How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewellery
Our sterling silver pieces are made to last a lifetime.
Just because your favourite piece has become stained or marked doesn't mean you can’t bring it back to its former glory.
With our tips about how to clean, store and maintain your favourite item, you can be sure that your hey happiness sterling silver will last you years to come!
Cleaning Tips
The great thing about sterling silver is that it will never rust. However, it can tarnish from a chemical reaction with oxygen or sulphur!
If your jewellery is looking dirty or stained, here are 3 easy ways to bring it back to beautiful.
1. Soap and water
The simplest method is to wash your jewellery the old fashioned way, with a little bar soap and hot water!
We recommend bar soap over liquid soap as it can leave your jewellery looking a little duller.
All you need is to put your sterling silver in a bowl with the soap and water and wash it along the grain lines with a soft microfiber cloth.
This is a great habit to get into to maintain your jewellery’s natural shine!
Credit: The Spruce
2. Baking Soda and Hot Water
Credit: Ghazalle Badiozamani/Kitchn
This way is perfect to tackle mild marks and oxidisation. Simply line a bowl with tinfoil, add in a tablespoon of baking soda and a cup of hot water.
Stir, and add in your tarnished piece. It can sit in there for about a minute, before you can clean any marks with your microfiber cloth.
3. White vinegar and baking soda
This technique is used for more extreme tarnishing. Just add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and ½ a cup of white vinegar to a tin-foil lined bowl and
soak your stained pieces for a couple of hours. You can even use a soft plastic scrubbing brush, like a new soft toothbrush to deal with any persistent marks.
Remember - porous stones don’t like water! Be careful when cleaning any pieces with very porous additions.
To finish, make sure you rinse clean with warm water, dry and polish every piece. It’s important to use a soft polishing cloth to prevent any damage to your sterling silver. Our hey happiness microfiber cloth is ideal to bring back the gleam in your jewellery. It even comes in four different colours!
Storing
After your jewellery is shiny and new again it's important to store it properly to help keep its newly found luster.
Don’t expose to sunlight or air.
Somewhere dark and sealed is what your sterling silver likes best.
Our hey happiness cloth bag drawstring bags or jewellery case which we pair with every sterling silver piece is the perfect place for them!
Store in in a cool dry place.
Make sure your sterling silver isn’t kept anywhere too hot or damp. You can even add a little chalk to your storage space to soak up any moisture!
Store individually.
To avoid tangling or scratching from other jewellery pieces, make sure to store each piece in their own cloth bag. Give them their own space!
Preventative measures
Remember, preventative care is the best way to avoid any damage in your jewellery in the first place! Here are some easy ways to protect the shine in your silver.
Remove during chores such as cooking, cleaning and gardening
Taking your jewellery off before any kind of heavy duty chore is a great idea – especially one where you come into contact with any cleaning or chemical equipment.
Recommend that taking it off first is the better option. If your jewellery does get wet, just remember to always pat it dry afterwards.
Remove in direct sunlight or hot temperatures
If you’re planning on spending the day sunbathing, we recommend taking off your sterling silver first as sunlight will slowly tarnish your jewellery.
Put jewellery on last to avoid any contact with body creams, perfumes and oils!
It’s a great habit to make sure putting on your jewellery is the last thing you do after getting ready.
Make up, perfumes and creams are best left away from your sterling silver.
This will make a huge difference to your jewellery and prevent dulling from regular contact with harmful ingredients!
However, (when your sterling silver piece is not safely inside your jewellery bag), what it really loves is being worn!
The natural oils on your body actually help keep the shine in your sterling silver, so make sure to put on your hey happiness silver as much as possible!
Showing off your favourite sterling silver piece is in fact one of the best ways to care for it!
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