Practices for Storing Jewelry to Prevent Tarnishing and Damage
erinlane9104 October 13, 2023Every piece of jewelry needs special care to stay shiny and beautiful. You may have noticed that, after some time, your favorite jewelry pieces lose their shine and color. The black or gray film develops on the surface of the jewelry you wear the most. Frequent exposure to air and moisture causes the tarnishing of jewelry.
Thankfully, there are ways to clean and store your valuables to prevent tarnishing and damage. Here are some practices for storing jewelry you should know about.
Different types of jewelry
Before you start looking for ways to store your jewelry, you should know that different jewelry metals are more prone to tarnish and damage than others. Let’s see various types of jewelry materials.
Gold jewelry
Jewelry is mostly made of gold. But since gold is such a soft metal, too soft to be turned into jewelry on its own, most gold jewelry is actually made of a gold alloy.
To make gold jewelry stronger, gold is often mixed with nickel, brass, and other metals. However, the more gold there is in a piece of jewelry, the more carats a piece has.
Silver jewelry
Silver, just like gold, is a soft metal. And just like gold jewelry, silver pieces need to be mixed with other metals – copper, for example.
That’s one of the main reasons why silver jewelry tarnishes so fast. The copper in the alloy mix reacts with oxygen and that’s why silver turns black or green.
To avoid tarnishing, keep the silver away from water and moisture.
Platinum jewelry
Unlike gold and silver, platinum isn’t so soft, and it’s more durable and long-lasting. However, platinum jewelry, despite its durability, can still get scratched and it can fade over time. The faded, frosted look is often called ‘patina’.
If you don’t want your platinum jewelry to get the patina, try to keep it away from water, body lotions, and harsh chemicals.
Gemstone jewelry
You should keep gemstone jewelry in separate bags or compartments from other pieces. This is because hard stones such as diamonds can scratch your other pieces. Similarly, you should keep mineral gemstones such as amber, pearls, and turquoise away from other pieces because these mineral stones are very soft and easy to get scratched.
Additionally, opal is a gemstone that can easily get damaged by bright light, so when storing it, try to keep it out of the light.
How to properly store your jewelry
Now that you know the characteristics of some of the most common types of jewelry, we can discuss its storage. As you can see, different kinds of jewelry will be more prone to damage and tarnish than others. Still, the following storage practices apply mostly to all kinds of jewelry.
Keep the jewelry organized
The best way to protect your jewelry is by keeping it organized. This may sound simple enough, but we can get lazy sometimes and just leave the jewelry lying around on our vanities, nightstands, or jewelry holders. We rarely consider that most of our pieces can easily get scratched, and damaged when we just leave them lying in a pile.
Properly organizing your jewelry is the best way to avoid any damage to it. So, always clasp your necklaces and hang them on their designated hooks, put the earrings back in their boxes, and hang the bracelets on their hooks.
Invest in jewelry boxes
Compartmentalized jewelry boxes can also be a great place to store your jewelry. These boxes come with many different compartments so that you can place each piece separately. This is a great way to ensure your jewelry doesn’t get tarnished or damaged.
Most of these boxes are lined with soft fabric such as velvet or felt, which is a great thing.
Additionally, these boxes also have a lid, so you can close them and create a dark place for your jewelry.
Store jewelry in dark and dry places
This brings us to some of the most common culprits of damaged and tarnished jewelry and those include light, moisture, and heat. You should know that if you want your jewelry to last, you can just store it anywhere.
Exposure to direct sunlight can cause many jewelry pieces to fade. Then, leaving your jewelry in humid and hot places such as bathrooms can cause tarnishing – especially on silver jewelry.
That’s why you should store your valuables in dark and dry spaces. As mentioned, jewelry boxes with soft lining are ideal for storing jewelry.
Use silica to absorb the moisture
We don’t really know how much humidity is in the air, so you may want to use silica gel packets in your jewelry box or the place where you keep your jewelry. This is just in case, to prevent any potential tarnishing if there is moisture in the air.
Don’t throw away jewelry bags and boxes
Keep the bags and boxes your jewelry comes in because they can be great for when you’re traveling. Sometimes, jewelry boxes are too big to take with you, plus you don’t need all of your jewelry, so that’s where original jewelry boxes and bags can come in handy.
Clean your jewelry regularly
Of course, it’s important to add that hand in hand with proper storage, frequent cleaning is also necessary to prevent jewelry from getting tarnished. If you want to keep your jewelry tarnish-free, you need to keep it cleaned or polished.
You can do this manually or you can use the ultrasonic cleaners. Either way, you should clean and polish your jewelry every two weeks or when you feel it needs a rub down.
Bottom Line
If you want your jewelry to be shiny and beautiful for the years to come, you need to take good care of it. In addition to regularly cleaning it, you should also store it properly.
Most jewelry pieces get tarnished and damaged pretty fast if not maintained right. So, to avoid this problem use the above-mentioned storing practices and you won’t have any issues.
