How To Clean Gold-Plated Jewelry

When it comes to buying cute jewelry on a budget, we can’t go around with gold-plated jewelry. The gold is mostly plated over sterling silver, but also nickel, brass, stainless steel, or copper are the base materials. However, not the quite purity of gold, plated gold jewelry gives still the look of gold and can look beautiful, without the high price tag of full gold. 

To make your gold-plated jewelry last long, we have to take care of it. Through keeping it clean. And because not every piece of jewelry is the same, we have the best tips for how to clean gold-plated jewelry and shine for many years.

Want to know more about why gold-plated jewelry tarnishes? Read here more.

How To Clean Gold-Plated Jewelry With Dish Soap

For simple cleaning, you simply need your gold-plated jewelry pieces, a bowl, warm water, and dish soap. 

This method is great for doing it more often. If you wear your pieces quite regularly you can do it once a week. You can even clean several pieces at once with this technique since it is so easy and quick.

However, you shouldn’t put several pieces all at once in the bowl, otherwise, they can scratch. Just make a big jewelry cleaning afternoon and clean them all after another.   

The old gold necklace in the warm water-soap mixture.

In the first step, you mix the soap in warm water. Put your pieces in there and let them sit for 10-15 minutes.

The cleaned necklace is dried gently through a soft cloth.

After, let it air dry. You can also wipe down the chains or detailed pieces with a soft cloth. To remove dirt from very small crevices use a cotton swap but be very gentle and careful here.

After, let it air dry. You can also wipe down the chains or detailed pieces with a soft cloth. To remove dirt from very small crevices use a cotton swap but be very gentle and careful here.

How To Clean Gold Plated Jewelry With Baking Soda And Foil

If your gold-plated jewelry is marked by stronger perfume or makeup, don’t leave it in your box for the rest of the year.

There is another easy method to clean your gold-plated jewelry. You simply need a bowl, a tea spoon, salt, aluminum foil, baking soda, and a paper towel or soft cloth.

First, cover the inner of your bowl with aluminum foil. Be gentle here because the foil can break easily. Put then your warm water inside and make sure the place where your water is in is covered with foil. Put around a half teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of baking soda in the water and stir. For more or bigger jewelry pieces, use a higher amount of the ingredients.

Lay your jewelry pieces in the mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Take out your jewelry and dry it gently with your paper towel or soft cloth. For stronger marks, use a cotton swap, dipped in the water mixture, or an old toothbrush. This step is also important for jewelry pieces with details or small ornaments.

You can do this step at the end of your cleaning session or stop in between the 10 minutes sitting.

How To Clean Gold-Plated Jewelry With Toothpaste

A lot of old jewelry pieces have lost their spark, because, well, it’s old. But still, this doesn’t mean that you can leave it inside your box.

No, try this easy hack, using only toothpaste, natron, or baking soda and a clean cloth.

A dirty and used gold-plated bracelet.
The dirty jewelry is hold under water.

First, wash it with water. Simply through water, the dirt on the first layer on top is washed off.

The dirty jewelry next to toothpaste and baking soda on a soft cloth.

Lay your jewelry on a soft clean cloth. You can now use a bit of toothpaste and a little bit of natron or baking soda.

Baking soda, toothpaste and the jewelry piece and mixed together through the soft cloth.

In this step, you simply mix the paste and natron with your piece. You can do this great with the soft cloth but be gentle at the same time.

Try to rob both the paste and natron into the piece and every detail of it.

The cleaned gold-plated jewelry piece.

Leave it to soak for about 10-15 min and wash it then with water. After drying it with the cloth gently, your jewelry piece just looks like new. Look at the shine!

Keeping It Fresh

While those regularly washed afternoons sound great, it’s really important to take care of your gold-plated jewelry daily.

After wearing it, remove it gently with a microfiber cloth or a cotton ball. After a long day of wearing your jewelry piece, it’s just understandable that there is a lot of sweat and oil on them. 

But taking care of your beloved jewelry already starts before wearing it. Before putting on your gold-plated jewelry, you should make sure to have used all your products for your skin, meaning perfume, moisturizer, and body lotions. Let the products soak into your skin for a couple of minutes before wearing your jewelry, so your pieces won’t tarnish or have any marks.

For that, also wash your hands properly before putting on your jewelry. You avoid having makeup or other products on your fingers. Washing hands is also important after you ate acidic foods or you just cooked. Just make sure your hands are all fine before you touch extensively your gold-plated jewelry.

To prevent your jewelry to be washed in the first place, keep all your pieces in a box and store it properly. Gold-plated jewelry can be scratched easily. Keep your pieces stored away in a soft box or a jewelry stand.