Cleaning gold at home: effective methods and quick recipes

• Posted by Lana Tolkunova
• Date: April 3, 2017

Popular wisdom says: “All that glitters is not gold.” It is logical to conclude that products made from this noble metal are simply bound to shine. Rings, earrings, bracelets, chains - all this is mercilessly worn, gets wet, smeared with creams, and loses its shine. To restore your favorite jewelry to its former beauty at home, you need to clean it. There are effective methods that quickly remove almost any contaminant.

• 2 What solution can you use to clean yellow jewelry: we use ammonia, vodka and Fairy
• 3 How to clean rings or earrings with foil, boiling and baking soda

  3.1 Why gold can turn black and how to quickly deal with it - video

How to restore beauty to different types of gold

If you think that all gold is cleaned the same way, you are deeply mistaken. Methods are selected based on the individual characteristics of a particular piece of jewelry. There are no trifles here. The color (yellow or white), the nature of the coating (shiny or matte), the presence or absence of stones and, of course, the nature of the contamination are taken into account.

When cleaning, it is necessary to take into account the composition of gold, the nature of the coating and the types of contaminants

First, let's figure out what pitfalls may lie in wait when cleaning gold at home yourself.

1. Products with stones can only be cleaned using gentle methods, without acids or abrasives. It is better not to immerse them in liquid at all, but to spread them with a cleaning paste or wipe them with soapy water.
2. You should not clean jewelry made of different metals together (for example, gold and silver), as they may turn white.
3. Be careful with citric acid, vinegar, and dry soda. They can only be used on products in good condition. If there are scratches, damage or stones, these substances are dangerous to use.

There are times when it is difficult to figure out the correct cleaning methods yourself, then it is better to entrust this matter to professional jewelers.

In some cases, it is better to contact specialists; they will select a safe way to clean gold jewelry.

Jewelry with “capricious” inserts - turquoise, pearls, amber, emerald, coral - can easily be ruined by improper processing. The stone may fade or change color in the wrong solution, or even simply fall out due to “leaking” fasteners.
Jewelry with a relief pattern, mother-of-pearl or enamel inlay also requires a special approach. If you need to clean such items, go to your nearest jewelry store. There they will select the appropriate “treatment”: ultrasound, ointment, soaked wipes or special cosmetics.

How to clean rings or earrings with foil, boiling and baking soda

Chains or rings that have lost their shine can be restored to their former glory using baking soda and foil.

1. Dissolve baking soda in hot water (1–1.5 tablespoons of baking soda per 1 cup of water).
2. Place a sheet of foil on the bottom of the selected dish, place a chain, earrings or ring, and pour in a soda solution.
3. Leave the decorations on overnight. In the morning (after 8–12 hours of exposure), your favorite jewelry will be like new.

Foil and baking soda are good for removing stains from gold jewelry.

Instead of foil, you can use dishwashing liquid in this recipe.

1. Prepare a solution of 1 cup boiling water, 1 tbsp. l. soda and 0.5 tsp dishwashing detergent.
2. Place a rag on the bottom of the pan, and a piece of gold on top.
3. Fill with the prepared solution.
4. Place on low heat for 15-20 minutes or simply leave to cool slowly.
5. Remove the items, rinse and dry.

Why gold can turn black and how to quickly deal with it - video

How to clean gold at home with vinegar, salt and soda

How to use vinegar to clean gold?

Household vinegar is usually a 6% or 9% solution of acetic acid. There are recommendations for removing stains on gold jewelry with a vinegar solution, but even such a weak acid solution is aggressive enough to result in a darkened surface instead of the removed stain. Vinegar will easily destroy the protective layer that may cover the product, so you shouldn’t risk it, or try it on the inside of a ring or earrings. Vinegar is also contraindicated for many minerals used in jewelry.

How to use salt solution to clean gold?

Add 2-3 tbsp to half a glass of warm water. l. table salt. Jewelry can be left in the solution overnight. Salt helps soften dirt that accumulates in hard-to-reach places. Afterwards, rinse the product with clean water.

