How do I take care of my jewelry?
- 1. Keep it dry: Getting jewelry wet is always bad. It can lead to cracks, a lack of shine, and water stains. Therefore, always remove your jewelry before swimming, showering bathing, or cleaning with household chemicals.
- 2. Keep it away from chemicals: This might seem obvious, but you can find harmful chemicals in lotions, perfumes, and hairspray. Keep your jewelry away from these products.
- 3. Put it on last: To avoid chemicals, put your jewelry on last and take it off first.
- 4. Do not expose leather jewelry to water or any form of moisture, and always make sure your plated jewelry is dry prior to storing—moisture leads to natural tarnish.
- 5. Know when to take it off: Most people know to take their jewelry off before they go to bed, but forget to remove it when swimming, gardening, cleaning, and playing sports.
How to Care for Sterling Silver Jewelry
Sterling silver requires special care to preserve its appearance and longevity.
Sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to salty air, chlorine, sulfur, humidity, perspiration, cosmetics, household bleach, and other strong chemicals.
To prevent tarnish as much as possible, we recommend that you store your fine jewelry in a safe, dry place when engaging in the following activities:
- Household and outdoor chores;
- Showering, bathing, or swimming in pools, hot tubs, hot springs, and the ocean;
- Using lotion, hair products, fragrances, and other cosmetics;
- Exercising at the gym or during contact sports;
- Preparing meals.
How can tarnished silver be restored?
While there are ways to minimize the chance of tarnishing, unfortunately, it's inevitable that your silver jewelry will have some tarnishing at some point in its lifespan. However, can silver be restored to its original state if it becomes tarnished? This may depend on how discolored your jewelry is.
- 1. Washing powder and aluminum foil. Using laundry detergent and aluminum foil is one of the gentlest and cheapest ways to remove tarnish from silver, and it's less likely to cause scuffs to your silver.
- 2. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Baking soda helps dissolve organic compounds such as dirt, grease, and grime, so this is also one of the effective ways to remove rust from silver jewelry.
