How to clean white gold at home

White gold, an alloy of a base metal with one or a number of auxiliary materials, imparts exquisite color and brilliant shine to jewelry made from it. To maintain the decorative appeal of such jewelry for a long time, their owner should know how to properly care for them, and, most importantly, how to clean white gold. Due to the complexity of the chemical composition of the manufacturing material and the presence of a special coating on its surface, white gold products require special care, the rules for which should be known to all owners of such jewelry.

Metal Features

White gold, primarily used for jewelry, is an alloy of a base metal with a number of auxiliary components, the most common of which are silver, palladium and nickel. It is the addition of additional components that makes it possible to give the surface of such an alloy a beautiful white color, characterized by a light yellow tint. To make the surface of white gold products glossy and enhance its shine, an additional layer of rhodium is applied to it, for which galvanization technology is used. The layer of rhodium on the surface of white gold products is not only decorative, but also a protective coating, which can wear off over time or due to improper handling, which should be taken into account when independently caring for jewelry made from this alloy.

White gold products react negatively to contact with mercury and chlorine, so even water from a tap or pool can have a negative effect on them and cause a decrease in their decorative appeal.

If products made from this metal have lost their original attractiveness after prolonged wear or due to improper care, then the restoration of their decorative characteristics can be entrusted to qualified jewelers or the problem can be solved independently, using one of the proven folk remedies.

Cleaning using traditional methods

It makes sense to resort to folk remedies for cleaning white gold items in cases where the dirt formed on their surface is insignificant, which will allow you to get rid of them yourself without causing harm to the jewelry. If the surface of a product made of this metal has turned yellow, white gold can only be restored in a jewelry workshop, since a change in the color of such jewelry indicates that the protective layer of rhodium on it has been worn off, which cannot be restored at home. It is also necessary to contact qualified jewelers in cases where scratches appear on the surface of white gold items, which can only be removed efficiently and without damaging the jewelry using special equipment.

It is quite difficult to clean white gold chains on your own, since the use of special equipment is also necessary to remove contaminants from all the bends and curls of such products.

There are several traditional methods for cleaning minor stains on white gold jewelry, the most popular of which are as follows:

• By adding dishwashing detergent to the water in a proportion of 10 ml of detergent per 1 liter of water, prepare a cleaning solution in which to place the item to be cleaned for 15 minutes. If all the contaminants present on the surface of the product have not been removed within such a period of time, then it can be increased. After removing the cleaned product from the solution, it must be rinsed under running water, wipe its surface with a soft cloth or dry it under a stream of warm air from a hairdryer.
• If the cleaning solution prepared according to the recipe described above does not cope with stains on the surface of the jewelry, then to enhance the effect of its effect, you can additionally add 10 grams of soda to it. Having placed the product in a cleaning solution with soda, it should also be kept in it for 15 minutes, then removed, rinsed under running water and dried using a soft cloth or hair dryer. In some cases, when contaminants on a white gold product do not move away from its surface on their own under the influence of a cleaning solution, it is permissible to use a toothbrush with soft bristles for this purpose. The bristles of the toothbrush are moistened in the cleaning solution and gently clean the dirt present on the surface of the product with its help.

White gold jewelry is often decorated with diamonds, which, when combined with such scrap metal, look especially elegant and luxurious. To clean such jewelry from contaminants formed on their surface, you can use the following folk remedies:

• Products made of white gold with diamonds can be easily cleaned using an aqueous solution of ammonia, prepared in a ratio of 10 ml of ammonia per 1 liter of water. The product to be cleaned is placed in such a solution for 30 minutes, after which it should be removed from it, rinsed with water and wiped with a soft cloth, paying special attention to stones. Ammonia, which forms the basis of ammonia, does not interact with either metal or diamonds, but at the same time it dissolves dirt on the surface of jewelry well, so it can be safely used to clean them.
• You can also use regular alcohol to clean white gold and diamond jewelry by adding it to water in a ratio of 10-15 ml per 1 liter. The product to be cleaned is kept in this solution for 1-2 hours, after which it is removed from it and dried with a soft cloth. If, after cleaning with this method, contaminants remain on the surface of the product, you can try to wipe them off with a cotton swab dipped in an alcohol solution.
• Some professional jewelers use a solution consisting of water and sugar mixed in a ratio of 30 grams of sugar per 200 ml of water to clean white gold and diamond jewelry. Cleaning with this method involves keeping the product in this solution for 15 hours, then rinsing it with clean water, wiping and polishing with a velvet cloth.
• Another way to clean items with stones is to place them in regular Coca-Cola for 30 minutes, then rinse with water and dry. Such a method, no matter how unusual it may seem, is not without meaning, since the orthophosphoric acid contained in such a drink can clean many stains on the surface of jewelry without causing any harm to them.
• White gold items with diamonds can also be cleaned using a salt water solution, in which its components are mixed in a proportion of 15 grams of salt per 1 liter of water. Products are kept in this solution for an hour, after which they are also washed, dried and polished with velvet.