How to clean gold at home using baking soda yourself?

Baking soda perfectly degreases surfaces, but to avoid scratches, it is better to use a solution rather than a powder. The concentration is usually about 10% - i.e. a tablespoon per glass of warm water. Since cleaning gold with baking soda is safe for the product, you can often use this method.

How to clean gold at home using foil and ammonia and ammonia

How to use foil to clean gold at home?

Cleaning is carried out with a 10-15% solution of baking soda. Food foil is placed at the bottom of the container, products are placed on it, and then filled with warm soda solution. Can be left for 8-10 hours. Rinse afterwards.

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Sometimes you need to clean gold urgently, how can you do it quickly? Any degreaser, be it dishwashing gel or ammonia, produces a good effect. A very short, but good way to use peroxide and ammonia together. Dilute in a glass of water according to the recipe, rinse after 10-15 minutes with running water. This method is not always ideal, but it can improve the appearance of the decoration. Thorough wiping with a flannel refreshes the gloss of the surface quite well, and ordinary lipstick will serve as an analogue of GOI paste, an excellent polishing agent.

Since it is not always possible to quickly clean gold that has lost its appearance at home on your own, it is advisable to have a special napkin that can put the product in order for a while. It is a fabric impregnated with a special agent and is reusable.

How else to effectively clean gold at home yourself? This is not difficult if you use a product such as lens liquid. But the best way would be to purchase special liquids that professionally remove dirt and are matched to the composition of the jewelry alloy.

The variety of alloys, colors, and textures of jewelry requires the use of different cleaning methods, since different compositions require their own techniques.

Homemade express method: how to remove plaque from a bracelet or chain using chemicals

A quick method is suitable for cleaning jewelry without stones.

1. Dissolve 1 tsp in a glass of warm water. ammonia solution, 30 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide and half a teaspoon of liquid soap.
2. Pour into the container of your choice (glass, ceramic, plastic), stir.
3. Leave gold items in the solution for 10–15 minutes.
4. Rinse cleaned jewelry with water and wipe with a dry flannel.

Do not overextend the time the gold is in the solution! Jewelry may become cracked or lose its shine completely.

Cleaning with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide returns the shine to gold

Effective old recipes for cleaning gold at home

There are several methods that have been tested by more than one generation and, according to reviews, have proven themselves well.

Removing dirt and blackness: the “Belarusian” method

This recipe requires unusual ingredients: onions and potatoes. The substances they contain carefully remove dirt from any type of gold.

1. Grate the onion and potatoes on a fine grater, as for draniki (potato pancakes).
2. Stir to form a paste.
3. Drain off the juice. Place the decoration in the remaining mixture and wait 2 hours.
4. Remove the product, rinse and dry.

Another variation of the old recipe is to use onions. Cut the onion and rub the decoration on the cut area. Onion juice quickly removes dark spots.

Do not use onion juice cleansing on jewelry with stones.

Super composition: restore shine to earrings or coins with sugar and salt

Cleaning with a sweet water solution helps prevent surface contamination (sweat, dust).

1. Dissolve sugar in water at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. sugar to 1 glass of warm water.
2. Lower the decorations and leave for 4 hours.
3. Rinse and wipe dry.

There is a similar method of cleaning using salt: 3 tbsp. l. dilute salt in half a glass of hot water, leave the products in the saline solution overnight, rinse and dry.

Improvised products are a great help in cleaning gold jewelry

There is another extraordinary product for cleaning gold jewelry, coins, and cutlery - Coca-Cola. Pour it into a bowl, place the product, after 10–12 hours, remove it, rinse in clean water and dry.

The use of Coca-Cola is absolutely not suitable for gold jewelry with stones.

All the proposed methods are quite effective for cleaning gold items with surface contamination. To wash jewelry with dark stains, including iodine and paint stains, mechanical cleaning is needed.

Causes of gold contamination

The frequency of cleaning may vary depending on the frequency of use of the jewelry.
Those jewelry that are in direct contact with the skin become most heavily soiled. It constantly secretes small amounts of protective oil and sweat. Bracelets and rings, earrings and chains inevitably become covered with a cloudy coating. This is also facilitated by contact with cosmetics.

