If your favorite, most-worn pieces of jewelry are looking a little lackluster, you can count on easy home hacks for gold cleaning. Thorough cleaning at home with a common and the least amount of ingredients will get your gold sparkling and shining.
Over the years, pieces of gold jewelry start to look worn and dull, therefore, the gold requires gentle and regular cleaning to stay in tip-top shape.
Luckily, there is no need for experts and professionals to keep the gold ornaments clean and radiant.
All it requires is some simple household products to restore the shine and sparkle of the gold items. Follow along to know how to clean gold jewelry safely and easily.
Cleaning the Gold Jewelry at Home
As stated above, gold jewelry can be cleaned using many cheap household products. However, people normally use a polishing cloth, jewelry polish, baking soda, dish soap, toothpaste, ammonia, white vinegar, a piece of chalk, and hot water to clean the gold jewelry to perfection. All of these products are equally effective in bringing the old charm back.
1. Clean with a polishing cloth
A polishing cloth is a most common and least harmful method of cleaning gold jewelry at home. However, it can not clean an exceptionally dirty gold piece.
Moreover, the design has to be simple as well, otherwise, it would clean the exposed parts and the harder-to-access parts of the jewelry would remain dirty.
To clean gold jewelry this way, you first need to have a fresh high-quality polishing cloth.
Wipe down the jewelry with the polishing cloth to restore its shine. Here I would like to suggest that, do not wait for the jewelry to get dirty to wipe it down with a polishing cloth.
Make it a habit. Whenever the jewelry is worn over makeup or moisturizer, wipe it well to keep your gold jewelry in good condition.
2. Clean with jewelry polish
If you wish to achieve the best results, there might not be any better idea than cleaning it with jewelry polish.
The jewelry polish comes in many shapes; liquid, cream, and foam. So, to get good results you have to invest in any of the above-mentioned types of jewelry polish.
While finding the jewelry polish make sure the one you invest in is meant to clean the gold jewelry. Otherwise, it would just be a waste of time.
If you are cleaning the gold jewelry with liquid jewelry polish, all you have to do is dip the jewelry in the solution for a specific time as suggested in the user manual.
To clean with cream jewelry polish, apply it thoroughly and leave it for a few seconds to minutes.
Once the suggested time is over, you can wipe down the gold jewelry or rinse it off with warm water.
However, if you choose to restore the gold jewelry’s shine with foam jewelry polish, apply the foam to the gold jewelry directly and leave it for a few seconds.
If the gold jewelry is super dirty, brush the grime away. Otherwise, simply rinsing it off with warm water would do the job.
3. Clean with baking soda
Baking soda is the cheapest and one effective household product to clean jewelry with.
Baking soda is found in almost every house as it is used for cooking and cleaning. Therefore, if you have to quickly restore the gold jewelry’s shine, baking soda is a way to go.
To clean gold with baking soda, you have to make water and baking soda paste.
The 3 parts of the paste should be baking soda and 1 out 4 needs to be the water.
Apply the baking soda paste to the gold jewelry with a soft, lint-free cloth. Leave the paste on for a few seconds and rinse it off.
4. Clean with dish soap
Dish soaps are used for cleaning many other things than the original purpose. One of them is the cleaning and restoring the gold’s original color.
It is the most commonly used and preferred way. Therefore, if you want a quick fix, mild dish soap is one good option.
The dish soap can be used mixed with water or applied directly to the gold jewelry. However, it is better to make a solution by mixing it with water.
It is because dish soap contains a lot of chemicals, therefore, applying it directly to the gold jewelry can discolor or damage it.
Add a few drops of the mild dish soap in the water, dip your gold jewelry for about a minute, use a brush to get rid of dirt, and rinse it off with warm water.
5. Clean with Toothpaste
Cleaning gold with toothpaste is not as common as the other cleaning methods. This is because of an ingredient that most toothpaste has; chlorine.
Chlorine is a chemical element that is proven to discolor and damage gold.
So, you should avoid using toothpaste to clean the gold jewelry. It should only be done when you have got no other household ingredient effective enough to clean the gold.
To clean gold jewelry with toothpaste, you have to take a pea-sized amount of toothpaste out and apply it to the gold jewelry. Leave it for about 50 seconds to 1 minute and rinse it off.
Remember! You have to spread the toothpaste evenly and not let it sit for more than a minute.
Otherwise, overexposure would make your gold jewelry lose its shine. Moreover, do not make a habit of cleaning gold jewelry with toothpaste, it would not be worth it.
6. Clean with ammonia
Ammonia can also be used to clean gold jewelry. The procedure is just as simple as the above-mentioned ones. You do not need to do any research or experiment to clean gold with ammonia.
Keep in mind that ammonia alone can not do any magic. You have to mix it up with mild dish soap and warm water.
Dip the gold jewelry in the ammonia, dish soap, and water solution, get rid of the dirt using a soft baby brush, and rinse it off. There, your job is done.
7. Clean with white vinegar
White vinegar combined with a few other things has also proven to work for gold jewelry.
To restore the gold jewelry’s shine, mix the white vinegar with dish soap, water, Windex, baking soda, and seltzer water.
The rest of the procedure is more or less the same, you simply have to dip the jewelry in the solution, use a brush or cloth to get rid of dirt, and rinse it off.
8. Clean with a piece of chalk
This might come as a surprise to you that a washed-over piece of chalk found on the beach can also clean the gold jewelry.
To clean the gold jewelry with washed-over chalk picked from the beach, you have to rub your thumb on the chalk and then do the same on the gold jewelry.
The chalky thumb would help you in getting rid of all the dirt from the gold jewelry and you will have clean jewelry to style. However, these chalks can only be used to clean jewelry with the simplest designs.
9. Clean with hot water
Hot water can also be a cure for your problem. It would be the cheapest and safest way to get rid of all the dirt from the gold jewelry.
To clean the gold jewelry, bring the water to a boil, pour it into the pot, let it cool down a bit, dip the gold jewelry into the hot water and allow it to sit until the water cools down.
Once the water is cool enough, pick out the jewelry, get rid of the loosened dirt with a soft baby brush, and rinse it off with the cool water.
Cleaning Tips for Gold Jewelry
Cleaning the gold jewelry is not as simple as it appears. You have to do and avoid certain things to clean yet keep the gold jewelry’s original shine intact. Here are a few tips that would help you in cleaning and preserving the gold jewelry shine.
- Avoid exposing dirty gold jewelry to any household cleaning product containing chlorine such as toothpaste.
- The product that contains chlorine provides a quick solution but it takes away the gold jewelry’s shine.
- If you choose to clean the gold jewelry with dish soap, make sure it is mild enough to not hurt the jewelry.
- Go through the list of ingredients, and research each ingredient thoroughly, if the ingredients are safe you can go for it. Otherwise, avoid it.
- Do not clean the gold jewelry way too frequently, it would also take away the gold’s shine.
- Store and use the gold jewelry carefully instead. The jewelry will get less dirty and would require less cleaning.
Jewelry cleaners or polishers are the “best” and the safest way to clean gold jewelry. The ingredients in the jewelry cleaners/polishers are safe. Therefore, do not hesitate even if you have to spend a few dollars.
Conclusion
If the gold jewelry contains diamonds, rubies, or sapphires, do not attempt to clean it at home. Store and use the gold jewelry carefully and if it gets dirty anyway, hand over the job to a professional.