Before you start using one of the cleaning methods described above, you should check the jewelry for its integrity and the reliability of all components of such products. The need to strictly follow such a recommendation is explained by the fact that poorly secured or damaged elements of the decoration, during the process of cleaning it, can simply fall off and get lost. For the same reason, you should close the drain hole of the sink with a stopper or plug it with a regular rag, over which the product is washed after cleaning it.

Recommendations for yellow gold

We would like to share with you simple and cheap ways to clean gold at home. These recipes are great for cleaning red and yellow gold jewelry.

Cleaning gold using ammonia, water and washing powder

As you can see, the recipe is quite simple. You don't need special cleaning products. It is enough to buy ammonium hydroxide (ammonia) at the pharmacy and mix it with any detergent (washing powder, dishwashing detergent, liquid soap, etc.).

To prepare the solution you will need:

• 1 glass of water;
• 1 tablespoon of detergent;
• 1 teaspoon of ammonia.

Boil water and pour it into a deep container. Add detergent there and pour in ammonia. Mix the mixture well until the washing powder or detergent is completely dissolved. Place the jewelry in the resulting mixture for two hours, then rinse with running water and wipe dry with a soft cloth.

Cleaning gold with dish soap

Another easy way to clean gold at home. You'll need:

• water;
• dishwashing liquid.

To prepare the solution, add a teaspoon of detergent to a glass of water and mix thoroughly until it is completely dissolved. Place a piece of soft cloth at the bottom of the container. Place gold jewelry inside the cleaning solution and place it on a hot stove.

Boil the water for 10 minutes, then rinse the jewelry with running water and dry with a soft, lint-free cloth.

Cleaning gold using water, hydrogen peroxide and liquid soap

To prepare the solution you will need:

• glass of water;
• 40 ml hydrogen peroxide;
• a teaspoon of ammonia;
• a teaspoon of liquid soap.

Pour warm water into a deep container so that the solution completely covers the jewelry. Immerse gold items in the cleaning solution for 20 minutes. Then the gold must be washed with water and wiped dry.

Cleaning with salt

The simplest way to clean gold is salt. To make a cleaning solution, you only need two ingredients: salt and water.

Add three tablespoons of table salt to half a glass of hot water. Immerse the jewelry in the solution and leave it overnight. Afterwards, rinse them in running water and dry with a soft towel.

Cleaning gold with foil

You will need:

• water;
• soda;
• foil.

Add two tablespoons of soda to a glass of hot water. Take a deep container and place foil on the bottom. Place decorations in the bottom of the container and fill them with cleaning solution. Leave the jewelry in the solution overnight. In the morning, rinse them thoroughly with water and dry with a soft cloth.

If black spots have formed on the surface of gold jewelry and the above-described remedies do not help, you will have to use mechanical cleaning. To remove sulfide deposits, exposure to special abrasive materials is necessary. However, we do not recommend that you use soda and other products with rough abrasive elements; they can scratch the surface of the jewelry and will have to be polished.

To carry out mechanical cleaning of gold, you can use special cleaning pastes that are easy to find on the Internet. The cost of such a product is 100-500 rubles. They are made from gold-friendly ingredients, so they are excellent for cleaning jewelry.

To mechanically clean gold jewelry, use a soft toothbrush. Apply cleaning paste to the surface of the brush, and with gentle movements, begin cleaning the product in one direction.

After the procedure, wipe the jewelry with a towel and treat with ethyl alcohol or vodka. An alcohol-containing solution will help remove the fatty film that has formed after using the paste.

At the final stage, rinse the gold items with water and wipe dry with a cloth.

Special means

To clean the surface of white gold jewelry from serious contaminants, you can use professional products that are easy to find on the market. The most popular and well-proven of these tools that professional jewelers use in their work are:

• Aladdin. The set of such a product, in addition to the liquid cleaning agent itself, also includes a container and a brush. When using such a product, the product to be cleaned is placed in a container with a cleaning agent and kept in it for some time specified in the instructions, after which it is removed from it, washed and wiped with a soft cloth. The brush included in the set of such a product is used to clean contaminants from the surface that have not come off on their own during the soaking process in the solution.
• TOP BIO CLEANER Nano Brilliant. The set of such a product, which will help cope with even seriously stained jewelry, contains a special cloth with which the cleaned product can be brought to a radiant shine.

How to clean silver items

There are several ways to give silver its original shine. For this, improvised means are used, which are often found at home.

