This is how you should clean your silver jewelry

Jewelry is much more than just an accessory – you wear your precious pieces close to your skin, and each has a deep emotional significance for you. That’s why it’s important to take good care of these special treasures and to regularly maintain your jewelry.

With the right care, the shine of silver can be preserved in the long term, allowing your precious pieces to continue to shine brightly.

Silver can be in its pure form or in the well-known jewelry alloy of 925 Sterling Silver tarnish. But why does this happen at all? This is because silver oxidizes, it becomes dull and discolors to brown to black. This oxidation occurs because silver reacts with the oxygen in the air and sometimes hydrogen sulfide, resulting in silver sulfide. 

This oxidation process is completely natural and initially not a cause for concern. Especially when you know how to minimize tarnishing and care for the jewelry to restore its original shine.

Tips for cleaning your gold jewelry can be found in our journal: Gold jewelry cleaning: Here's how to do it easily

Cleaning jewelry with dish soap and warm water is, in our opinion, the gentlest home remedy for your silver jewelry. Place your pieces in a bath of warm water and a bit of dish soap for a few minutes. Then you can polish your silver jewelry with a very soft toothbrush and dish soap.

Once everything is shiny again, rinse the pieces with clear water and dry them with a soft silver polishing cloth.

Since baking powder, baking soda, and toothpaste contain fine particles, we advise against using this home remedy to clean your silver jewelry. The fine grains of the powders can have an abrasive effect that can scratch the surface of your silver jewelry, making it brighter again, but also duller, and the surface is no longer polished.

Cleaning silver jewelry in a bath of saltwater and aluminum foil is one of the most effective methods that you can implement at home with simple means.

Simply line a bowl with aluminum foil and add two tablespoons of table salt along with one liter of hot water. You can then soak your silver jewelry in it until they shine again. Rinse the pieces under running water and dry them with a soft silver polishing cloth. Your treasures will shine like new again.

Please do not use this method for jewelry that is adorned with delicate gemstones or pearls, as they may be damaged.

Since silver is very sensitive and vinegar is an acid, we recommend using alternative, gentler methods such as dish soap or the aluminum foil and salt bath described above.

For easy and safe care of your silver jewelry at home, we have developed our sustainable jewelry care set for you. Our set comes in a sustainable cotton bag and includes a solid dish soap, a soft bamboo brush, and a silver polishing cloth. A step-by-step guide made from recycled paper is also included in the care set, with tips on how to best care for your jewelry and bring it back to shine.

Silver jewelry is often only lightly oxidized, so before you resort to complicated methods, always try a soft jewelry polishing cloth first. Our Maren jewelry polishing cloth is perfect for this purpose. Of course, you can also use it for a final polish after cleaning with one of the other home remedies described above. Simply rub your jewelry pieces with the polishing cloth in a dry state to make them shine in their original beauty again.

Especially in the case of heavy contamination or oxidation of silver jewelry, a professional jewelry cleaning is recommended. Our professional polish also removes stubborn scratches and imperfections from your silver jewelry, making the silver pieces look like new again.

If you want to clean your silver jewelry with ultrasound, it depends on what exactly you want to clean. The sound waves of the ultrasonic device only remove dirt and residues through vibrations, but do not eliminate oxidation from your silver jewelry.

Please also note that the ultrasonic device can affect the shine of pearls and gemstones. Please do not clean these in the ultrasonic bath.

Because oxygen causes your silver jewelry to tarnish, it is best to store it as airtight as possible. For this, jewelry boxes or our linen or paper cases in which you receive our jewelry pieces are suitable. Each of our silver jewelry pieces also comes with a small paper that prevents the oxidation of silver; it is best to always store this together with the silver.

Light dirt and oxidation can be easily cleaned at home. By regularly wiping with a silver polishing cloth, you can prevent heavy oxidation, so you should clean your silver jewelry.

However, especially when it comes to stubborn dirt, very dark oxidation, or deep scratches, we recommend having it cleaned by a jeweler. This way, your jewelry can shine like new again.