JEWELRY CARE: How To Clean Your Jewelry With A Polishing Cloth

It’s mid-May and the season of Spring is in full effect! The flowers are in bloom, bees are buzzing and it’s always a great time to get a little “spring cleaning” in every aspect of our lives. Whether we’re cleaning out our closets, sifting through that mess of a garage, or scrubbing our homes from top to bottom, this is the time of year to clean up in preparation for that hot summer sun.

While you’re devoting your time to getting all the things done and cleaned up, don’t forget about your jewelry. It’s always a great idea to clean up your pieces once a month, or every couple of weeks depending on how much you wear them. So why not schedule in a little spring cleaning of your jewelry box too.

I recommend opening up your jewelry box and taking each piece out to give it a good thorough clean and polishing. If your jewels are looking dirty or grungy, you can put them a soap and water bath and use a soft-bristle toothbrush to gently clean your jewelry. Take each piece of jewelry and use a polishing cloth to wipe them down and get that sparkle and shine in full effect for Summer. There’s nothing like the sunshine hitting your jewels and casting a flash of light for all to see!

For your Sterling Silver pieces, feel free to give them a good hard polish. The cloth will brighten up all your silver jewels and make them look like brand new again. The more often you take care of your silver jewelry and wipe it with your polishing cloth, the less tarnishing it will collect. Doing this will help keep it looking new longer than if you neglected your Sterling Silver jewels and let them darken and fade.

When it comes to Gold-filled metals, you can wipe them down with a polishing cloth every 4-6 weeks to keep them looking golden and bright. Gold-filled isn’t plated, which gives you more opportunity to use your cloth more often than with a gold-plated metal.

 Vermeil is a heavy gold-plated sterling silver which does darken and tarnish over time if exposed to air and light because of the silver beneath the gold plating. But if you store your Vermeil jewelry properly and give it a VERY light and gentle wipe down with your polishing cloth sparingly, you can keep it looking new and bright gold for a very long time. (But if you do over polish your Vermeil or plated jewelry, it will eventually strip off the plating and you will be left with a piece of sterling silver jewelry without the gold. This is why I always recommend you use the cloth in a light and gentle way not very often.)

Polishing cloths are an essential tool for keeping your jewelry looking gorgeous over time. You can use your cloth over and over until it has turned completely black on both sides. I recommend wearing gloves when you can to prevent skin exposure to the cleaning chemicals in the polishing cloths, and to always wash your hands after using them. You will LOVE having a polishing cloth around to keep all your demi-fine and fine jewelry looking bright, shiny and oh so sparkly every time you wear them!