Cleaning your discolored silver jewelry yourself
Is your silver jewelery turning yellow, brown or even black? Does it lose its shine? Don't panic, your necklace, bracelet, ring or earrings are probably made of real silver... silver discolours due to exposure to oxygen, perfume or even sweat. Fortunately, you can easily do something about it yourself. Preferably without corrosive chemicals, but just with a silver polishing cloth. Or with an old-fashioned trick that involves soda, aluminum foil and some boiling water!
Why silver discolours
If silver discolours or becomes dull gray, this is usually due to so-called oxidation. That's a chemical term that, in the case of metals, denotes a reaction between metal and the oxygen you encounter in the air. Just as iron can rust, discoloration of a metal such as silver is also due to oxidation . It's just a very thin layer, so it looks like the silver is discoloring and losing its shine. Often there is not much that can be done about it: by exposure to the air, but also by sweat (and the acidity of your skin), by medicines or by something like perfume and hairspray, the silver reacts and changes color on the surface.
Especially in the summer , when it's hot and stuffy, your silver will discolor very quickly.
Silver discolours yellow, brown or black
When silver discolors, it often turns a little yellow, brown, or black... or a combination of those colors. Often a ready-made piece of jewelry that you buy somewhere is protected against that kind of discoloration. This usually refers to 'rhodium plated silver'; the silver jewelery is then treated with a layer of rhodium (nowadays also called 'rhodium'). This layer ensures that the silver underneath does not come into contact with, for example, oxygen, so that discoloration is postponed or completely prevented. Because a silver pendant is sometimes provided with a protective layer, but the supplied chain does not, it is therefore possible that one of the two discolours and the other does not.
Cleaning silver jewelry
Fortunately, polishing a discolored piece of jewelry is not that difficult, as long as you do it right. There are some horse remedies, but we don't recommend using them. Chemical, corrosive substances (such as toothpaste, or natural remedies such as sour milk) and even silver polish specially developed for the purpose do clean your jewelry, but when polishing the silver, a very thin layer of the jewelry is removed each time. The result is a nice clean piece of jewelry, but in the long run you do more harm than good. So there are better ways to clean your silver jewelry.
Polish silver with a polishing cloth
By far the easiest way to clean your silver jewelry is with a silver polishing cloth . These are often for sale separately at the jeweler, or of course in our webshop. Sometimes you even get one for free with your order. Such a polishing cloth is specially designed for polishing silver, and is generally the easiest and fastest way to keep your jewelry in good condition. With regular brushing you can also prevent discoloration. Cleaning cloths are suitable for all precious metals, so you can also clean your gold jewelry with them.
Cleaning silver with soda
Because silver necklaces , bracelets , rings and even earrings often contain small, hard-to-reach corners, polishing with a silver polishing cloth is not always easy. It is also possible that a protective layer ensures that you cannot polish directly on the silver. Fortunately, grandmother knows what to do! An easy and inexpensive way to clean your jewelry thoroughly (and in an environmentally friendly way) is with some soda and aluminum foil; just remedies that you already have at home! In another article on our weblog we tell you how you can clean silver jewelry in this way , even if it has a protective layer.
Polish necklace, bracelet, ring or earrings
In most cases you can clean your silver necklace, silver bracelet, silver ring or silver earrings with a polishing cloth for silver, gold or other precious metal. And by cleaning them regularly, you also keep your silver jewelry beautiful for a longer period of time. Can't get into every nook or cranny? Then the trick with aluminum foil, soda and boiling water is a good alternative. Your silver jewelry will be beautifully shiny again and you will keep it that way.
Can't figure it out with this information? Are you unable to clean your silver jewelry? Not with cleaning cloth and not even with the soda trick? Then polishing is a final, but always successful solution. With special polishing equipment we can remove even the most stubborn discolouration. Fortunately, experience shows that regular brushing solves and prevents a lot of discoloration!
A silver piece of jewelry that discolours yellow, brown or black is fortunately quite easy to get it shiny again. Here you see a considerable discoloration, and a beautiful shiny silver jewelry after a lot of polishing.
A silver polishing cloth is the best way to polish your silver jewelry. Not always the easiest, because sometimes you have to put in some effort to get into all the tricky nooks and crannies. But the result is there!
