Folk and professional methods of cleaning jewelry

Regular cleaning of jewelry is one of the mandatory stages of caring for jewelry made from precious metals and stones. Even at home, you can find effective products that can remove traces of oxidation from the surface of objects, deposits of sebum and decorative cosmetics, and restore tarnished areas.

Most often, owners of expensive items are interested in whether it is possible to clean gold and silver jewelry themselves. Particular difficulties arise when processing objects with stones of mineral or organic origin, especially expensive ones such as diamonds.

Effective Options for Restoring Gold Jewelry Using Affordable Means

One of the most effective and gentle options for cleaning gold products is their mechanical processing with a soft, fleecy material. If this manipulation is regularly carried out at home, then the use of aggressive options or the help of specialists will not be needed. We simply rub the surface until it shines, carefully working each area. True, in order to clean old stains you will have to choose something more intense:

• Soap solution. Two approaches to using the composition are allowed. In the first case, the products are soaked in a lukewarm product for a couple of hours, after which they are treated with a toothbrush, washed under running water and dried.The second option is more intense and involves boiling objects. They are dipped into the composition and boiled for no more than two minutes, then taken out and brushed. Even such a short-term exposure will negatively affect the stones, so it is better not to treat diamond jewelry in this way.
• Soda. Pour a glass of water into a small container, immerse the contaminated items and put on fire. Add a tablespoon of soda to hot water, stir and hold for another couple of minutes. We take out the products, clean them with a brush, rinse and dry. Rubbing the surface with baking soda is strictly prohibited! The abrasive scratches the surface, changing its appearance.
• Sweet liquid. Dissolve a tablespoon of sugar in a glass of water, immerse the gold in the mixture and leave for at least 3-4 hours. Then we rinse the item under running water and dry it. Thus, it is recommended to take care of your jewelry regularly, getting rid of greasy deposits and preventing the appearance of persistent stains.
• Toothpaste. Apply the product to the work surface, take a soft brush and begin to rub the product. Movements should be confident, but without much pressure.
• Onion juice. One of the most affordable home remedies. Simply rub the products with onion juice (squeezed or cut) and leave for a couple of hours. You don’t even need to rub the item after this, just rinse it under running water and dry it.
• Ammonia with peroxide. A very intensive approach that is not recommended for use with inserts, especially if they are diamonds or other stones. In a glass of cold water, dilute three tablespoons of ammonia, two tablespoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide and a few drops of liquid soap.Soak the gold in the composition, leave it for several hours and rinse.

In addition, there are professional means for restoring precious metals. They are quite simple to use, but before cleaning the product with the finished product, you need to carefully read the instructions.

Basics of high-quality cleaning of silver products

Silver items need to be cleaned quite often. The metal rapidly darkens with regular wear, thus reacting to the sulfur contained in human sweat. Fortunately, metal is not capricious and can be easily restored even at home.

• Lukewarm soapy water can easily remove greasy deposits. The effectiveness of the approach will increase significantly if a glass of this composition is diluted with a tablespoon of ammonia. We soak the item for several minutes, after which the surface should be cleaned with a soft cloth.
• A comprehensive measure will get rid of blackness at home. First, soak the products in a soap solution for at least two hours. Then rinse and wipe with a soft cloth. Then we apply a paste of tooth powder and ammonia to the surface. Rub it in with a soft cloth and scald with boiling water. Then wash under running water and polish until sparkling.
• If you urgently need to clean your silver, but don’t have any household chemicals on hand, you can use the juice of raw potatoes. We rub it into the blackened surface, leave it for an hour, after which we perform mechanical treatment again and wash the product.

These techniques are absolutely not suitable for processing silver jewelry with diamonds or other precious or semi-precious stones.

How to clean diamonds and other stones at home?

Stones require special care, but this does not mean that owners of such jewelry need to turn to professionals. At home, capricious products can also be cleaned, you just need to remember their specifics:

1. Sapphires, aquamarines and rubies are distinguished by their increased density, so in their case they can be cleaned with warm water and washing powder or hair shampoo.

Tip: Topazes, garnets and rubies can change their original color when exposed to high temperatures, so only lukewarm or cold water can be used to process them.

2. Caring for zirconium, diamonds, cubic zirconia is not at all difficult. They respond well to treatment with ammonia or a solution based on laundry soap. Durable and dense diamonds are even allowed to be rubbed with soft brushes.
3. Turquoise, pearls and coral react negatively to the effects of chemicals. The most you can do with them is wipe them with flannel.

Experts categorically forbid soaking products on which stones are glued to the surface. They are difficult to clean even mechanically; it is better not to try to do this at home and trust the professionals.