Jewellery Care: Keeping Your Pieces Beautiful

Jewellery is rarely damaged by one dramatic event. It is worn down gradually — by perfume, by chlorine, by being kept loose in a drawer with everything else. A little routine prevents most of it.

The two habits that matter most

Put jewellery on last, and take it off first. Perfume, hairspray, sunscreen and body lotion all leave residue on a finish. Applied before your jewellery goes on, they dry and cause no trouble. Sprayed over it, they sit on the surface and dull it.

Store pieces separately. Most visible scratching happens in storage, not in wear. A pouch each, or a lined box with compartments, will do more for a collection than any amount of polishing.

After each wear

Wipe the piece gently with a soft, dry cloth. This takes a few seconds and removes the skin oils and moisture that would otherwise sit on the surface overnight.

Avoid tissue and paper towel — both are more abrasive than they feel.

What to keep jewellery away from

• Water, especially chlorinated or salt water. Remove pieces before swimming or bathing.
• Household cleaners. Even brief contact is worth avoiding.
• Humidity. A bathroom shelf is the worst place in the house to keep jewellery. A drawer in a cool room is among the best.
• Sport and manual work. Impact and abrasion do more harm than time.

Cleaning at home

For most pieces, warm water with the smallest amount of mild soap, applied with a soft brush, then rinsed and dried thoroughly, is enough. Dry completely before storing — trapped moisture is the thing to avoid.

Two exceptions:

Pearls should never be soaked or brushed. Wipe with a barely damp soft cloth and let them dry flat. Pearls also prefer being worn; long spells sealed away do them no favours.

Stone-set pieces should be cleaned gently around the setting rather than scrubbed. If a stone feels loose, stop and have it looked at.

What we would not claim

Rolled gold is a durable finish made for regular wear, and looked after along these lines it holds its warmth for a long time. What no honest guide will tell you is that any finish is permanent, waterproof, or immune to daily life. Every piece of jewellery is affected by how it is worn.

Treat the routine above as maintenance rather than protection, and your collection will age slowly and well.