Jewelry cleaners help preserve your precious pieces, banishing tarnish and grime while polishing away fine scratches. Regular cleaning keeps your heirlooms looking their best, whether they’re worn daily or merely for special occasions. But while many household cleaners can work well, they may also contain abrasives or chemicals that are damaging to delicate metals and gemstones. That’s why it’s important to use a jewelry cleaner that is safe for your specific items.
While professional cleanings are best for precious, sentimental pieces, it’s also important to do at-home upkeep with the proper tools and knowledge. Brittany Groshong, founder and CEO of Valley Rose, suggests following the label guidelines of any product you use, as each one has its own specific formula and may be suitable for different materials and gems.
In general, she recommends a gentle detergent like dish soap and water to remove surface dirt and oils, especially for everyday wear and tear. For a more in-depth clean, she advises using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner that’s formulated for the type of jewelry you own. There are a wide variety of ultrasonic jewelry cleaners on the market, ranging from high-frequency (50 kHz) to low-frequency options that offer more forceful cavitation. Ideally, you’ll want to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner with a medium frequency to ensure a balance of efficiency and effectiveness.
An ultrasonic cleaner is an efficient, effective way to clean a wide range of items besides jewelry, including eyeglasses, watches, dentures, makeup brushes and even small parts of electronic devices. They’re particularly useful for items that tend to collect a lot of oils, such as rings and necklaces. When shopping for an ultrasonic cleaner, make sure to consider the frequency, power and a cleaning tank’s capacity to determine how versatile it will be in your home.
The Weiman Fine Jewelry Cleaner is an excellent choice for revitalizing solid gold, sterling silver and most hard gemstones (excluding soft porous stones such as opals, jade, amber or pearls). It has a convenient dipping tray and a brush for scrubbing nooks and crannies, making it easy to use and a budget-friendly option. However, it’s not recommended for heavily tarnished pieces or plated jewelry because submerging them in water can cause damage.
This jewelry cleaner has an organic, vegan and biodegradable formula that’s safe for people and the planet. It’s a great choice for everyday wear, and we found that it was very effective on most of our test pieces except for the most heavily tarnished pieces. It doesn’t work well on oxidized sterling silver, though, so it’s not ideal for those pieces. It also has a mildly unpleasant smell. However, a little bit of baking soda mixed with warm water can help neutralize the scent and get your pieces looking their best again.
