Jewelry, like most of our beloved possessions, requires routine inspections and regular cleaning to maintain its beauty. Over time, exposure to air, water, and personal care products can leave behind oxidation, buildup, and discoloration, making jewelry appear dull or lifeless. Regular, gentle cleaning can prevent this, but it’s also important to note that jewelry made with gemstones or precious metals needs extra special care. Loose stones and faulty settings can easily be damaged by harsh chemicals, so it’s best to take jewelry with stones to a jeweler for professional cleaning sessions.
If you want to clean your jewelry between professional visits, it’s possible to do so at home using common household items. The best jewelry cleaners work to remove tarnish and grime without damaging the finer details or causing stones to loosen or fall out. To help you choose the right product, we consulted experts from the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Home Care & Cleaning Lab, who evaluated each product to evaluate how easy it was to use and whether it was safe for a variety of materials and gemstones. They also considered whether the product worked well to clean all types of jewelry, including silver and gold pieces and those with delicate or hard-to-clean gemstones.
Our pick for the best jewelry cleaner is an affordable liquid formula that works for most kinds of metal and gemstones, including pearls and opals (but not turquoise). It comes with a convenient dipping tray that’s easy to lift in and out of its container, plus a small brush for working the solution into nooks and crannies. We especially liked how this liquid cleaner removed the most stubborn tarnish, but it also did a great job of refreshing and polishing other jewelry, removing oxidation and stains that had built up over time. The only drawbacks we found were that this cleaner wasn’t safe to use with rhodium-plated jewelry, and it isn’t suitable for use with emeralds or sapphires.
For a more powerful but still gentle jewelry cleaner, try combining baking soda and white vinegar. Mix together a solution of half a cup white vinegar with two tablespoons of baking soda, and soak your jewelry in the mixture for 30 minutes or longer, depending on how heavily tarnished it is. Rinse the jewelry with cool, fresh water and gently scrub it if necessary, then dry it thoroughly before putting it back on.
Ultrasonic cleaners are another option for deep cleaning jewelry. These machines use high-frequency sound waves combined with a chemical solution to create millions of microscopic bubbles that “cling” to dirt and residue, and they can clean delicate jewelry in just minutes. However, it’s essential to use these with caution on all types of jewelry, because the vibrations may loosen or dislodge gemstones in their settings, especially micro pave or accent stones. If you do decide to give one of these a shot, read the instructions carefully to make sure your jewelry is compatible with the machine’s technology.
