Regular cleaning is essential to maintaining the shine and brilliance of your jewelry, whether it’s a simple ring you wear every day or a glamorous accessory you only take out on special occasions. Dirt, grime, and tarnish not only make your precious possessions look dull but also cause the metal itself to degrade over time, which often results in issues such as loose prongs and runaway stones.
Fortunately, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on professional cleaners every year. You can give your beloved trinkets the TLC they deserve with just a few items lying around your household. But before you go and vigorously start scrubbing your expensive gemstone ring, you should know how to clean rings at home the right way. Not all jewelry is made the same and knowing how to clean your jewelry is critical to its longevity.
In this blog, we’re sharing our tried and true techniques on how to clean your engagement ring and other jewelry at home with full consideration given to different metals and gemstones. We’re also sharing our top tips and dos and don’ts for prolonging your jewelry’s lifespan. Let’s get into it without further ado!
How Often Should You Clean Your Jewelry?
The simple answer is that if you wear it often, it needs to be cleaned often. But factors such as the type of jewelry and the environment where it’s worn also play a role in how often you’d have to put on your cleaning gloves and use our tips on how to clean rings at home. For example, delicate jewelry with gemstones such as pearls, opal, and turquoise should ideally be cleaned after each wear because they’re highly porous and sensitive to the elements.
Special occasion jewelry such as gemstone cufflinks should also be cleaned after each wear because even though it won’t accumulate much dirt and oil, it can still tarnish and lose its luster if it comes in contact with perfumes, hair sprays, and other chemicals. As for everyday jewelry such as wedding rings and birthstone rings, you should clean them once every 1-2 weeks, or 2-3 weeks depending on the type of metal.
How to Clean Your Jewelry At Home
Different materials require different care, so in case you aren’t sure about what your ring is made of, it’s advised you lay off from tips on how to clean rings at home and get your jewelry assessed by a professional to avoid causing irreversible damage to it. If you’re certain about the materials, see the best solution on how to clean your engagement ring below.
Cleaning Gold, Platinum, & Palladium Jewelry
Solid gold, platinum, and palladium metal jewelry are some of the easiest to maintain. They can be quickly cleaned at home with just some dish soap, water, and a toothbrush. This is how to clean rings at home using this method:
- Add a few drops of dish soap to lukewarm water and mix thoroughly.
- Completely soak your jewelry in the solution for about 5 minutes.
- Take the jewelry out of the solution and gently scrub it with a soft-bristled toothbrush to dislodge residual dirt.
- Soak the item in the solution for a few more minutes and then repeat step three.
- Rinse your jewelry under clean water and then buff and polish it with a soft microfiber or jewelry polishing cloth.
When working with gold-, platinum-, or palladium-plated jewelry, instead of a toothbrush grab a soft cellulose sponge or skip the scrubbing altogether because you wouldn’t want to risk abrasive erosion of the plating. If the jewelry contains gemstones, make sure to really get in there and scrub (very gently) the nooks along the setting because that’s where most of the buildup accumulates. Don’t be too harsh or you could end up loosening the stone. This is the safest advice on how to clean your engagement ring.
Cleaning Silver, Copper, & Brass Jewelry
How to clean rings at home made from metals such as silver, copper, and brass? The dish soap method works for practically every kind of jewelry, including these. However, these metals are softer than gold, so you should exercise extra caution while scrubbing. Be as gentle as possible or swap out the toothbrush for a cellulose sponge or microfiber cloth instead.
Silver, copper, and brass are more prone to tarnishing than gold, but regular cleanup will ensure they stay shiny. If your silver, copper, or brass jewelry has already tarnished, regular soap water won’t be enough. In this case, you’ll need to buy a specialized polish such as the Scotchgard Tarni-Shield Silver Polish (which works for all three metals) and a jewelry polishing cloth.
Many ‘How to Clean Rings at Home’ guides out there will suggest you a slew of DIY methods on how to clean your engagement ring such as ketchup, vinegar, and baking soda & aluminum foil, but we don’t recommend raiding your pantry for these items unless you want to permanently damage your precious jewelry. Once or twice may work for emergencies but not for routine maintenance.
Cleaning Gemstone Jewelry
Working with gemstones is trickier because you have to consider the durability of the gems, the band’s metal, and the complexity of the setting while deciding on how to clean your gemstone jewelry. Dish soap and jewelry cleaning liquids are mild solutions and are thus a safe choice if you’re looking for how to clean gemstone rings at home. But as mentioned earlier, be gentle while doing any sort of scrubbing or rubbing. And only attempt to clean them at home if you’re sure nothing is loose or needs to be looked at by a professional.
For gemstone rings with hard gems such as diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires, you can get an ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon for under $50 to dislodge dirt and oil at a molecular level. This is the most effective method if you’re looking for how to clean your engagement ring, but don’t use ultrasonic cleaners for delicate softer gems such as onyx and aquamarine.
Tips to Care for Your Jewelry
Jewelry is a significant investment, both financial and emotional. So besides knowing how to clean rings at home, you should also know how to wear and store them properly to maintain them. Here are some of our best care tips for jewelry:
- Store your jewelry separately in airtight bags or containers.
- Keep them free from moisture. Avoid getting them wet and store your most cherished items with silica gel packets to prevent them from getting tarnished easily.
- Always wear your jewelry after applying perfume, deodorant, makeup, or hairspray because the chemicals in these accelerate tarnishing.
- Keep gemstone jewelry away from prolonged hours in direct sunlight because it can damage them, especially sensitive gems such as amethyst.
- Don’t follow ‘How to Clean Rings at Home’ guides that suggest using harsh chemicals and abrasives such as ammonia and baking soda to clean your jewelry. You might end up making things worse.
- Remove your jewelry when washing hands, taking a shower, swimming, applying skincare and makeup, cleaning the house, or any other activities that may damage it.
- Don’t let your jewelry sit in the box. Wearing them often prevents tarnishing.
When Should You See a Professional?
Knowing when to see a professional is a part of understanding how to clean your jewelry and keep it in mint condition. You should get your gemstone jewelry inspected annually because over time the prongs and stones can become loose or the setting can get damaged. If something doesn’t look quite right, you should never try to fix it yourself. Instead, immediately go to a jeweler.
The how-to-clean rings at-home methods we’ve shared above are only for routine maintenance. They’re not a substitute for professional cleaning, so you should still get your jewelry deep-cleaned by a jeweler. A jeweler will know best how to clean your engagement ring to bring it back to its original brilliance.
At AZEERA, all of our customizable gemstone rings and cufflinks come with a complementary warranty that gives you access to discounted prices for all maintenance services, including prong tightening, stone replacing, re-polishing, rhodium plating, and cleaning services. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about how to clean rings at home or if you want to avail of our service.
