The Summer I Took Care of My Jewelry
While we may love summer for the sun, sand, and swimming - your jewelry may not. Here are some tips to keep your jewelry sparkling all summer long.
1. Remove when swimming in pools or oceans
Pool Swimming
Keep all fine jewelry out of Chlorine! It has the potential to damage gemstones (especially opals, pearls, turquoise, and emeralds) and cause corrosion to gold, platinum and sterling silver. To be safe we recommend removing all jewelry before swimming in chlorine pools or hot tubs.
Ocean Swimming
The salt and sand of the ocean are an abrasive that may scratch softer gold and some gemstones (especially opals, pearls, turquoise, peridot - anything under a 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness). Salt water can also tarnish sterling silver and the alloys in gold, although this can be fixed by polishing. If you do wear your jewelry in the ocean it’s a good practice to rinse it clean with freshwater afterwards!
2. Remove when putting on sunscreen
Put on your jewelry after your sunscreen! That means more sunscreen coverage on your skin and less on your jewelry, causing thick residue buildup and loss of luster. Of course this can be quickly remedied by cleaning your jewelry. Except for really porous stones like pearls, opals and turquoise these stones want nothing to do with the chemicals in sunscreen.
3. Remove for sand castles and gardening
Sand and soil can be surprisingly abrasive and can scratch the surface of your jewelry, like we mentioned under ocean swimming. If you're heading to the beach, doing gardening, or working outside, for the absolute best care practices, leave your jewelry inside.
This applies especially to jewelry with gemstones under a 7 on the Mohs Scale or heavily included gemstones of all hardnesses, which may be more easily damaged.
If your jewelry does come into some contact with sand or soil don't fret! Just make sure to clean it gently afterwards to remove any particles that could scratch. Do not try to rub sand or grit off! Instead, rinse it off with freshwater and gently clean it with a soft cloth.
4. Storage
We love to keep a little jewelry box or zippered pouch in our bag, in case there is a last minute summer activity that we can’t pass up! It's always a good rule of thumb to store your jewelry in a cool, dry place when not wearing it.
