When jewelry is worn it will pick up dirt and grime as a matter of course; soap, hand creams, food, garden soil, etc. the list is endless. To keep your jewelry looking as good as possible it is worth taking general care of it and cleaning your jewelry regularly. At My Love Wedding Ring, we know how much you love and enjoy wearing your gorgeous jewelry, so we have put together this Jewelry Care and Cleaning Guide to help you take care of your jewelry. Following these guidelines, your jewelry should stay in great condition for some time to come letting you appreciate it like new, every time you put it on.
Tips on Diamond Jewelry
Tips on Gemstone Jewelry
General Care and Cleaning for Jewelry
A new piece of diamond jewelry is dazzling but through wear and tear, jewelry can become damaged or lackluster. However, with care and attention, it is easy to keep your diamond jewelry sparkling. Here are some tips.
Diamonds are the hardest gemstone but they can still be damaged. The deepest darkest depths of the sink waste disposal could soon reduce your precious diamond to some very expensive glitter. An impact at the edge or point of a diamond could cause it to chip or shatter. The edge or point of one diamond can also easily scratch the surface of another diamond. To avoid damage to diamonds it is best that you:
• do not ever wear diamond jewelry when doing rough work
• do not wear different pieces of diamond jewelry close to one another
• store diamond jewelry wrapped individually
Gemstone settings are also vulnerable to damage. Settings can be distorted if subjected to force, for example through an impact caused by using a hammer. Prong settings can be snagged in clothing. Distortion of a setting can leave diamonds loose and able to fall out. Also, exposure to chlorine can damage gold causing it to crack, ruining the metal and potentially causing gemstones to be lost. To care best for gemstone settings you should:
• take care wearing prong set diamonds with loose knit clothing
• avoid subjecting your jewelry to any type of force
• remove your jewelry when using bleach based cleaning products
• remove your jewelry when at the swimming pool
Whilst, to avoid damage, it is important to remove diamond jewelry in certain circumstances but take care to store it carefully. For example keep unworn jewelry well away from the sink and drains. Ideally it is best not to take your real jewelry on holiday and instead take cheaper costume jewelry. If you must take your real jewelry, store it in the hotel safe when it is not being worn.
Finally, if you think your hands are going to get cold or wet remove your rings beforehand as they can easily slip off cold wet fingers! However, it is all to easy to take your rings off to wash your hands in a public restroom and loose your rings by walking away without putting them back on, so when out and about, it is safer to keep your rings on even when washing your hands.
The key points to avoid losing your jewelry are:
• store removed jewelry carefully
• avoid taking jewelry on holiday if possible
• if you do take jewelry on holiday, use the hotel safe to store it
• remove your jewelry if your hands are going to be wet or cold, BUT
• do not remove your jewelry to wash your hands in public restrooms
Grime and dirt accumulate on jewelry through wear and the dirtier a piece of diamond jewelry is the less it will sparkle. To read more about how to keep your diamond jewelry clean, read the My Love Wedding Ring guidelines on General Care and Cleaning for Jewelry
Diamonds may be the hardest gemstone but this does not mean they should be treated carelessly. By taking care of your diamond jewelry, it will stay beautiful and give you many years of enjoyment.
The color and sparkle of a new piece of colored gemstone jewelry is always beautiful but through time, jewelry and gemstones can become worn or damaged. However, by taking a few simple precautions it is possible to keep your natural gemstone jewelry in great condition.
Different types of gemstone have different levels of hardness. Some, such as pearls are soft and can be damaged easily. Others such as sapphires and rubies are hard but it is still possible for them to be damaged, particularly by scraping or bumping against other hard gemstones. So when storing your gemstone jewelry in a jewelry box or jewelry wrap, wrap each piece individually in a soft cloth.
Many household chemicals such as cleaning fluids can damage natural gemstones. In the same way that wood is varnished or oiled to enhance the grain and look, most natural gemstones are treated to enhance the clarity or color of the gemstone. However, harsh chemicals can damage the treatment and the look of the gemstone can be impaired. Harsh chemicals can also damage the structure of softer gemstones. Where possible, gemstone jewelry should be removed before any cleaning is done to avoid any of these things happening.
Impact can damage gemstones and the settings holding the gemstones. An impact at the edge or point of a gemstone could cause it to chip or shatter and an impact can distort the shape of a gemstone setting leaving gemstones loose and liable to be lost. If you are going to be doing any rough work, or DIY, then remove your gemstone jewelry first.
