How To Care For Sterling Silver Jewellery
Unlike solid gold or platinium, sterling silver can tarnish but the good news is: with proper care, it will take a long time! The even better news: sterling silver tarnishing is reversible. By reading our article, you will be able to extend your sterling silver jewellery durability and how to give it its shine back.
Everyday maintenance of Sterling Silver Jewellery
Sterling silver requires relatively little maintenance, and is strong enough to be worn everyday.
There are still a few things you'll need to consider if you want to keep your jewellery looking at its best.
What causes sterling silver jewellery to tarnish?
There are lots of things that may cause your shiny silver to look a little off colour, to encounters with beauty products and household chemicals. Here we look at the best ways to care for your silver jewellery to keep it as tarnish and scratch-free as possible:
- Swimming pools and hot tubs
The chemicals used are harsh and will damage the shine of your sterling jewellery, don’t forget to take them off or they will tarnish immediately.
- Exercise
The oils on your skin can affect the appearance of your silver jewellery over time, especially if you’re exercising regularly .
- Prolonged exposure to water
Prolonged exposure to water will contribute to oxidation. You can get your sterling jewellery wet, but we recommend removing it before bathing.
- Cosmetics, cosmetics remover and sun lotion
Be careful while applying sun lotion, perfume or any other chemical as it will affect your sterling silver jewellery shine.
How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewellery
Cleaning Cloths
If your jewellery is only mildly to moderately dirty, it may just need a quick wipe over with a cloth to restore it to its full glory. Silver polishing cloths are special cloths containing a polishing compound and will bring the shine back.
If your jewellery has pearls, be careful of not rubbing them with the silver cloth or make sure your cloth is suitable for soft stones.
Natural cleaning methods for silver
- Gather the items you need
Your tarnished piece of silver jewellery, aluminium foil, baking soda, hot water, container
- Wrap the silver item in aluminum foil.
- Add baking soda to hot water in the container. A couple of tablespoons will work but more can be added for heavily tarnished silver or larger containers.
- Let the hot water and baking soda solution work. The time it takes to remove the tarnish will depend on how badly the silver is tarnished. If the water cools, add hot water.
- Check periodically to see if the tarnish is gone. If it is not completely gone, wrap it back up and put it back into the hot water and baking soda mixture.
How to Store Sterling Silver Jewellery
The key is to store your sterling silver jewellery somewhere dark, small and airtight. If you are not planning on wearing your jewellery soon, don’t forget to add an anti-tarnish strip in the container.