

Your soap will leave a residue on your gemstones, leaving them dingy and less brilliant.
As resilient as diamonds are, it’s not a good idea to leave your stud earrings or rings on while showering. Soaps, oils, and lotions tend to leave a film on diamonds, effectively dulling their sparkle. While this won’t affect the diamond’s integrity, you will need to have your item deep- or steam-cleaned which is tedious and increases the changes that a stone may be come loose over time.

Moreover, particular gemstones, like pearls, are incredibly delicate by nature. Harsh chemicals (like the ones found in your shampoo or body wash) are likely to irreparably damage your gemstone jewelry so it’s best to remove them before jumping into the shower.

 

Main image courtesy of Ali Heiss.

Yellow gold is a surprisingly soft metal that requires special care and cleaning techniques. Before you start buffing away build-up and risk damaging your jewelry, read through these helpful tips. Also, we explain the important difference between karat gold and gold vermeil (or gold-plated) jewelry and how to clean each.

Everyday Cleaning and Storage Tips

Keep your yellow gold jewelry looking bright and lustrous with these super simple preventative measures.

Remove your jewelry while showering and washing hands.

Soap residue quickly builds up on the surface of gold jewelry, leaving it dull. So slip off your rings and bracelet before bathing or washing your hands to reduce unsightly soap stains.

Wipe down gold jewelry to restore its shine.

Every night, gently wipe down your gold jewelry with a soft chamois cloth. This will keep residue from building up. Look for polishing cloths specially-made for yellow gold jewelry; TrueFacet jewelry experts recommend Blitz’s Jewelry Care Cloth.

Store your gold jewelry in a cloth-lined jewelry box.

Because gold jewelry is so soft, it is easily scratched and nicked by precious metals. Therefore, the safest way to store gold jewelry is individually in cloth jewelry bags or a cloth-lined jewelry box.

Karat Gold versus Gold Vermeil

Before you start cleaning your yellow gold jewelry, you should identify if your item is made of karat gold or gold vermeil.

Because pure gold is a very soft metal, gold is combined with another alloying metal (like nickel, zinc or silver) to make the gold more durable and therefore resilient enough to use in jewelry making. This combination of pure gold and an alloying metal is called karat gold.

Gold vermeil or gold-plated jewelry, meanwhile, is when a base metal is coated with a thin layer of gold. When it comes to cleaning, gold vermeil jewelry requires a more delicate hand than karat gold.

If you are uncertain of your jewelry’s makeup, you can bring it to your local jeweler who can use a key tester to identify the metal type.

Deep Cleaning Karat Gold Jewelry

When a polishing cloth won’t cut it, clean your karat gold jewelry with a commercial cleaner, specially designed for gold jewelry. We recommend Connoisseurs Precious Jewelry Cleaner.

If your yellow gold jewelry is in need of a serious polish (think pieces that are tarnished or have dark build-up in hard-to-reach places), bring it to a jeweler for a thorough and safe cleaning.

Cleaning Gold Vermeil Jewelry

The incredibly thin layer of soft gold metal leaves your jewelry highly susceptible to scratches, even from gentle cleaning products, so cleaning gold vermeil jewelry is best left to the experts. Ask your local jeweler to re-plate your gold vermeil jewelry at least once a year to restore its smooth texture and shine.

For more helpful tips on how to care for white gold jewelry, read our blog post on the topic here.

Jewelry pieces that are passed down from generation to generation are some of the most significant and special items one can own in their life. Many times, it’s an item we only wear on special occasions, but often, it can be a token of a life well-lived that we’ve chosen to wear, day in and day out. It is important, however, to assure that whether it’s an item of jewelry that’s more used to the inside of its box than the outside world or a piece that has never left your person, your precious heirlooms are well taken care of treated with respect.

Here are a handful of ways to make sure you’re giving your own personal bit of history the love it deserves.

“Cleanliness is Next to Godliness”
Whether you’re currently wearing that rose-cut diamond ring that once belonged to your grandmother or you decided it was too precious to risk damaging because of its delicate design, you should always make sure that you’re doing all that you can to keep it clean.

We suggest having it done professionally at least once per year if you don’t wear it often, but two to three times per year if wear it more regularly. However, if you can’t get to a local jewelry store to give it the steam treatment, you can still keep it shining by dipping a soft bristle toothbrush in a mixture of hot water and glass cleaner and giving it a good scrub.

Storage is Key
If you wear your heirlooms regularly, you should still take them off when sleeping, showering, or doing anything that would be rough on your hands (if the piece is a ring or a bracelet), so make sure you have something (a small dish will work) that you can place your jewelry item in so that it stays safe and that it doesn’t get lost.

For pieces not worn regularly, invest in a well-made jewelry box, or get a jewelry roll if you store your more expensive items in safety deposit boxes. These will keep your pieces separate so they don’t scratch each other and end up sustaining damage.

Be Sure to Insure
Another way to take care of the jewelry that was passed down to you is to have the items appraised and insured. Companies like Jeweler’s Mutual offer plans that cover damage and loss, so in case your precious jewelry is lost, stolen, or otherwise becomes the victim of some terrible accident, you’re at least able to get the pieces repaired or replaced at a relatively minimal cost to you.

The other thing that insurance does is reminds you to have your items professionally checked from time to time, which is critical to the longevity of a piece. You’d want to know if a prong is broken or a stone is loose so that you can have the jeweler repair it before getting the piece reappraised, if necessary.

These three simple steps can help make your important jewels last until the next generation gets to enjoy them.

 

 

Main image courtesy of Blue Maize.