Jewelry Cleaning Tips
At Mark Broumand we offer life-time free cleaning and inspection for all of your jewelry purchased from us. Here are some tips on keeping your jewelry clean in between visits to our showroom.
Keeping gold & platinum jewelry shiny
To keep your gold jewelry shining like new, you can use a soft wet cloth and a gentle detergent. Harsh chemicals or abrasives can damage the outer surface of your jewelry so that it would require polishing. I recommend using a polishing cloth and jewelry cleaner, both are available in our jewelry show room for only $20. One more tip, avoid storing your gold near diamonds or other hard gemstones, as they may scratch gold surfaces.
Cleaning gemstones
Some precious gemstones like emeralds and tanzanites and semi-precious gemstones, like turquoise, amber, opal, jade, etc., are very porous stones and can absorb liquids if soaked. Over the years, water and detergents trapped inside the stones can wash out their natural color. I recommend cleaning your gemstone jewelry using a soft cloth moistened with warm water.
Cleaning diamonds
As one of the hardest substances found on earth, diamonds can be cleaned to a fiery sparkle using any ammonia based cleaner. For diamonds that are set in jewelry, I advise cleaning according to the most sensitive element of the piece. For example, when cleaning a ring featuring diamond set in gold, follow the instructions for cleaning gold. If your diamonds are in a setting featuring a tanzanite (or other soft gem-stone), the same ammonia solution would leave your diamond sparkling but could damage the tanzanite. See my notes for gemstone cleaning above.
Keeping pearls lustrous
To retain their beauty pearls require much more care than diamonds and gemstones. The luster of natural pearls can diminish, over the years, with excessive contact to perfumes, oils, hair products, etc. Pearls are porous and soft, owing to the fact that they are comprised of 2-4% water, which makes them prone to be scratched and flawed easily. Finally, excessive dry air and heat can make pearls become brittle (remember, pearls all pearls are created in relatively cool water).
Here are some tips on keeping your pearls in new condition:
- Put your pearls jewelry on AFTER you apply perfumes, hairspray, use a blow dryer or any other beauty product.
- Gently wipe them down with a damp, soft cloth after every use.
- Store them at room temperature, separately from the rest of your jewelry, in a breathable bag.
