Jewelry cleaner removes dirt, tarnish, and other debris to restore a piece’s original luster. There are several types of Jewelry cleaner available, including wipes, gel, liquid formulas, and ultrasonic cleaners. The type that’s best for you depends on the jewelry type and how hands-on you want to be.
For everyday cleaning, a drop of gentle dishwashing soap can cut through oil and grime on most metal jewelry pieces. Soak the piece for a few minutes, then scrub with a soft brush or toothbrush. Rinse and dry with cool water before wearing. This method works well on solid gold and hard gemstones, but may not be strong enough for heavily tarnished items.
If you have delicate stones like opals, turquoise, coral, doublets, and moonstone, it’s best to take them to a jeweler for regular cleaning. Using abrasive brushes or chemicals can cause them to scratch or dissolve, which will reveal the base metal underneath and cause discoloration.
Professional Jewelers Use Ultrasonic Cleaners and Steamers
Jewelers use ultrasonic cleaners, which agitate jewelry pieces with high-frequency sound waves, and steamers, which blast them with hot steam. Both can be purchased for at-home use, but we recommend avoiding them if you’re concerned about damaging your jewelry. A professional jeweler will be able to determine whether your jewelry can safely go in an ultrasonic or steamer, and can also give you tips on caring for it.
Our experts at the GH Institute Home Care & Cleaning Lab regularly test Jewelry cleaners to evaluate their performance, ease of use, and ingredient labels. They found that most jewelry cleaning solutions can be used on all metals, but certain gems need a more specialized formulation and costume pieces should only be cleaned with warm soapy water.
There are many Jewelry cleaners available, ranging from quick and easy to time-consuming and more involved. We tested a few options and found that dry wipes were the fastest, while liquid and foam formulas are slower but more thorough. Dips and washes can be a bit more labor-intensive, but do allow you to work on multiple pieces at once.
In our expert tests, we also found that ultrasonic cleaners were the most effective for removing heavy tarnish, and worked well on most pieces. However, they can be dangerous for costume jewelry with glued-in stones (it’s possible that the sound waves could loosen or knock them out of their settings). We recommend only using an ultrasonic cleaner on solid gold and precious stone pieces.
