how to care for your jewellery

Let's talk about how to care for your jewellery to ensure that it stays shiny, beautiful and un-damaged. 

The most important thing to note is:

STERLING SILVER TARNISHES 

yes! that's right, it is inevitable that your sterling silver will tarnish. why? well, sterling silver is made up of 92.5% pure silver, meaning it has other metals in it, because of this, the other metals react to a few things: the oxygen in the air, sulphur, humidity, swear, chlorine and cosmetic and cleaning products. But don't worry - there are things we can do to help us with tarnishing:  

Remove jewellery while cleaning:

Cleaning is a part of most of our daily lives and with it, often times we use very harsh chemicals which have a chemical reaction with our jewellery, so to avoid this, either take off your jewellery when cleaning (preferred option) or wear gloves! therefore no nasty chemicals can stop making our jewellery shine! 

Put jewellery on last:

self-care is important in our lives, we often put lotions, creams, oils etc on our hair and bodies to keep us looking beautiful - but these lotions and potions can cause our jewellery to tarnish, so perhaps think about putting your jewellery on last after your skincare routine! 

Wear your jewellery often:

isn't this the best option yet! yes wearing your jewellery often helps keep it beautiful and shiny. don't let it rot in your jewellery box or save it for a 'rainy day'. wear your jewellery often and showcase it to the world and keep it shiny in doing so!

Take off during exercise:

When we're exercising our bodies can get reallllly sweaty, which I said earlier is a reason our silver can tarnish. So when you're running your marathons, doing your yoga classes or swimming (espiecally swimming) take off your jewellery, it will help keep it shiny and also help you keep it safe! 

Dry silver is happy silver:

Having a shower with your jewellery once in a while isn't necessarily do harm to your pieces but when you're showring daily, swimming, using the hot tub, etc. This can cause your pieces to tarnish - so make sure you're keeping them dry!

Don't store jewellery together:

Storing pieces together can make them tarnish quicker, like when you put bananas in the fruit bowl and they go brown quicker, imagine your pieces are bananas in a fruit bowl. keep. them. away. 

Air-tight container: 

Air and direct sunlight can cause pieces to tarnish quicker, so getting a jewellery box that keeps your jewellery air-tight and in a dark lonely place can make it might brighter and more beautiful!

Anti-tarnish cloths

Investing in anti-tarnish cloths and giving your piece a good old fashioned clean and polish can keep your piece looking shiny and beautiful every time you wear it! Cleaning your jewellery with soap and water will do the trick, then polishing it will keep it looking good as new. But remember to do this regularly!

I hope this helped you learn a little more about sterling silver and cleaning your jewellery! 

Tilly xx