Daily wearing tips:
- Gold is a soft metal, so even though it has a natural shine and luster, it is susceptible to bumps, scratches and dents. Therefore, it is very important to be conscious of your gold rings, bracelets, watches and necklaces during day to day activities. Silver jewellery can easily tarnish, and lose its much-loved shine and luster. You should also make sure to remove your jewellery whilst playing sports, especially high-contact ones.
- Whilst cleaning, it is a good idea to cover your gold and silver jewellery, or to remove it completely. Acids or abrasives in cleaning products can damage your jewellery’s finish. So either take off your jewellery and leave it in a safe place, or wear rubber gloves. Jewellery can easily slip off and get lost, so consider this before doing any form of cleaning.
- With repeated exposure, the chemical chlorine will weaken your gold jewellery’s structure, meaning that it will eventually break. So take off any jewellery and leave it in a safe place before getting into a pool, or a spa, for example. You should also take your silver jewellery off before coming into contact with chlorine. Chlorine is a very harsh chemical, and just like with gold jewellery, can also cause significant damage to your silver jewellery if in repeated contact. If you do forget to remove your jewellery before swimming, just make sure to rinse and clean it afterwards. It would also be good to consider leaving your jewellery at home before going to a swimming pool, or leisure centre, to avoid theft or misplacing your jewellery.
- When getting ready, put your jewellery on last. Makeup, perfume, hairspray, creams and other similar products can damage gold. The less exposure that your jewellery has to these products, the less damage that it will have. So to avoid unnecessary harm to gold jewellery, put it on last when getting ready. Products that you use on a daily basis contain chemicals that can cause silver to tarnish. Putting your jewellery on after lotions, creams and perfumes you have used have dried will make a huge difference on your silver’s luster.
- Before washing or bathing, take off any gold jewellery that you are wearing. This is because leaving it on can cause a build up of soap and dirt, creating a damaging film on your jewellery. Keep your silver jewellery dry. Whilst pure water by itself doesn’t damage silver, most of the water that we are exposed to in our daily lives is not purified. It can contain chemicals that, whilst not bad for us, can be damaging to our silver jewellery. Exposure to these chemicals can result in tarnished, or dull-looking silver. It isn’t ideal to shower with your jewellery on, so where possible, remove it before you shower. If you do get it wet, just be sure to dry it after.
Cleaning Your Jewellery
As mentioned, gold and silver jewellery can be regularly exposed to oils, makeup, perfumes, dust, soaps and more. If not cleaned, a build up of these products can cause lasting harm to your jewellery. Therefore, you need to clean your jewellery. There are many simple, safe, and effective ways of doing this. For example, you could soak your jewellery for around 3 hours, and then scrub it down gently with a very soft brush, such as a toothbrush. After this, you can also use a jewellery polishing cloth for extra shine. Whilst cleaning your jewellery, look out for any damage such as loose stones, or damaged claws, as cleaning damaged pieces could make this worse. We would also recommend having your gold jewellery cleaned by a professional every 6-12 months.
Storing Your Jewellery
Another key step in looking after jewellery is how you store it. We have listed many areas where it is crucial to take off your jewellery, but it is also just as important to keep it stored in a safe place when you do remove it. We recommend a clean, dry, fabric-lined jewellery box. If you don’t have a jewellery box, another alternative would be to wrap your pieces in a soft cloth individually. By storing each piece individually, it prevents the jewellery from getting tangled or the pieces from scratching each other.