Another factor of pollution is household dirt and street dust. They are hidden in pattern elements, under stones and decorative details. Even items with a smooth surface, such as classic wedding rings, will accumulate dirt in small scratches.

In addition to dirt, oxidation can affect the appearance of your favorite item. Pure gold is not subject to this process, but in jewelry, alloys are always used - its mixtures with other metals. Thanks to this manufacturing technology, the products are more durable, but dark spots may appear on them.

Methods for cleaning heavy contaminants

If a ring or bracelet has turned black, only mechanical cleaning can bring it back to beautiful life, that is, we will not pour it in, but rub it. Soda or Pemolux cannot be used, as they leave scratches. That's why we use a special paste. You can buy it ready-made at a jewelry shop or prepare it yourself.

1. Take equal proportions of warm water, Vaseline, grated laundry soap and crushed chalk. Combine and grind to form a paste.
2. Apply it to the product with a soft brush using movements directed in one direction.
3. Wipe off any remaining paste with vodka or alcohol, rinse with warm water and wipe with a soft cloth.

To remove heavy stains on gold jewelry, you will need a cleaning paste.

This method can also clean off the white deposits that appear when cleaning gold and silver together and mask scratches.

Cleaning with GOI paste cannot be used for white gold items.

You can remove iodine stains with a home remedy of 1 glass of water and 1 tbsp. l. sodium hyposulfite (thiosulfate). It is sold at the pharmacy or in the photography department. Place the jewelry in the solution, after 15–20 minutes all stains will disappear.

To remove heavy stains, use GOI paste or sodium hyposulfite solution

again without touching the adhesive part.

Gold items with stones require careful cleaning

Then determine whether the stone in your jewelry is hard or soft. The correct method of cleaning the product will depend on this.

Jewelry with hard stones - gallery

Diamond is a hard stone

Topaz is a hard stone that can easily withstand aggressive cleaning

Products with sapphire can be cleaned without worrying about the condition of the stone

Cubic zirconias are hard stones

How to properly clean?

Cleaning gold at home is not very difficult, since there are a large number of options available, but it is worth considering the fact that it is better to select an individual method for each type of product. The thing is that the presence of impurities in the alloy composition can be subject to oxidation, which can lead to a worse result. How to clean gold so that it shines again and how to do it correctly?

Here are some main aspects:

• You need to clean gold with stones very carefully. The whole point is that some may not be harmed by water and the presence of a cleaning agent, while others may be quite the opposite. For example, pearls, turquoise and corals should never be cleaned with a solution that contains ammonia. As for rubies, lapis lazuli and opals, stains can be removed using a solution of plain water and baby soap.
• Cleaning white gold at home requires great care. This precaution is due to the fact that if you do not know the real composition of this metal, the jewelry can be damaged. Nickel is more unstable in relation to platinum, so such a product can be negatively affected by aggressive cleaning agents.

It is recommended to clean gold with diamonds and cubic zirconia using ammonia. To do this, take a glass of water, add a small amount of ammonia and soak the jewelry in it for half an hour. After that, use a cotton swab to wipe hard-to-reach places and rinse well with water. It definitely needs to be dried.

In addition, a ring with a diamond can be cleaned with a toothbrush, but it must have soft bristles. It needs to be moistened in soapy water and lightly rubbed over the decoration.

But as for the question of how to clean gold with ammonia, where there is a soft stone (amber, pearls, opal, turquoise), then using it, vinegar or other products containing alkalis is strictly prohibited. It is best to use medical alcohol for this, diluted 1:1 with water or a regular soap solution, but you still cannot leave them in such an environment for a long time.

An easy way to remove dirt from matte gold

The matte surface of a gold item requires a special approach, so you should consider visiting a jeweler. If for some reason this is not possible, try the following:

1. Prepare a thin paste from a coffee spoon of lime and water.
2. Add salt on the tip of a knife and 0.5 coffee spoon of soda, stir.
3. Leave the mixture for 3 days.
4. Place matte gold items in the infused paste and leave for 4 hours.
5. Rinse with clean water and dry with a soft cloth.

