Stephen Alan's Jewellers - The Jewellery Blog

Looking after your jewellery is an ongoing process and keeping it looking its best all year round comes down to how you treat it, and the basic care you give it on a daily basis.

The following is a list of simple tips on general jewellery care that won’t take the joy of wearing your jewellery away but will help you keep your jewellery looking better for longer.

If you enjoy reading the article, we’d love it if you gave it a share to let other jewellery lovers in on the secrets! And, if you’re looking for jewellery, watches or giftware, pop in and see us!

1. Don’t sleep with jewellery

We know – it’s easy to just jump into bed, especially after a night out still wearing your jewellery. Problem is, we move about a lot in our sleep so the possibility of getting your fingers tangled up in your necklace or bracelet increases, as do unintentional breakages.

2. Don’t work out in jewellery

It’s a hassle to take your rings, your necklaces and bracelets off before hitting the gym or joining a spin class. But, when you get lost in a workout, you generally forget about your jewellery, meaning it gets knocked about more than usual, and starts collecting those pesky scratches and dents.

3. Wipe jewellery after wearing

We all sweat, have oils in our skin, and regularly lose dead skin cells, and all of these mucky things combined start to accumulate in the clasps, links and gemstone settings of our jewellery. With this in mind, give your jewellery a gentle wipe down with warm soapy water after wearing.

4. Deep clean your jewellery

As well as a regular wipe, make sure to give your jewellery a deep clean from time to time. This could be with warm soapy water and a soft toothbrush, Hagerty Silver Clean, or even using denture tablets or ketchup. Find out more in our previous blog ’10 ways to clean your jewellery with everyday items’.

5. Keep jewellery away from chemicals

You might be surprised at the amount of chemicals your jewellery could come into contact with, from detergents to bleaches to shower gels etc. And each of these chemicals, over time, acts to dimmish the shine and colour of precious metals and gemstones, so make sure to take your jewellery off (and keep it safe) when using them.

6. Store jewellery separately

You might have a gorgeous jewellery box, complete with satin-covered cushions. And, whilst this is a great place to store your jewellery, when putting it in the jewellery box, make sure to keep each piece separate to avoid once piece scratching another, or getting tangled up.

7. Don’t cook with jewellery on

Like many of these easy-care jewellery tips, this one seems quite obvious – don’t cook with jewellery on. But, a lot of people still do, and not only do they risk scratches and dents, jewellery (particularly rings) can trap the type of bacteria you wouldn’t want in your Sunday roast.

8. Store jewellery sensibly

As well as making sure you store your jewellery separately, and in a suitable box, it’s also important to ensure wherever you store it is dry, not prone to excessive heat or cold, and not in direct and continuous sunlight, which could have a bleaching effect.

9. Get your jewellery valued

OK, this one isn’t about physical care of your jewellery, but it is really important. Like most of the precious items you own, it’s vital you get your jewellery valued. This could be for insurance reasons, probate, family division or divorce, or simply because you might want to sell it one day, and don’t want some unscrupulous dealer ripping you off.

10. Service your watch

You watch is your jewellery as much as your rings, bracelets and necklaces are your jewellery, and if you have a reasonably nice watch, or a luxury watch, it’s essential you get it serviced to keep it running its best. A watch service will include things such as, damage checks, rust checks, and an oil, grease and clean of all moving parts. A watch service might also include and ultrasonic clean, to ensure all parts are as clean as they can be.

BONUS JEWELLERY CARE TIP

Get to know your jeweller

If you’re lucky enough to have a good local jeweller nearby, get to know them, so when it comes to buying your jewellery or caring for your jewellery, you have a trustworthy resource you know you can rely on.

Contact us

Looking for new jewellery, preowned jewellery or a bespoke jewellery service? Then contact Stephen Alan’s Jewellers today. Centrally located at 30B High St Leighton Buzzard, we have all the jewellery, watches, giftware and jewellery services you could wish for, plus our own onsite goldsmith and jewellery design expert, ready to make that unique piece of jewellery you’ve been dreaming of.