The essence of the methods is as follows:

1. The silver product is placed in a container into which 2 tbsp is poured. milk, 5 tablespoons each of vinegar and lemon juice. Exposure time – 12 hours. Then the silver is washed with water and wiped with a rag. The decoration shines again.
2. Take a metal container with a volume of 1 liter, the bottom of which is covered with foil. A silver ring is placed inside, water is poured in and 1 tsp is thrown in. salt and soda. The container is placed on the fire and the contents are brought to a boil. Subsequent holding time is 1 hour. Then the ring is removed and wiped with a rag.
3. The silver is sprinkled with window cleaner. After wiping with a cloth it shines again.
4. Mix crushed chalk with ammonia. The resulting paste is applied to the dark surface of the silver. This product is also replaced by tooth powder. At the end of the procedure, cleansing is done with a regular brush. This method is applicable for silver chains.

Silver polishing methods used at home are safe procedures. The same cannot be said about store-bought chemicals, which can cause skin irritation and allergies.

Helpful Tips and Warnings

In order for jewelry made of white gold to delight you with its appearance and radiant shine for a long time, you must adhere to the following simple recommendations and precautions when wearing, storing and caring for them:

• so that such products do not change their color over time, they should be stored separately from other jewelry, avoiding their prolonged contact with other metals;
• it is necessary to prevent exposure of the surface of such products to substances containing chlorine, which can also lead to a change in their original color;
• when caring for such jewelry, you must not boil it or expose its surface to substances containing abrasive particles;
• periodically, to clean the ring, earrings or chain from dust and minor dirt, they should be washed under running water, and then dried and its surface polished with a velvet cloth.

Tips before cleaning

If worn daily, a gold chain needs frequent cleaning.

Before you begin the cleansing process, consider the following tips.

1. If your jewelry has inserts with precious stones (pearls, turquoise, coral), then you should not use aggressive cleaning methods. This can lead to darkening or disruption of the structure of the stone.
2. After cleaning, the accessory should be rinsed well with water and dried naturally.
3. In the container used for solutions, the bottom is covered with foil, and when boiling, a small piece of fabric is placed.

Some tips on how to distinguish white gold

You can distinguish a product made of white gold from silver, which is very similar to this metal, using the following methods:

• if you pass a silver item over white paper, a dark mark will remain on it, which does not happen when performing a similar procedure with white gold jewelry;
• silver products actively react to an acidic environment, so they can oxidize and darken even in a weak solution of vinegar, but white gold jewelry does not;
• If you apply a drop of iodine to the surface of silver, a trace will remain on it that cannot be cleaned; this does not happen with white gold jewelry; iodine can be easily removed from them with a regular cotton swab.

How to clean earrings with precious stones

To clean gold earrings encrusted with precious stones, most traditional methods are not suitable.

Soft stones: malachite, amber, pearl, coral, turquoise, amethyst

You cannot clean earrings with natural stones using mechanical cleaning methods. Hard bristles and large abrasives can irreversibly damage the jewelry and stone insert.

Therefore, you can clean gold earrings with pearls or malachite using a soap solution. Also, professional accessories (gold cleaning cloths) and soft suede will cope well with surface stains.

Medical alcohol or soap solution will also work well with them. Under no circumstances should you use vinegar and ammonia.

Ultrasonic cleaning is not suitable for earrings with pearls, turquoise, corals or opals.

Hard stones: quartz, emerald, sapphire, beryl, topaz, aquamarine

Gold earrings with inserts of hard precious stones should not be subjected to heat treatment. To clean your jewelry and remove small stains, simply wash it in warm soapy water.

With diamond

Despite the fact that natural diamond and its cut derivative, the diamond, are very hard stones, you should not use aggressive cleaning agents for cleaning. Sharp objects and caustic substances are prohibited from use: they are more likely to cause cloudy stains than to clean the product.

To clean gold diamond earrings, it is best to use a soap or ammonia solution and then polish the surface of the jewelry with a flannel.

White gold earrings

Since white gold is an alloy of gold and palladium/nickel, you should not use vinegar to clean the product. An aggressive acidic environment will cause a dark, indelible coating, and the earrings will be damaged. To restore the shine of your jewelry and remove organic deposits, you can use soapy water and then clean difficult areas with a soft-bristled brush.

Matte gold earrings

Rough mechanical methods should not be used to clean matte products. Large abrasives are also not suitable. The essence of the cleaning process is to remove organic contaminants and oxides without polishing the earrings to a mirror finish. After all, this will destroy the design of the product.

Therefore, it is permissible to use gentle cleaning methods:

• soap solution;
• soda solution;
• salt or sweet baths;
• onion or potato juice;
• beer;
• egg white and other mild folk remedies.

You can clean matte gold earrings with special cloths for cleaning gold; the main thing is not to get carried away with the process and not to polish the jewelry.