How to Care for Anti-Tarnish Jewellery
Four rules cover ninety per cent of it. The rest is detail for the pieces you love most.
Put jewellery on last, after perfume and lotion have dried. Take it off for swimming, the gym, and hot showers. Wipe it with a dry soft cloth after wearing. Store it in a closed pouch away from other metal. Following these four rules typically doubles the life of any plated piece.
1. Last on, first off
Perfume, deodorant, hairspray, sunscreen, and hand lotion all contain alcohol or oils that degrade the protective coat. Get fully ready, wait a minute for everything to dry, then put your jewellery on. Reverse the order at night - jewellery comes off before makeup remover and cleanser.
2. Know what to remove it for
- Always remove: swimming, sea bathing, hot showers, the gym, sleeping in chain bracelets, cooking with heavy steam, applying mehndi or hair colour.
- Fine to keep on: hand-washing, alcohol sanitiser, light rain, air conditioning, an ordinary working day.
Sweat is the underrated one. Concentrated sweat during exercise is far more corrosive than the sweat of a normal warm day, which is why the gym is on the remove list and the office is not.
3. Clean it the boring way
A dry cotton cloth, thirty seconds, after wearing. That is the whole method for most days. For a piece that has picked up lotion or grime, use a barely damp cloth with a single drop of mild soap, then dry it fully - including the inside of hoop tubes and clasp mechanisms, where water hides.
Never use: silver dip, jewellery polish, toothpaste, baking soda, vinegar, an ultrasonic cleaner, or a polishing cloth impregnated with compound. Every one of these is designed to remove a surface layer. On plated jewellery, the surface layer is the product.
4. Store it dry and separate
The pouch each piece arrives in is not packaging, it is storage. Keeping pieces separated prevents chains scratching pendants and hoops nicking studs. Keeping them closed limits exposure to humid air.
If you live somewhere humid - most of India for a good part of the year - put a silica gel sachet or an anti-tarnish strip in your jewellery box and replace it every few months. It is the cheapest thing you can do for your whole collection at once.
By category
Earrings
Clean the post and hook, not just the decorative part - that is where skin oils build up. Silicone stoppers go hard and yellow over time; replace them yearly, they cost almost nothing.
Bracelets
Bracelets take the most abuse because hands get washed. Dry the clasp thoroughly, since water sits in the spring mechanism and works outward. Put bracelets on the wrist without a watch where you can.
Pendants
Undo the clasp rather than pulling a chain over your head - that stretch is what eventually opens links. Store chains flat or hanging, never coiled in a heap.