How to Properly Clean and Maintain Your Jewelry

All that glitter, all that gold. When you first purchase your gold ring, your diamond necklace, your platinum bracelet, it shines. But after that first exhilarating period of newness, how do you keep it looking new, even as it grows old? After all, a 14 karat gold piece of jewelry isn't as easy to replace once it wears out as, say, a vacuum cleaner bag. Because it is so expensive, and because it is so beautiful and sometimes delicate, you must take careful care of your jewelry so that it can remain worth the price you paid for it long after the fact. But how do you take care of your jewelry? I have a few tips.

One of the simplest rules is that perfumes and jewelry, although they may seem to fall into roughly the same category, do not go together. Nor do hairspray and jewelry. They're all beautifying, but if you use perfume or hairspray while wearing your jewelry, you risk coating it with a film of stickiness, and pearls and organic gems like it can be damaged by the alcohol contained in these sprays. Another simple rule is to avoid swimming in pearls. The chlorine eats away at the pearl and the jewelry will fade.

Chlorine, of course, should never come within range of gold jewelry. It pits the gold and disintegrates the solder joints of a ring.

What about diamonds? Take those rings off before you shampoo your hair, clean the floor, lotion your hands. Diamonds are very attracted to grease. In fact, in diamond mines, beds of grease are used on conveyor belts to keep loose diamonds from being mixed in with the dirt. All that grease contained in makeup, body creams, sunscreen, and so on all adhere to the grease. Also remove your diamond jewelry before getting especially active