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Spectacular gold jewelry needs care. Not everyone knows how to properly clean or polish them. To do this, it is not necessary to bring your jewelry to the workshop. You can perfectly clean them at home with the help of the simplest means. We have collected effective tips from jewelers for cleaning gold at home. They will help you get good results.

We tell in the video what home remedies will help clean gold

All about self-cleaning gold jewelry

Why do they darken
What can be cleaned
— Peroxide + ammonia
— Vinegar
— ammonium chloride
— Salt
— Soda
— toothpaste
— Paste GOI
— Soap + chalk
How to clean
Cleaning white gold
Cleaning of stone-encrusted products
Prevention measures

Why does gold jewelry darken?

Unfortunately, over time, shiny jewelry fades, becomes stained and scratched. This is an inevitable process that is exacerbated by several factors.

• Contact with various chemicals. Metal is capricious. From contact with household chemicals, perfume, cosmetics or sea water, it oxidizes. Contact with iodine is especially undesirable. In each case, a thin opaque film appears on the product. Over time, its thickness only increases.
• Prolonged exposure to high temperatures and moisture. Harmful for the precious metal are long “baths” in water, exposure to direct sunlight, prolonged heating, and more. Therefore, before going to the sauna or bath, you should remove jewelry.
• Constant wear. Human skin secretes oil and sweat. They get on the surface of the product, mix with dust and dry. Hard-to-remove dense crust is formed. Another problem is the appearance of scratches. The noble metal is relatively soft and easily damaged or scratched.

How to clean gold to make it shine

From the many available tools, we have selected the most effective.

1. Peroxide + ammonia

If the spots are barely noticeable, just rub them with a cloth dipped in peroxide. For serious contamination, a different recipe is used. Pour 30 mg of peroxide and the same amount of ammonia into a glass of heated water. Drop a few drops of liquid soap. Mix thoroughly. Dip the jewelry in the liquid. Leave for three to five hours. Rinse items under running water and dry thoroughly.

2. Vinegar

This method is only suitable for yellow and red gold alloys. You can’t clean matte white or stone-encrusted metal like that. Take a 9% solution of vinegar, it is called table. Dip the products in the liquid for 10-15 minutes. Scrub with a soft brush, rinse, dry. Similarly, clean with citric acid. The only difference is that its crystals are dissolved in boiling water.

3. Ammonia (or ammonia)

It removes dark spots and old dirt well. Let’s figure out how to clean gold at home with ammonia. Pour 1 teaspoon of ammonia and shampoo into 250 ml of heated water. Stir and drop the golden items. Leave them in the liquid for a while, periodically stir and shake the chains and rings. After cleaning, rinse them under running water, dry. For very strong pollution it is possible to increase concentration of ammonia. But this must be done carefully. It is important to clean inlaid objects with extreme caution — not all stones are “showed” by ammonia cleaning.

4. Salt

It should never be used for polishing or cleaning. For soaking only. Here is an effective recipe on how to clean a gold chain. Dissolve in 250 ml of hot water 3-4 tbsp. spoons of salt. Soak gold items, leave overnight. Rinse under running water.

5. Soda

Soda boiling is used to clean stubborn dirt. Take a small saucepan or similar utensil, cover the bottom of it with foil, lay the gold. Pour a glass of water, add st. a spoonful of soda. Put the saucepan on the fire, bring to a boil, simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Rinse items. If dirt remains, gently scrub with a soft brush. Better than a toothbrush. Rinse again and dry.

6. Toothpaste

Suitable for mechanical cleaning. It is best to take a white gel paste, without bleaching and other additives. You can add a drop of Vaseline to it. This will soften the possible abrasive effect. The paste must be squeezed onto a soft toothbrush and gently clean the item. Then rinse it thoroughly.

7. Pasta GOI

A special tool developed by the State Optical Institute. There are four types of mastic. No. 1 and No. 2 are chosen for polishing, No. 3 — to combat pollution of medium complexity. No. 4 is used in the most difficult cases. The method of application is similar to toothpaste. It is impossible to clean white gold with GOI paste.

8. Soap + chalk

Another cleanser. Pound chalk into a fine powder, grind laundry soap. Instead of the latter, you can take ammonia. Mix in equal proportions. Drop water, mix until you get a homogeneous mastic.

To restore shine to jewelry, use lipstick, onion juice, egg white and beer mixed in equal parts as a polishing agent.. Well clears white not hard eraser. It gently removes oxides from the metal.

How to clean gold jewelry

In order not to spoil the thing during cleaning, you need to know what material it is made of. After all, different alloys are used for jewelry. In addition, products with inlay, carving and other complex decor require special care. All this must be taken into account when choosing a cleaning method. The cleaning process consists of three stages. Let’s take a step-by-step look at how to clean gold at home.

1. Soak. A washing solution is prepared, a piece of jewelry is lowered into it. After a while, take it out and wipe it. This may be sufficient to remove light soiling.
2. mechanical cleaning. After soaking, wipe off the softened dirt with a soft brush. Additionally, a mild agent is applied. Abrasives are prohibited.
3. Polishing. The surface of the cleaned object is polished with a soft material, on which special means are applied.

How to clean white gold

Jewelers call white alloys with the addition of silver, nickel, palladium. This changes the characteristics of the metal, so other means are chosen for cleaning. Vinegar or citric acid is strictly prohibited. In general, all aggressive chemicals are undesirable.. The best optionhow to clean such gold jewelry at home — soaking in soapy water or brushing with toothpaste.

There are other gentler methods. Heat 250 ml of water, dissolve two tablespoons of sugar in it. Dip contaminated products into this solution, leave them there for 9-12 hours. Rinse well under running water. You can use a different mixture. Mix ammonia with hydrogen peroxide in a ratio of 2: 1. Dip the chains and rings in the liquid for half an hour. Rinse and dry.

How to clean gold with stones

These items must be handled very carefully. It is more difficult to clean dirt here than on smooth earrings or rings. They accumulate in hard-to-reach corners: on stone fixings, in decor corners, etc. So no need for a brush. For best effect, soak it in gasoline or any alcohol. Sometimes they act differently and pre-soak the jewelry in a soapy solution.

Before choosing a remedy, you need to know how the stones «react» to different influences. So, ruby, topaz or garnet do not tolerate elevated temperatures. Do not soak them in a hot solution and boil. Turquoise, malachite and opal are «sensitive» to abrasives. They can not be cleaned with tooth or soda powder, salt. Any chemicals — solvents, alkalis or acids — are strictly prohibited for coral, pearls, amber, ivory.

Prevention measures

In order for your favorite jewelry to always please with beauty and brilliance, you must follow a few simple rules. If you do them, you will have to clean the jewelry much less often.

• Always remove gold jewelry before going to the beautician or bath, before applying cream or other cosmetics, before washing dishes, cleaning or doing other household chores.
• Store your jewelry in separate boxes or cloth bags so they don’t scratch each other.
• Do not leave jewelry near heaters or other heat sources. Always wipe and dry if they get wet for any reason.
• Don’t wear jewelry to workouts. They are easy to accidentally scratch, split or lose a stone, break the chain. Plus, they get dirty quickly.

The best thing to do is to put on jewelry just before leaving the house. Upon returning, they must be removed immediately. Then they will retain an attractive appearance for a long time. It is good to have your jewelry professionally cleaned from time to time, for example, once a year.