How To Extend The Life Of Your Jewellery?
No matter how great a woman dresses up and grooms herself, something always feels missing if she’s not wearing jewellery. Sure, there’s a certain kind of minimalist coolness and getting-rid-off-clutter-process in rocking little-to no jewellery, but – I do believe a pair of earrings, or a ring can go a long way. I stand proof of turing from a damn jewellery circus to a minimalist lover if not for the love per se, than at least for necessity reasons. Aka… to not scratch and jiggle too much around my newborn baby girl.
At the end of the day I love jewellery. And while mI’n not an over the top lover so much, I still love piling on pieces, and wearing stuff that makes a defence in an outfit.
Gone are the days when jewelry was only worn on special occasions. Today, women and even men love to rock their look by wearing jewelry on a daily basis.
Jewelry sure transforms your look and makes you look graceful, but not for long if you fail to give your jewelry the attention it needs. Almost all kinds of jewelry including gold, silver, diamond and platinum pieces are vulnerable to damage. Some lose their luster and some even break if no proper care if taken.
For example, a necklace with your name on it may lose some of the alphabets with time if you don’t keep it properly. This is why you need to be careful about how you keep your jewellery.
So below are some tips on how to extend the life of your jewellery.
Extending Life Of Diamonds
Diamonds outshadow most of the jewelry with their shine. Plus, they are the strongest naturally occuring material. Diamonds don’t lose their luster, shine and form if you take good care of them.
The phrase “Diamonds Are Forever” will lose its meaning if you use your diamond jewelry roughly and do not clean it properly.
Just like all other jewellery, they too require care or they will lose their vibrance and beauty before time. Unless of course we care for them:
Preventing Accumulation Of Film On The Diamond: With time, tiny film can accumulate on the surface of a diamond and make it look dull. This affects the lifespan of a diamond and make it lose its shine before time.
To prevent this from happening, non-toxic liquid cleaner can be used. Soaking the diamond in the cleaner for a few minutes helps in removing the film from the diamond and keeping it glittering.
Keeping Diamonds Cleaned: Spots and scratches can occur on a diamond after a few months or years. It affects the lifespan of the diamond because the lustrousness begins to fade away. This can be prevented by preparing a detergent bath and soaking the diamond jewelry in it.
Take warm water and add detergent that doesn’t have soap in it. Soak it in and use a brush to gently scrub the diamonds. Make sure you don’t use any abrasive tool to clean it.
Rinse well and use a hair dryer to dry the jewelry. This method will increase the lifespan of the diamond by protecting it from spots and dirt.
Tip: Diamonds should be cleaned at least once a month.
Keep in mind that different types of diamonds should be cleaned differently. You can learn about different shapes and settings of diamonds in Larsen Jewellery’s engagement rings guide. Once you understand the various different types of rings, you can understand how best to clean them. Keep in mind that extremely intricate designs will require different cleaning processes that may be far more labour-intensive. This is something to keep in mind when shopping for different pieces of jewellery.
Extending Life Of Pearls
Many women love the elegant and classic look of pearls. Pearls are known for their bright shine and can add class to any look. However, they don’t last for a very long time if proper care isn’t provided to them. Here’s what you can do to increase their lifespan.
Restring The Pearls: Most pearls are either strung onto necklaces or bracelets. A major problem with pearl jewelry is that the string sustains damage overtime and also affects the pearls. The string may break and cause the pearls to scatter around.
Adding the pearls on a new string can increase their lifespan.
Tip: Restringing should be done once every year.
Protecting From Scratches: Never store pearls with any other jewelry because they are prone to scratches. Always keep them separate and wrapped up in a silk cloth.
When cleaning, always use a damp silk cloth so that no scratches are inflicted on the pearls.
Extending Life Of Gold
Gold is expensive, but can begin to lose its luster with time.
You can prevent this from happening by following a few steps that will increase the lifespan of your gold jewelry. These are:
Preventing Tarnishing: Oxidants are the number one enemy of gold. This can be prevented by keeping an anti-tarnish strip into the container where you store jewelry. The strip keeps oxidants at bay and your jewelry remains safe.
Preventing Discoloration: Another factor affecting the lifespan of gold jewelry is discoloration. The yellow shine begins to fade away and jewelry begins to look dull due to wear and tear. Other than this, makeup and body oils can also ruin the shine.
It’s vital to treat the discoloration so that the gold can be worn for a longer period of time. Following this procedure will help:
Procedure To Treat Discoloration:
- Take a bowl of warm water and add dishwashing soap.
- Add the jewelry into this bowl and rub it slowly with your fingers.
- Take a brush that has soft bristles and scrub the jewelry very gently or else it will sustain scratches.
- Now take another bowl of warm water and transfer the jewelry into it so that the soap residue is removed completely.
- Grab a soft cloth and gently dry the jewelry thoroughly and the discoloration will be gone.
If this doesn’t work, then visit a specialist to get it polished.
Extending Life Of Silver
Just like gold, silver can also lose its shine and get discoloured throughout time. The process to treat discoloration is almost the same as gold with just a few changes.
After cleaning it in warm water with soap, rinse it in cold water. Again, take warm water and add three tablespoons of baking soda in it. Now gently scrub the silver to remove discoloration.
This will help you increase the lifespan of silver.
Every single piece of jewellery has a beauty and a story to it, so taking care of them comes only naturally. Even if we slack a bit every now and then, i know i do… I try to keep my most valuable pieces as clean as I can.
xoxo D.