Chlorine can damage gold causing it to crack. When this happens, the metal is ruined and the gemstones held in the gold may be damaged or lost. For this reason it is best to remove your jewelry when at the swimming pool.
As we can see, removing your gemstone jewelry is really important in certain circumstances so when you do, store it carefully and away from harm. If you are at home, store it wrapped individually in a jewelry box. If you are going on holiday, ideally leave your precious jewelry at home, but if you do take it with you, store it in the hotel safe when it is not being worn. It is also worth removing rings if your hands will be cold or wet, to prevent them slipping off accidentally. In saying that, it is all to easy to take your rings off to wash your hands in a public restroom and loose your rings by walking away without putting them back on, so when out and about, it is safer to keep your rings on.
Grime and dirt accumulate on jewelry through wear which can dull the sparkle of gemstones. For more on how to keep your natural colored gemstone jewelry clean, follow the general care and cleaning guide below. With some tender loving care, gemstone jewelry can be kept in tip top condition, making sure you can wear it with style for many years to come.
When you take jewelry off after having worn it, a soft jewelry cleaning cloth should be used to remove the accumulated dirt. All My Love Wedding Ring jewelry is supplied with a super-hi-microfibre jewelry cleaner cloth to help you do just this. What is Microfiber? It is manufactured through high-density contraction process and its thickness is only one micrometer, one hundredth of a strand of human hair. This extremely fine fiber is less than 0.012mm in diameter and one gram of microfiber can be extended to 45,000m. This super fine and gentle high-density microfiber cloth is designed to remove all dirt and oily smudges and keep all of your fine jewelry sparkling like new. Click here to view our Jewelry Polishing Cloth
Once your jewelry is clean, store it in your jewelry box with individual pieces of jewelry separated by a soft cloth or jewelry pouch. This helps avoid a piece of jewelry being scratched or scraped by other pieces of jewelry.
Also it is worth giving your jewelry a regular clean at home. This is simple to do and involves filling a bowl with warm water and adding a few drops of washing up liquid, eco-friendly washing up liquid is best as it is very gentle. If possible, do not use the sink bowl, as an errant earring or gemstone could slip down the plug hole all too easily. Instead, a soup bowl would be ideal. Place your jewelry in the bowl and let it soak for up to 30 minutes. Then, take a clean, soft bristle toothbrush and gently clean in all the nooks and crannies of the jewelry. Try and keep the jewelry in the bowl whilst you are cleaning it so that if a gemstone is loose and falls out, it is caught by the bowl. When the jewelry is clean, remove it from the water and dry it on a soft cloth. We would highly discourage anything other than washing up liquid being used, and particularly items such as baking soda, vinegar or general household detergents should be avoided as these can damage some gemstones and some metals.
Even though ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machines are available for home use, we do not recommend you to use those cleaning machines. In some circumstances, ultrasonic cleaning machines can be very effective; however, without proper training and sophisticated jewelry knowledge, you may create irreparable damage to your jewelry. For instance, ultrasonic cleaning machines may create stints on your pearl jewelry. Our advice would be using the cleaning methods we mentioned above or having your jeweler clean your jewelry for you.
It is also advisable to have your jeweler clean, polish and inspect your jewelry regularly. This will ensure it is kept in top condition and any weakness or damage can be spotted and repaired before lasting damage is caused. My Love Wedding Ring provide this service for free with all of their fine jewelry. Ideally, it should be undertaken every six months or so.
As well as caring for your jewelry when you are not wearing it, it is also important to care for it when you are wearing it. For example, apply perfume or hairspray at least 5 minutes prior to putting on your jewelry, particularly if you are going to wear a necklace or earrings. The synthetic chemicals in perfume and hairspray can cause damage to some jewelry materials and may also coat the jewelry leaving the items dull.
Remove all jewelry before going to bed, settings can snag in the bedsheets, necklaces can become tangled, earrings can be crushed or slip off and be lost. A good tip is to make sure your jewelry is the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off.
For many reasons, it is best not to wear jewelry in the shower. The soap and shampoo can in some cases cause damage, or residue can build up on your jewelry and dull it. In addition, the shower is the perfect place for a ring to slip off and disappear down the drain, so remove it before you climb in!
Do not use harsh household chemicals, such as cleaning chemicals and particularly bleach based chemicals, when wearing your rings. Rather than advocating you give up on cleaning your home, it is better to remove your jewelry before you start cleaning, or if needs must, protect your rings by wearing rubber gloves.
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