Surprisingly, hand sanitizer works perfectly as a silver polisher. Unlike the soaking methods, you will need to do the scrubbing (or rubbing in this case). Grab a small clean cloth and squirt in a few drops of hand sanitizer and polish your silver clean.
Hand Sanitizer
It's good enough for making your hands squeaky clean, why not silver too? Hand sanitizer will take the tarnish off of even the oldest silver you have. Just grab a soft cloth, squirt a few drops of sanitizer on it and go to town! Rub away the tarnish, and rinse with warm water.
Is hand sanitizer safe for jewelry? Generally speaking, hand sanitizer is safe for all hard stones and precious metals such as silver, platinum, titanium and other plated rings.
For instance, some hand sanitizers are made with bleach and chlorine that with excessive use, may start to tarnish certain precious metals, such as sterling silver. These chemicals can also cause any rhodium plating to wear off quicker.
Hand sanitizer with alcohol isn't necessarily going to tarnish or ruin them. However, repeated applications may lead to a buildup of residue and film around the gemstones. In particular, the alcohol in hand sanitizer can manipulate, discolor, or even damage some gemstones, like pearls.
Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer
Apply a small amount of alcohol-based sanitizer to a cotton ball or swab. Work the cotton in a back-and-forth motion. Turn as it discolors with the tarnish. Rinse with warm water or use a moistened cotton towel to remove the residue and dry completely.
Soak your tarnished jewelry in a ½ cup of white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Warning: this mixture fizzes. Keep your sterling silver in this solution for two to three hours, rinse and dry.
Rubbing alcohol is one of the lesser-known silver cleaning solutions. It can be used to remove spots, smudges, or tarnishing. This is also a great way to disinfect sterling silver body jewelry. The chemicals in rubbing alcohol can be damaging to certain metals and gemstones like emeralds and opals.
Cleaning silver with rubbing alcohol is a great method to treat smudges, mild spotting, or tarnished metal.
DAILY CARE. Remove your jewellery before showering, swimming or sleeping. To protect its rhodium coating, please keep white gold Pandora Brilliance products away from hand sanitiser, perfumes and creams. Store your jewellery in a pouch or soft cloth separate from other jewellery.
Clean Silver with Dish Soap and Water
The key to cleaning silver without damaging it is to avoid abrasion. Cleaning silver with harsh abrasive products like chlorine bleach, or storing it using rubber bands and newspaper, is a no-no.
Apply a small amount of hand soap (Dawn is our favorite) to a clean sponge or soft cleaning cloth. Gently wash the item clean. To keep the silver intact, do not apply force or do heavy scrubbing. Remember, silver is delicate and doesn't take much effort to truly clean.
Note that sterling silver can also be cleaned with alcohol, as it's made from the real precious metal silver. Other jewelry materials you can safely clean with alcohol include tungsten, silver-plated titanium, and platinum. Because these materials are stable and solid, they should be safe to clean with alcohol.
Combine Vinegar and Baking Soda: Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 Tbsp. baking soda together, then let your silver jewelry soak in the mixture for two to three hours before rinsing and polishing.
Sterling Silver
Also, avoid exposing your silver jewelry to harsh chemicals, bleach and chlorine, as these can damage the silver. Another great way to clean your sterling silver jewelry is with Windex. Yes… Windex.
Toothpaste contains abrasive particles that can polish off tarnish. These same particles can scratch silver up as well. In particular, you should avoid using toothpaste on sterling silver, highly-polished silver, or anything that is silver-plated. These items are very soft and can be easily damaged by the toothpaste.
Yes! To clean your jewelry using isopropyl rubbing alcohol, fill a small bowl with it—just enough to fully cover the piece you wish you clean. Leave the jewelry to soak in the bowl for a few minutes. Alcohol dries completely clear on metal surfaces so there is no need to rinse it off with water.
When silver comes into contact with sulfur gases in the air, it can discolor, darken, and form a layer of tarnish. Moisture can speed up the tarnishing, so humid environments can cause your silver to tarnish quickly. Acids and even oxygen can also cause and accelerate tarnishing or break down the finish on silver.
Sterling Silver will generally tarnish quicker in high humidity climates and places with high levels of air pollution. Things like perfume, hairspray, deodorant and moisturisers can all contribute to further tarnishing of your silver due to the chemicals reacting with the silver.”
Avoid harsh cleaners or cleaning methods.
Cleaning your silver jewelry with materials such as steel wool or other abrasive items could scratch the piece. It's also best to avoid abrasive cleaners such as baking powder. Harsh scrubbing, even with a gentler cloth, can also cause damage to your jewelry.
Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver. In this form the metal is beautiful and suffers from minimal tarnish, but it's generally too soft and malleable for many uses, including making most silver jewellery. Instead fine silver is alloyed with copper to create sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper.
Mix a paste of roughly 3 parts bicarbonate of soda to one part water and apply to your silver jewellery, taking care to avoid stones or pearls. Rub the paste into the silver with a lint free or microfibre cloth until you see the shine starting to return.