You can clean matte gold jewelry at home with paste or ammonia.

To clean products without stones, you can use ammonia.

1. Place the decoration in a 25% ammonia solution.
2. Leave for several hours.
3. Rinse with clean water and wipe with flannel.

Cleaning white gold with a mixture of ammonia and shampoo

White gold jewelry looks stylish and noble. To get this color, nickel is added to the alloy, and rhodium (a platinum group metal) is sprayed on top.

When cleaning white gold, you must be careful not to damage the plating.

As with any plating, the thickness of the rhodium layer is very modest, so you cannot rub white gold with a brush with powder or paste. Or you can use this recipe:

• mix ammonia (ammonia) and water in equal proportions, add a little shampoo;
• leave white gold items in the solution for 30 minutes;
• remove, rinse with clean water, dry with a soft cloth.

Attention! Prolonged exposure to ammonia can damage the top rhodium layer. Make sure that not a drop of this substance remains on the surface after treatment.

There is another simple option for cleaning white gold. Combine 1 egg white with 0.5 cups of warm beer, stir, moisten a cloth with the resulting liquid, wipe the decoration, rinse and dry.

Gold jewelry with stones

Jewelry with stones requires special care. Depending on the degree of hardness, they are divided into:

Precious ones are quite hard, so they are not afraid of scratches. For polishing and adding shine use:

• alcohol (not ammonia) - leave the jewelry in a small container with alcohol for a few minutes, then gently rub with a cloth;
• strong soap solution - treat the stone with a toothbrush.

Then the jewelry must be rinsed under running water and laid out on a towel to dry.

There is another interesting way that is suitable for polishing large, transparent stones - rub them with a burnt match, then polish them with suede.

Important : it is better to entrust the care of products with emeralds and topaz to professionals. Home remedies can damage the stones.

Semi-precious - with a softer surface. They scratch easily and do not tolerate prolonged contact with water. To care for jewelry with moonstone and malachite, use a solution of ethyl alcohol (2 parts water to 1 part alcohol).

Dry cleaning is also used. The stone is polished with a piece of suede or thick fabric, for example, for products with opals, amber and turquoise. This method is suitable for caring for jewelry with corals.

Artificial - Swarovski crystals, zircons will shine like new if you treat them with a solution of ammonia and water in a ratio of 1:6, respectively.

You should not use sharp objects - needles and nail scissors - to remove dirt in the fastening areas or on the surface under the insert, as you can scratch the metal, damage or scratch the stone.

Bring back shine to pearls

Pearls are beautiful, but very difficult to care for, so to remove plaque, use a weak soap solution (it is better to use a moisturizing soap or one with a neutral ph). For application, do not use brushes with hard bristles, only a soft brush or cloth. Then rinse the jewelry and gently blot it with a soft cloth.

You can also use olive oil. Lightly moisten a flannel cloth with oil and wipe the pearls, making sure that there are no drops or streaks left on the surface. Otherwise, the mother of pearl may darken. You should not use any other oils: they will have no effect and can ruin the jewelry.

Tip: It is better to store items with pearl inserts separately from other jewelry, wrapped in soft fabric.

How to wash a product made from “medical gold”

Oddly enough, “medical gold” has nothing to do with medicine, nor does it have anything to do with gold. It was originally used for earrings that were used to pierce ears (probably hence the name “medical”).

Nowadays, this alloy is widely used in jewelry. It looks like gold, and a little of this precious metal may be included in its composition, but such a product cannot be called gold. Jewelry made from “medical gold” is a frequent guest in TV stores. They are yellow, shiny, and cost tens of times less than their noble counterparts.

Medical gold contains practically no noble metals.

The following solution is suitable for cleaning such jewelry:

1. Dissolve 15 g of tooth powder and 30 g of 10% ammonia in 50 g of cold water.
2. Wet a soft cloth with the mixture and wipe the decoration.
3. Rinse with warm water and dry.