Unfortunately, investing a huge amount from your bank account into the best of gold jewelry is not enough to protect your gold jewelry for the rest of eternity. You have to spend a great deal of time and money caring for your jewelry, especially if you don’t want your expensive jewelry to look cheap old after a few months thanks to scratches and exposure to harsh environments, hence some form of discoloration.
In other words, you need to take care of your gold jewelry because there are many things that may cause damage to that jewelry. Also, gold jewelry is soft and delicate and calls for extra care and attention.
Below, we share some of the things that may damage your gold jewelry and what you should do to prevent damage.
What can damage gold jewelry?
1.Doing household chores with your ring on
This is something you may not think much about, and cleaning your home with your ring on might now be second nature, but the sad bit about this habit is that it is not a great thing for your jewelry. Think about the number of times you’ve accidentally knocked the ring against the washing machine when putting in your load of laundry or how you dunked your hands in the floor cleaner without really thinking of the ring. The thought may never have crossed your mind, but these seemingly small things often cause a lot of damage to the ring. The floor cleaner, for example, contains many solutions and chemicals that aren’t too friendly to the ring.
And if the ring is highly polished or even if it has a patina on the surface, cleaning chemicals are too harsh, and they will strip off the finish from the gold jewelry, leaving you with a dull-looking ring or worse, a ring with disintegrating parts.
What you need to know about your gold jewelry is that most of it is often alloyed with other metals that are meant to make the ring tougher. No gold jewelry is made of pure 24k gold because the pure form of gold is too soft to be used on its own. So, it is alloyed to be stronger and for use in jewelry. Unfortunately, cleaning and exposure of the alloyed gold jewelry to cleaning solutions with chemicals like chlorine and bleach will break down the alloyed, damaging the ring. The damage can manifest as cracks or weak solder points, and also in the loss of the nice gold finish.
2.Working out with your ring on
Your workout routine might be one thing that keeps you sane on your worst and best days, but all the metal weights you have to grip and the handles you have to grasp in the gym aren’t great for your jewelry.
Then there is all the salt produced from sweat which will cause tarnishing of the jewelry and the risk of your gold necklaces or bracelets getting caught or snagged as you move around.
You may not think much about such eventualities, but they pose a great risk to your jewelry, and it is safer if you stop wearing jewelry while working out.
3.Gardening
If you love gardening but don’t keep your gloves on when out in the garden, leaving your gold ring exposed, you are doing more harm than good.
And though your garden will flourish from the extra attention you’re giving it, there is the risk of great damage to your gold ring. It’s also worth noting that just because you have your gloves on doesn’t mean that the gold jewelry is safe.
Even with your gloves on, gripping your gardening tools tightly will put pressure on the ring, and it will be misshaped, and you may not even realize when it’s no longer round.
And if the ring is set with gemstones, it will suffer all sorts of damage, with the gemstones likely to be knocked loose, falling out in the process.
In worst cases, you may never find the gemstones if they fall out in the garden, and the cost of repairing the ring is, unfortunately, too high.
4.Swimming and showering with jewelry
Your gold jewelry, along with the precious stones and gemstones used in jewelry, cannot withstand the harshness of some of the seemingly harmless products in your bath or what you use afterwards.
Your shampoo and soap, for example, aren’t safe for jewelry, with the worst bit being the fact that the body products would build upon the jewelry, causing a lot of damage.
Swimming with jewelry on is also a bad idea because you could lose them in the pool, and if you don’t, the chlorine in the pool will damage the jewelry, causing fast tarnishing.
5.Sleeping in jewelry
You know that you shouldn’t sleep in jewelry, but you still do.
Sleeping in jewelry isn’t a good thing because the ring may be snagged on blankets, and the prongs would be loosened without you knowing.
You could lose the jewelry too, and if your bracelet or necklace is entangled in hair or knotted, you may have to replace the piece.
Tips for protecting your gold jewelry
To protect your gold jewelry, follow these tips and tricks.
- Remove your jewelry before you go swimming or engage in any other strenuous activity.
- Remove jewelry before applying bug spray or sunscreen
- Don’t wear your jewelry if you will be under direct sunlight
- Avoid wearing your jewelry in cold water – fingers shrink in cold water, and the ring might slip off
- Wear your jewelry last – after lotions and other body products, and take it off first
- No gardening with jewelry
- Clean your jewelry often – you could use a mild detergent, warm water, and a soft-bristled brush. Rinse and dry the jewelry well using a soft, lint-free cloth.
- Store your jewelry individually, in airtight containers/ bags
- Don’t clean delicate jewelry in an ultrasonic cleaner
- Remove jewelry before doing your chores
- Have the jewelry checked by a jeweler often and have the prongs fixed in case it comes loose.
- Get your favorite, high-value jewelry insured
Conclusion
Gold jewelry can be damaged easily and in the most unsuspecting of ways. Therefore, you should take extra care of the jewelry and remove it when doing anything strenuous or that exposes the jewelry to harsh chemicals or conditions.
Read more useful tips here or here! Hope this post helps!
Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.