So, here’s a new one…how often do you see the words hygiene and jewelry in the same sentence? Recent events shine a spotlight on all our personal habits. While we wipe down surfaces, launder our masks and make sure we use hand sanitizer – what’s happening with our jewelry?

Think about your rings, for example. They sit right on top of our skin (yes, I know… “duh”), so they collect oils from our skin, not to mention soap, hand lotion, washing the dinner dishes, and … well, you get my point. If you wear your jewelry every day, the amount of contact they have with potential contaminants is exponential.

Wherever Your Hands Go, So Go Your Rings

We love the intricacies of our jewelry. While the settings show off the stones and designs, those little spaces, nooks, and crannies are also great hiding places for bacteria and germs. Even though we are washing our hands and using sanitizer, that really doesn’t get the “yucky” stuff off our rings. If we take our rings off when we wash our hands, it’s easy to forget our rings when we’re done.

Let’s not forget about our earrings, bracelets, watches, and necklaces. These pieces collect a lot of the same “stuff” that our rings do.

An Easy Hygiene Plan for Jewelry:

Here are simple tips for keeping your jewelry clean:

• Only use mild soap and water. Dawn dishwashing detergent works well. Don’t use any disinfectants with bleach or peroxide in them or any type of glass cleaner, as they can damage the metal and stones of your jewelry. You can repurpose an old toothbrush to gently clean those tight spaces in your pieces.

• This may seem obvious, but be sure to close the sink stopper if you’re washing your jewelry in the sink. Another idea is to put the soap and water in a small mixing bowl and soak your pieces in that. Either method prevents your jewelry from sliding down the drain, saving a call to the plumber!

• If you wear your jewelry every day, clean your jewelry every day. Clean jewelry just sparkles, so why wouldn’t you want your pieces to look their best? It also puts you in a position to carefully examine your jewelry every day.

Would you believe that the gunk in your jewelry acts like “glue,” holding loose stones while camouflaging a loose setting that is no longer safely retaining your stones? Nothing feels worse than looking at your jewelry and discovering a hole where a treasured gem used to be.

• Have your jewelry professionally cleaned and examined every six months. We don’t realize how much we accidentally “beat up” our jewelry. Much like dental hygiene appointments, we tell our customers to come to us at least twice a year (every 6 months) for jewelry hygiene and stability checking. We catch those needed repairs before your stones are lost

Our jewelry reminds us of a special occasion or a special someone. Enjoy wearing them and keep them safe with a regular jewelry hygiene program. It keeps your pieces in tip-top shape for wearing for years to come.