How to Clean Jewelry Naturally

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This is the best, quickest way to clean jewelry naturally! It’s easy, works on almost any type of jewelry, and doesn’t use a single harsh chemical!

I’ve always been pretty bad about remembering to clean my jewelry until recently when I came up with this really quick strategy to clean jewelry naturally. I’ve always felt like jewelry cleaning was kind of finicky and I’ve also been a little nervous about using those harsh chemical jewelry cleaners on a regular basis. I love that this method is natural, safe, and really effective at bringing back all that beauty and shine of your favorite pieces. You can clean your jewelry every week like this if you want to and it won’t take up much of your time or put you at risk of being exposed to toxic chemicals.

I’m not a huge jewelry person, but the few things that I wear are things that I’ve worn pretty much constantly for years and years. For this little demo I’m going clean this silver bracelet that I haven’t worn for awhile because it’s gotten so tarnished and this white gold ring that I do wear constantly but that is so filthy dirty from all my my various DIY endeavours. 🙂

It really is nice to have the few pieces I wear look extra shiny and sparkly though.

To clean your jewelry you’ll need:

boiling water (I just used water from the insta-hot tap on my water dispenser)
baking soda
dishwashing liquid
aluminum foil
a little bowl

How to Get Started

To start out, place a little square of aluminum foil in the bottom of your bowl with the shiny side up.

Set your pieces of jewelry down inside the bowl.

Next, add in about a teaspoon each of the baking soda and dishwashing liquid.

Slowly pour boiling water into the bowl and fill it up, or at least make sure that all your jewelry pieces are covered with the water.

Give it a little stir and leave everything to sit for about 30 minutes.

If your jewelry pieces have tarnish on them, you’ll be amazed to see the tarnish just melting away. Any other dirt, oil, or miscellaneous debris will also soften and much of it will just fall away into the bowl.

When the 30 minutes are up, grab a soft brush like a toothbrush used for cleaning and gently brush any ornate or detailed areas where junk could be sticking. Also brush gently around any stones.

Finish up by rinsing your jewelry pieces in cool water and polishing them with a soft cloth. I like to use an e-cloth glass and polishing cloth (the blue one, pictured above) because it seems to really grab on to any remaining tarnish and pull it off quite a bit more easily than a regular soft cotton cloth or tea towel.

That’s it! Clean and sparkly once again!

How do you clean your jewelry?

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Comments

Brenda Botbyl-Velez says

January 15, 2018 at 2:47 pm

I love your silver bracelet!!! Do you have a web link for it???

- Courtenay says
  
  January 18, 2018 at 10:58 am
  
  Hi Brenda! Thanks so much! Chris bought me my bracelet from Tiffany’s quite a few years ago. You can find it here: http://www.tiffany.com/jewelry/bracelets/tiffany-hardwear-ball-bracelet-GRP01690?fromGrid=1&origin=browse&trackpdp=bg&fromcid=287458&trackgridpos=104
  Here’s a similar one for much less as well! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DYPLQ1Y?ie=UTF8
  
Loreen says

January 15, 2018 at 5:10 pm

Will this work for yellow gold?

- Courtenay says
  
  January 16, 2018 at 8:58 pm
  
  Hi Loreen! It works really nicely on white gold, so I’m sure it will!
  
Sarah Smith says

June 1, 2018 at 4:28 pm

Thank you so much, I always use baking soda, usially with venegar, but know I will try this way.

Lynn says

January 15, 2019 at 6:44 pm

I can’t get my rings off my fingers…..any ideas for that?
Thanks! 🙂

- Courtenay says
  
  January 17, 2019 at 7:55 am
  
  Oh no! Have you tried soaking your hand in ice water to reduce any swelling that might be happening on that finger?
  
- Eva Rubin says
  
  March 23, 2019 at 12:58 pm
  
  Jeweler we go to keeps a bottle of name brand window cleaner at all his counters for just that purpose. I use it and my rings just slip right off. Just spray a little on your finger where ring is located and work the ring around a bit and that should do the trick. Won’t harm jewelry or finger!!!
  
Shelia says

January 18, 2019 at 12:37 am

I’ve always used a little ammonia. That’s all that stuff they sell for jewelry cleaner is, plain old ammonia. It has fumes though but people have been mopping floors with ammonia for decades and it didn’t seem to harm them, lol! I’m going to try it your way and see how it works on gold. Thanks for giving us a better way Courtnay! Is the a in your name a typo, or is that the correct spelling of your name? Thanks! ????

- Courtenay says
  
  January 24, 2019 at 8:46 am
  
  Haha, nope, not a typo. There’s a city in British Columbia (on Vancouver Island) called Courtenay, so I’m named after that. 🙂
  
jessie says

March 28, 2019 at 7:48 am

Hello,
Thank you so much for your valuable information this is so good for me because I & my mother has always loved jewelry it needs to cleaning. I don’t know how to clean jewelry naturally. now I got this.

Lolbeh says

May 18, 2020 at 4:21 pm

This recipe clears tarnished jewelry like magic. My once piled jewelries are looking brand new, once more. Thanks for this!

Samantha says

February 17, 2021 at 6:31 am

Thanks for this article. This recipe is really effective. My Necklace now looks new.

This is the best, quickest way to clean jewelry naturally! It’s easy, works on almost any type of jewelry, and doesn’t use a single harsh chemical!