One of the best ways to keep your jewellery in good shape is to wear it. The natural oils from your skin help minimise the tarnishing of silver so, the more frequently a piece is worn the less likely it is to tarnish!
Jewellery should be the last thing you put on when getting ready. This will avoid it getting caught in your clothes and the application of perfume, body lotions and make up speeding up the tarnishing process.
Make sure to properly store it, taking a dry soft cloth to wipe it down before you do. Tarnish/discolouration is a normal process that is caused by oxidation and moisture from air and sunshine, so when you’re not wearing your jewellery the best way to store it is in its box. Jewellery should be stored individually to avoid scratching and altering the surface finish. Polished surfaces become dulled when rubbing off other jewellery and matte surface become polished. You should also consider placing each piece of sterling silver jewellery into its own plastic bag and removing air from the bag. This will prevent it from coming into contact with contaminants.
You should never leave any sterling silver jewellery sitting in the bathroom where it can be exposed to humidity and moisture from a shower.
You should take your jewellery off before undertaking any manual work that will involve it rubbing off hard, abrasive surfaces or coming into contact with harsh detergents.
Cleaning your jewellery
To clean your jewellery, rinse it with warm water and washing up liquid and scrub it with a soft toothbrush, then, using a tissue or towel, gently pat it dry.
To give it a more thorough clean and remove tarnish, use Silver-dip, which can be bought from your local supermarket. Silver-dip should only be used to clean silver jewellery, which must be rinsed and dried thoroughly afterwards to remove any residue, this is very important as it can have the opposite effect and speed up the tarnishing process if not properly removed afterward.
