Maintenance and Care of Jewelry

How to take care of jewelry? From the moment a vehicle becomes yours, you regularly clean and maintain it to limit the wear and tear that naturally comes through use. You follow the scheduled maintenance found in the owner’s manual provided by the manufacturer. Even the tires require proper maintenance and care because as soon as tires hit the road, they begin to degrade and wear. Therefore, you check tire pressure, rotate tires, and replace the tires when needed. The same is true with your jewelry. As you use and enjoy your jewelry, you will need to check or inspect it and possibly repair or replace certain parts. Like tires, your jewelry begins to wear as soon as you take ownership and start wearing the piece. Let’s see how you can keep your items beautiful and in good repair!

How to Take Care of Jewelry: Essential Jewelry Care

Because jewelry is made with softer precious metals and gemstones, it requires great care and maintenance. Start with regular cleaning and checkups. What specific care might your jewelry need?

• Prongs need to be checked, realigned, and rebuilt as necessary.
• Both stones and settings require inspections, tightening, and adjustments.
• Chains, bracelets, and pendants must be cleaned and repaired. 
• Hinges may need to be replaced and have various welding repairs. 
• Clasps should be regularly checked and adjusted along with repair and possibly even replacement.

Tips for Maintaining and Properly Caring for Your Jewelry Items

With the right maintenance and care, you can enjoy your jewelry for many years to come. These Do’s and Don’ts will definitely help:

        Jewelry Do’s 

• Do have your jewelry inspected every six months to a year for wear and gemstone security. 
• Do consider carefully which gemstones will be right for jewelry that you will likely wear daily for decades, such as engagement and wedding rings. We recommend diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Even these gemstones can scratch or chip, so all other gemstones are likely to show wear and damage much sooner! If you choose non-traditional, softer gemstones for these rings, you’ll need to exercise even more care when wearing them. You may want to take your ring off when doing vigorous activities to protect your gemstone.
• Do put your jewelry on last to avoid getting cosmetics or perfumes on them, as these contain metallics.
• Do expect to have your prongs and shanks built up every 5-20 years for gold alloys, depending on your level of daily activity and wear — once or twice in a lifetime for platinum. 
• Do have pendants and earrings checked once a year as they may need tightening, adjusting, and repair or built up occasionally. 

        Jewelry Don’ts

• Don’t wear jewelry items in the shower or the ocean.
• Don’t receive frequent polishings because microscopic amounts of metal are removed each time. 
• Don’t wear your jewelry in swimming pools or hot tubs, as the chlorine can be very caustic and damaging to precious metals. 
• Don’t submerge pearls, emeralds, opals, or anything glued in or inlaid into commercial jewelry cleaning solutions. However, you can use these solutions for most gemstones.
• Don’t expose jewelry to chemicals, mercury, and other caustic chemicals. 

At Bling Advisor, we take great pride in helping you care for and maintain your jewelry. Contact us with any concerns or questions. We only work with trusted jewelers and goldsmiths; Bling Advisor is supported by the best experts in the repair industry. Let us help you give your jewelry the best care and maintenance possible.

Don’t wait, if you need any restoration or other jewelry maintenance, check our service center!