How to Clean Your Sterling Silver Jewelry & Make it Look like New

You bought a beautiful piece of sterling silver jewelry and you look in your jewelry box to find it's covered with tarnish? What do you do?

It's important to choose the right cleansing products and tools to clean your sterling silver jewelry since harsh cleaning products which contain bleach, ammonia, or alcohol, among others, can ruin your beautiful jewelry.

Start by choosing a MILD cleanser for your sterling silver. You can buy commercial silver cleaners at your local hardware store, but if the tarnish coating isn't heavy, baking soda diluted in water or a few drops of liquid detergent diluted in warm water will work as well. Some sources recommend the use of toothpaste for cleansing sterling silver jewelry, I don't recommend this since it can be too abrasive and may scratch the surface of your jewelry. If the jewelry pieces is heavily tarnished, you may need to use a commercial silver paste cleaner to get your piece sparkling and shiny again. Simply apply the silver paste polish to your silver jewelry piece and allow it to dry for a few minutes. Use a soft, cotton cloth to gently remove the polish. Avoid applying the paste to gemstones or glass stones since stones can be ruined by the chemicals in these silver cleaners. After cleaning, your jewelry piece should be sparkling and highly reflective with no evidence of tarnish.

Other options for quickly cleaning sterling silver jewelry include use of a silver spray polish you can find at your local hardware store. Start by cleaning your jewelry using your mild detergent diluted with water. Spray on your silver spray polish and allow it to dry. Polish gently with a soft cotton cloth. Again, avoid getting the cleaner on any stones present on the jewelry.This is one of the quickest ways to clean sterling silver jewelry.

How about the use of ultrasonic cleaners for cleaning your sterling silver?

Ultrasonic cleaning is fine as long as the piece has no stone of any type. If you attempt to clean a sterling silver jewelry piece with attached stones, you run the risk of ruining the stones beyond repair. Stick to manual cleaning methods in this situation.