All kinds of jewelry need a refresh to look their best, always. Luckily for diamond rings owners, they don’t always have to bring their jewelry to a professional jeweler or jewelry cleaning service to get good results. Unless there is damage to the setting or metal, or there is the heavy patina that prevents your jewelry from looking its best, you can perform general cleaning procedures at home to make your diamond jewelry look spiffy. Learn the essentials of caring for diamond earrings from cleaning to storage. Discover how to clean platinum and white gold as well.
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How to Clean Diamond Earrings?
The general procedure for cleaning diamond earrings is straightforward.
- Prepare a solution of gentle dish soap and some warm water. Diamond is unaffected by solvent, but we’re not so sure about the alloy in your earrings, you never know. The goal is to reduce any possible chemical reactions that may pre-empt damage to your jewelry. Mix the solution in the bowl until the soap becomes well-integrated
Avoid soap that has strong fragrances and possible dyes. Dyes are not suitable for most gemstones and jewelry with the setting. If you can’t find a dish soap that complies with this requirement, feel free to use gentler body soaps like Castile soap to ensure that there won’t be any surprises after cleaning the diamond earrings. - Place your diamond earrings in the solution and leave them there for one hour. During this time, the gentle soap solution will take care of any dirt and grime stuck to the earrings. The earth and grime will lift, and it will be 100% cleaner than it was before.
- After an hour, lift the earrings and start scrubbing with the softest toothbrush you can find. The toothbrush can either be used or not. You can also use soft brushes designed to clean jewelry; you can find them online. Focus on removing lint, dirt, and stuck grime in hard to reach spaces in the jewelry.
- When brushing expensive fine jewelry, be sure to do it as gently as possible. We don’t want you inadvertently damaging the metal or any component of the jewel in the process.
(Photo from Harry Winston)
Some reminders when cleaning your jewelry:
- Always check the type of jewelry you’re cleaning – specifically the metal that was used. Platinum and gold can be washed at home, but if you are unsure, it would be best first to ask the jeweler for advice.
- Loose diamonds can be a problem, especially if your earrings fell before and weren’t able to catch them. Before washing your ornaments, recheck the integrity of the settings. Are there any loose stones? If there are, you may want to bring your jewelry to a professional jeweler to have them fixed and cleaned afterward.
- Rinsing is crucial to the process. If you have a small colander with beautiful holes, you can place your diamond earrings and run some warm water over them. The running water will remove the soap and other loose debris and residues in the hoops. Be sure to use only a gentle or moderate flow, as too much pressure can make your hoops jump from the colander.
How to Clean Diamond Earring Made with White Gold?
White gold usually is non-reactive to most chemicals, but it would be best to err on the safe side when cleaning it. First of all, don’t use water with chlorine as this compound can produce a dulling effect on white gold. Also, not all kinds of white gold are equal. Some white gold jewelry is electroplated only, which means they’re not entirely made of white gold.
There is a core metal, and then a small layer of white gold is bound to the surface through electroplating. Reach out to your your jeweler for specifics when buying any kind of gold. 18-karat gold or 14-karat gold, for instance, is entirely different from electroplated gold, which only has a minimal quantity of gold in it via electroplating.
What about white gold jewelry with other gemstones?
Let’s say that you want to clean most of your jewelry. Unless you have a pure diamond collection, you also have other gems in your collection. Do you clean these gems as you wound diamonds?
This largely depends on the type of gems involved in other jewelry. Some gemstones have semi-porous properties, which means the crystals can absorb moisture and chemical agents over time. Moisture absorption is problematic in many cases because it can ruin a perfectly good piece of jewelry.
White gold does well with your essential dish soap and warm water combination, but you can also branch out to ultrasonic cleaning with the help of a cleaning solution that is safe for fine jewelry. There is no harm in asking your jeweler for advice.
How to Clean Diamond Earring Made of Platinum Parts?
Diamond earrings that have platinum require platinum-safe cleaning solutions. These cleaning solutions are inexpensive, so you should not worry about investing in a few bottles for long-term use. If you don’t have access to a platinum-safe cleaning solution, simply wash and clean with dish soap and water.
If you have never had platinum jewelry before, here are some simple tips to keep your platinum jewelry in top condition:
- Don’t wear your platinum jewelry around the house to reduce exposure to common household chemicals and cleaners. Wearing it around the house also increases the risk of damaging the surface, so that’s problematic; however, you look at it.
- Always store your precious metals away from each other. Have separate pouches for them and keep them in different layers of your jewelry organized. This will also ensure that you won’t have trouble locating them when trying to mix and match your collection.
- Do use only soft brushes when cleaning all types of exceptional jewelry. Harder brushes can cause damage over time. Microscopic damage eventually becomes macroscopic and eye-visible when the damage to the surface of the metal is serious enough.
