You’re heading to a party tonight and you have the perfect silver necklace to wear with your outfit. Well, it would be perfect if it wasn’t so tarnished. You’ve got to figure out how to clean silver jewelry, fast!
There are many DIY methods you can follow online that might do the trick. You do have to be a bit careful about those. They might do more harm than good.
We know a few methods that will work without doing damage to your pretty necklace. Check out this cleaning guide for a few steps that have been proven to lift the tarnish out of silver jewelry.
Why Does Silver Jewelry Tarnish?
Silver is a soft metal that can be tarnished by a wide variety of things. If you don’t wear your silver ring for a long period of time, it will tarnish while sitting alone in your jewelry box. On the flip side of this, if you do wear the ring it might still discolor.
This is because the toxins that you come into contact with via the air can do a number on your silver jewelry. Even the foods you eat can do some damage. As you sweat, the oils from the food can come out and get on the jewelry.
- Don’t Take All DIY Hacks Seriously
Some DIY hacks will work to clean your jewelry and some will do more harm than good. Using lemon juice, coke, or saltwater will do the trick but every single one of them is acidic.
They might not do any damage the first few times you clean your jewelry with them but eventually, they will weaken the silver. Again, silver is a soft metal so you’ve got to be gentle with it.
- Soap and Water
Dreamland Jewelry has beautiful silver jewelry and soap and water can make sure it stays that way. You want to pick a soap that doesn’t contain any bleach or degreasers. The harsh chemicals will damage the metal.
Take out a bowl and fill it with a cup of warm water. Add a few drops of soap to the water and dip a clean microfiber cloth into it. Use the cloth to gently polish the jewelry.
Rinse your jewelry with warm water and dry it with a dry cloth. If you’re working with a ring or necklace that has jewels inside, don’t submerge it in the water. If you do, the adhesive that’s holding the gems in place may dissolve.
- Create a Baking Soda Paste
If the only dish soap you have is the kind that’s designed to handle tough stuck-on grease, don’t worry. You can use baking soda instead. Create a mixture that’s three-parts baking soda and one-part water.
Stir until it has almost a toothpaste consistency. Use a soft cloth to apply the paste to your silver jewelry. You want to rub the paste on.
Don’t scrub or you’ll damage the jewelry. If your pieces have any complicated etchings, you can get into those hard to reach crevices with a toothbrush. Rinse the paste off using warm water and dry the piece with a dry cloth.
- Use Aluminum Foil for Tarnish
If your tarnish situation is particularly serious, there’s an aluminum foil method that you can try out. To get started, there are a couple of things that you’ll have to pick up from the grocery store. You’ll need 1/2 cup of baking soda, a pot that’s large enough to hold 1/2 gallon of water, an empty sink that also has a stopper, and aluminum foil.
Place the stopper in your sink and line it with a healthy coating of aluminum foil. Put your jewelry on top of the foil. Be sure to leave enough space so none of the pieces are touching each other.
Fill your pot with half a gallon of water and boil it on the stove. Once you have some boiling action going on, pour in the baking soda.
After the baking soda has dissolved, pour the mixture into the sink on top of the jewelry. Be sure to do this gently enough where you don’t cause the pieces to move and bump into each other.
After about 5 minutes, you can take your jewelry out and rinse it off with warm water. Dry it with a clean cloth. It should be set to go.
If it’s still a little tarnished, feel free to repeat the process a few times to get it good and shiny again.
- Use a Soft Cloth and Polish
If you’re okay with spending a little bit of money, plenty of stores sell silver polish. It’s made with ingredients that are specially designed to fight tarnish.
Put a small bit of the polish on a cloth and rub it into the jewelry using up and down motions. When you’re done, rinse the jewelry and dry it with a cloth.
- Prevent Tarnish in the First Place
Of course, the best way to get rid of tarnish is to prevent it in the first place. When you’re not wearing your silver pieces, they should be kept in an anti-tarnish bag.
Put the bag in a dry, dark place. You want your jewelry to be exposed to as little humidity as possible. Some people toss a silica gel packet into the bag as an extra precaution.
Take your jewelry off before you get in the pool or put on moisturizer. The chemicals won’t do the delicate metal any favors.
How to Clean Silver Jewelry and Make it Shine
Silver is a versatile metal that can go with most outfits and other jewelry pieces. It’s also a soft metal that’s easily tarnished unless you know how to clean silver jewelry.
You have to be careful about what cleaners you use or you may end up dealing with more than a little tarnish. If you use the scrubbing methods in this article, you should be fine. If you still can’t manage to get your jewelry clean, check out the fashion section of our blog to get a few more tips.
