Guide to Jewellery Cleaning at Home Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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The allure of a scintillating diamond has allowed it to become a sought-after gem and even dubbed as the forever stone. To ensure that their shine and brilliance last, regular cleaning is always encouraged. Especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, cleaning your jewellery is your utmost priority as, similar to your hands in general, it can house a lot of germs and bacteria that may put your health and the health of others at risk.

And especially since you are most likely to be applying hand sanitiser frequently – it may do an excellent job of protecting you, but the same can’t be said for your jewellery pieces. Here are a few tips and tricks to preserve the shine of your diamond jewellery and keep yourself safe from COVID-19.

How To Clean Jewellery

The general advice for cleaning jewellery always comprise of soaping your jewellery in mild dish soap before scrubbing it over with a soft toothbrush. Use warm water to rinse and repeat. Ensure that there isn’t any dirt or stubborn grime that’s hiding in between the crevices of its stone settings or engravings. Once you’re done, you can leave them out to dry completely.

On that note, don’t be afraid to clean your jewellery vigorously and often! Platinum and gold jewellery can withstand extensive cleaning. Needless to say, diamonds can hold up to this intense cleaning too.

The gems that you may want to be extra careful with are pearls, coloured stones, opals, emeralds or tourmalines. To prevent any mishaps at home, bring them out for professional cleaning. You may want to avoid wearing these beautiful pieces for the time being, and instead, opt for one of our Star Carat beauties!

Star Carat Brilliant Diamond Ring

Similar to mined diamonds, lab grown diamonds score a perfect 10 on the Mohs scale, which translates to high durability and hardness that wouldn’t yield with a few vigorous brush strokes. With just a few minutes of brushing, your Star Carat Brilliant Diamond Ring will truly reclaim its brilliance once more.

Now that you know the proper way to clean and care your jewellery, here are a few tips you’d want to take note to avoid damaging your sparkling beauties.

1. Take Extra Precaution When Choosing Your Cleaning Agents

What makes cleaning agents effective is their ability to kill all sorts of bacteria and germs, and remove all the dirt and grime from a particular surface. Whilst this may sound amazing, especially in times of a pandemic, it doesn’t bring the same outcome for your jewellery items.

Excessive exposure to cleaning agents and their chemicals can wear the finishing of certain metals, such as white gold, for instance. Cleaning agents with a slightly corrosive attribute, such as bleach, chlorine and antibacterial soap, can break down the brilliance of the metals with time.

Star Carat Classic Halo Diamond Earrings

As with many beautiful jewellery pieces, our Star Carat jewellery items are made out of white gold. For instance, our Star Carat Classic Halo Diamond Earrings also feature 18K white gold. To safeguard their brilliance and shine, be sure to keep them away from strong cleaning agents, and opt for mild dishwashing soap as they’re more than sufficient to keep your beauties dazzling.

2. Hand Sanitisers Are A Big No

You may be tempted to use hand sanitiser on your jewellery to kill and rid the germs and bacteria once and for all. Whilst on theory this may sound excellent, hand sanitisers can wear the finish on white gold faster. Non-alcohol based sanitisers can be especially damaging as they contain chlorine-based compounds that will react with water to release free chlorine. Since free chlorine radical is reactive, it will easily tarnish your jewellery. Halogens can also cause stress corrosion cracking in low karat golds and nickel white golds.

To safely disinfect your jewellery, you can opt for either hydrogen peroxide or isopropyl alcohol. But there is an exception: only use it for platinum or gold metals that are set with either diamonds, sapphires or rubies. Any other type of gemstones, and you may damage them instead.

Instead of rubbing hand sanitiser or harsh cleaning products directly onto your ring, make it a point to remove your ring, bracelets and the like before proceeding with your good hygiene practices. Be careful not to put your ring back immediately as not only will you re-contaminate your hands, but the trapped moisture will cause skin irritation.

Star Carat Classic Love Diamond Ring

You’ve been given a classic diamond ring, much like the Star Carat Classic Love Diamond Ring, for your engagement and it’s hard to part with it – we understand. Instead of having to deal with the cumbersome act of removing the ring every time you wash or sanitise your hands, opt to wear it as a pendant instead! That way, you no longer need to take it on and off, and you can still keep your engagement ring close to your heart – literally!

3. The Ultimate Bling Care

Now, the question is how frequent you should be cleaning your jewellery. The answer: once a weak. Simply soak your precious jewellery in warm water and dishwashing soap, and scrub only if you have to. Not only will you continue to practise good personal hygiene, but you’d also avoid putting your ring in jeopardy.

Lab Grown Diamond Cost, Lab Grown Diamond Cost Singapore

Star Carat Flower Halo Diamond Necklace

With just a few drops of your dishwashing soap, this Star Carat Flower Halo Diamond Necklace will shine for days. Keep it up every week, and you’ll have a jewellery collection you can feel proud of!

Final thoughts

As with anything that’s COVID-19 related, be sure to listen to medical authorities for the best practices to navigate the entire pandemic. Since hand hygiene is arguably the best defences, let’s view the hygiene of our jewellery in the same light!

At Star Carat, we are dedicated to offering only the top lab grown diamonds. All our diamonds are IGI certified and categorised under Type IIA diamonds – where only 2% of the global production of diamonds qualify. Plus, save more on your jewellery as our lab grown diamonds cost only 50% lesser for the same carat size as a mined diamond, without compromising on quality.

Let our diamond experts assist you in your diamond shopping, as well as jewellery care. Book an appointment with us and head down to any of our outlets to find out more!