Tip. Never use toothpaste, baking soda, or a commercial metal cleaner on gold. If you use these abrasives, you may scratch the gold. Never use bleach.
Often the cleaning product doesn't hurt the gold itself but rather the metals mixed with the gold. The chemical will cause it to crack and break because it weakens the bond and allows breakage of the metal. Chlorine and detergents can slowly erode the finish and polish of precious gems, as well.
Chlorine is gold's worst enemy: with repeated exposure, chlorine will weaken your gold jewelry's structure and eventually lead to it breaking. Make sure to take your jewelry off before getting in a pool or spa. Cover or remove while cleaning: household cleaners with acids or abrasives will damage your jewelry's finish.
Some chemicals, especially chlorine and bleach, are corrosive to gold jewelry. So if you have noticed that your gold ring, bracelet, or anklet is showing considerable wear, bleach or chlorine damage may be at play.
Jewelers use ultrasonic cleaners with high frequency sound waves and chemicals, which create bubbles that latch on to the dirt on the diamond. The high frequency sound waves pull the dirt away from the stone and bring them up to the surface.
Vinegar is another popular at-home solution for cleaning. But like lemon juice, vinegar is very acidic and will cause damage to your soft stones and plated jewelry. Soaking your jewelry in a bowl of vinegar will remove the jewelry's shine and finish.
A: Yes, cleaning jewelry with baking soda and vinegar is pretty simple. Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda in a small bowl. Allow your jewelry to soak in the white vinegar and baking soda solution for a few hours.
Polishing Gold
Standard commercial gold polishes will quickly and safely clean gold jewelry when applied with a soft chamois cloth. If your gold jewelry has begun to tarnish, you can remove the tarnish by making a lukewarm water and dish soap mixture with just a few drops of ammonia.
Although Windex shouldn't harm any hard gemstone, we seriously recommend using this method only for diamonds, and only for platinum, gold, and silver. Windex is an ammonia solution, and harmful to soft gemstones (for example, emeralds and pearls), so using it for anything else is just too big a risk of damage.
3) Windex and Hydrogen Peroxide
While not every household stores hydrogen peroxide, you can pretty much find Windex or another generic window cleaner in every home. These two partners in crime can easily help you clean your gold or silver diamond ring.
Because gold is a soft metal, it is easily scratched even with a light abrasive like baking soda.
Look for Stamps or Hallmarks in Your Gold Jewelry
Most real gold is stamped with a hallmark that indicates its purity, aka its karat. The karat is the unit used to measure the purity of gold. The higher the karat, the purer the gold. The most common karats you'll see are 10k, 14k, 18k, 22K, and 24k.
You can purchase a specialist jewellery cleaning solution from Goldsmiths, available online or in your local showroom. Ultrasonic cleaners clean jewellery with sound waves which shake off dirt.
Mix 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup warm water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of ammonia based household cleaner (like a glass cleaner such as Windex) Soak your jewelry in the solution for about 5 minutes & then gently scrub with a soft-toothbrush. Air dry or carefully towel-dry with paper towel or regular cloth.
Dawn dish soap is safe and effective at cleaning jewelry. Just add a few drops to a warm basin of water and let your jewelry soak for 15-30 minutes. Then remove it from the basin and gently brush with a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush to get grime out of the grooves. Finally, rinse and dry.
Chlorine (and bromine, also sometimes used in pools) as well as some other common household chemicals, such as bleaches, deep cleaners, detergents, solvents, etc., can and will affect karat gold causing a condition called stress corrosion.
Gold itself does not corrode, but its primary alloys of silver or copper will do so (forming very dark chemical compounds) under moist or wet conditions. When someone perspires, fats and fatty acids released can cause corrosion of 14 karat gold, especially when exposed to warmth and air.