How to Clean Stainless Steel Jewelry?

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Stainless steel jewelry is one of the most durable and cost-effective kinds of jewelry around. You probably already have an extensive collection of such jewelry at home, and some of them may be looking just a tad bit shabby than when you have bought them. Never fear or hide it away. Here we will teach you some practical ways to improve the appearance of your stainless steel jewelry with everyday household items and cleaning agents.

Table of Contents

How to Clean Stainless Steel Jewelry?

Method 1: Cleaning with Pure Soap and Water

The first method for cleaning stainless steel jewelry is with pure soap and water.

Step 1:

Gather a bowl, some warm water, and some dish soap. Combine the water and the dish soap, make sure that you only add a few drops as any more won’t help clean the oily dirt on stainless steel.

You will need a couple of drops only. Mix the water thoroughly to distribute the soap throughout the bowl. Remember to use a sufficient amount of soap and water to submerge the jewelry. If you have several stainless steel rings, earrings, and bracelets, you may want to increase the amount of water slightly, so there’s more surface area working on the grime.

Step 2:

Submerge the jewelry piece for 30mins to 1 hour. If your jewelry has any gemstones, we highly advise against this as the prolonged submersion may cause some of the gems to absorb the cleaning solution. Submerge only if you have pure stainless steel jewelry with no gem settings.

Step 3:

After submersion, lift the jewelry and wipe each one down with a towel soaked with the cleaning solution. Wipe down the links, corners, and surface of the jewelry you have. For stubborn stains and stuck grime, you can use a toothbrush. The toothbrush must have soft bristles, so you don’t end up damaging the stainless steel surface.

Step 4:

After wiping and brushing, feel free to rinse the stainless steel jewelry with warm water again. You can either rinse the jewelry in a small bowl filled with warm water or open the tap and rinse them while inside a fine-holed colander. Make sure that the colander has holes that are small enough to stop the jewelry from falling through.

Wipe down each of your jewelry with paper towels or a dry towel.

Step 5:

Air-dry them for an hour to ensure that they are dry before placing them back to your organizer. If you have plenty of jewelry, it might help if you turned the jewelry over a bit so that all sides are exposed to the air. This should help speed up the drying process.

There are easy ways to make your old stainless steel ring brand new again.

There is an extra step that you can do, but it’s optional: use a microfiber buffing cloth to buff and polish your jewelry. Other jewelry owners don’t mind, but for those who like their stainless steel jewelry to be extra shiny, just rub away when the jewelry is dry.

Method 2: Cleaning with Baking Soda

The second method for cleaning stainless steel jewelry is with baking soda. Baking soda is a powerful, all-around cleaning agent, and it works best for other grimy jewelry.

Step 1:

To begin the cleaning, simply combine a small quantity of water with some baking soda. Create a paste with consistent volume (one that doesn’t easily fall apart). Dab a quantity of the paste that you created on a toothbrush.

Step 2:

Use this toothbrush to scrub away oil and dirt from your jewelry gently. This technique is especially useful for jewelry owners with grimy jewelry. A moist environment may cause grimy jewelry or if the jewelry becomes extra oily. There are also instances when stainless steel jewelry looks aged because of lotion and other personal care products sticking to it.

Method 3: Cleaning with Toothpaste

The final method, which is neat, uses regular toothpaste to remove dirt and other contaminants from stainless steel jewelry quickly.

For this technique, you will need your trust toothbrush again and some toothpaste. Scrub the jewelry as you would with the baking soda. Don’t press or scrub too hard because you may end up with scratched jewelry.

cleaning stainless steel apple watch stainless steel wristband

You may apply the same method to your Apple Watch stainless steel bracelet. But remember to remove the watch face before using the cleaning agents.

How to Make Stainless Steel Accessories Shiny Again?

Polishing Stainless Steel Accessories at home

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The shininess of stainless steel is highly dependent on the condition of the metal’s surface, the age of the jewelry, and how well-maintained the jewelry is. For the most part, if you wipe down all your jewelry after a day’s worth of wearing them, you will naturally maintain their shininess. However, jewelry gathers patina over time, and this is something we can’t control since the surface does react to the environment still.

If you want to make sure all of the possible griminess has been removed from the surface of your jewelry, you can use an ultrasonic cleaner paired with an appropriate jewelry cleaner. Simply read the instructions for the quantity of cleaner needed for your jewelry and proceed with the cleaning.

For extra deep cleaning, you can also combine white vinegar and some baking soda. Activate the baking soda with vinegar and use the solution to scrub away grime from the surface of the jewelry. After deep cleaning, simply use a towel to dry (after rinsing) before buffing with a microfiber cloth.

And finally, we have the mother of cleaning agents – the white vinegar. White vinegar can be used purely to bring back luster to stainless steel jewelry that has seen better days. You can also soak your pieces in a cup of pure white vinegar for about fifteen minutes, before lifting and cleaning as per usual. Remember also that you can combine various cleaning methods for other old and grimy jewelry.

Conclusion

Cleaning stainless steel jewelry is a breeze if you have soap, white vinegar, and baking soda. If your jewelry does not have any gem settings, you can soak them in cleaning solutions and then scrub with a toothbrush to lift the grime and dirt.