5 ways to clean your jewelry

What should you do to clean your tarnished jewelry and why do they tarnish in the first place? Jewelry cleaning can be done at home easily and safely!

At www.emmanuela.gr  we emphasize quality construction and high aesthetics and all our creations are made with 925 silver and precious metals, however, because all jewelry is beautiful, we will give you tips to clean your jewelry and keep it beautiful , whether they are "true" or "false"!

The "tanning" of silver jewelry

Silver jewelry is not significantly affected by external factors, except that it "blackens" from time to time - when it is not parodized or gold-plated - forming stains, which in the initial stage are very easily removed with a soft cloth and a little rubbing. If our silver jewelry has "blackened" a lot, we use a cleaning liquid for silver objects, one of those widely available on the market. The "tanning" is due to surface oxidation which is caused by the contact of the silver with the sulfur present in the air of the atmosphere.

We should be very careful when using polishing liquids, as they are likely to discolor other elements of our jewelry, such as semi-precious stones, corals and pearls.
Carefully clean only the silver surfaces with a soft cotton cloth, which we have first soaked in the liquid cleaner. We rub with horizontal or vertical movements and not with circular ones.

Below are tips to clean your jewelry!

Toothpaste; Probably not...

The well-known advice that in order to polish silver well, we use toothpaste is not so wise, since toothpastes contain corrosive agents which end up quickly causing more "tanning". This is why this polishing practice is not recommended.

The "rules" of silver...

Like all jewelry, in order for silver to always remain shiny and beautiful as new, we must follow some rules:

• We never wear them when we are sweaty, when swimming, exercising or doing vigorous manual work, as pool chlorine, moisture and sweat salts are enemies of silver, while silver can easily be etched by minor scratches and altered by stress .

• We make sure to first apply the beauty products we use (make up, perfume, nail polish, creams, etc.) and then put on our silver jewelry. Silver should not come into contact with the chemicals and acids contained in these products.

• It is good to clean our silver jewelry with a soft cotton cloth after each use. Even better to wash them with warm water and a little soap. After drying them well with a careful wipe, we store them separately from the rest of our jewelry. Thus we remove the corrosive agents that adhere to them.

• We store them in airtight plastic bags, preferably those that "seal" and isolate the content, preventing it from coming into contact with the air.

• We place them separately from other jewelry or hard objects that may scratch the surface of the silver.

• We keep them in a place where the light does not "see" them.

Finally, there are special strips or fabrics with an anti-corrosive action for silver. We can place them in the places where we store our jewelry to protect them from corrosion, long-term and more effectively.