Your gold plated jewelry may have been worn too often and lacking with a proper way of cleaning and caring. In order to maintain the beauty of your gold plated jewelry.
1) You must wipe down and remove any body oil from your jewelry for each time being used.
2) Store your jewelry properly, away from direct sunlight, away from moisture and humidity surrounding.
3) Avoid any scratches which may cause, exposing the layer underneath the gold plated.
4) Lastly, if absolutely necessary. Make a visit to your local jeweler and have your jewelry re-polished. (The cost usually won’t be too much)
Lets learn little more about refurbishing your jewelry
What a wonderful feeling to own a precious and finest gold jewelry. Who wouldn’t want to have an expensive gold jewelry, right? But sometimes, even if we love to own one, we just cannot afford to buy one because owning a gold jewelry would cost us a fortune and besides, it is not easy to find your favorite jewelry or jewelry that catches your attention.
With this, we sometimes buy an alternative jewelry that is within our budget, but still would look great to us. As much as we would love to buy a great and a fine jewelry, our budget and cash will not allow us to do so.
The best alternative to pure gold jewelry is the gold plated jewelry. May could be a ring, necklace or even bracelets. Gold plated jewelry is a go-to jewelry for those who are financially constrained. But what is gold plated jewelry?
Gold plated jewelry is a jewelry made of certain metal which is covered with a thin coating of gold. This process is called plating and it can be coated with a different metal other than gold.
For instance, a jewelry made of silver or copper, but coated with gold is called gold plated jewelry. Having said this, is gold plated jewelry worth buying?
What is Gold Plated Jewelry?
Gold plated jewelry is a lot cheaper than the pure gold jewelry. So if cash is an important consideration to you, it would be best to buy gold plated jewelry for an accessory. However, it is worth mentioning that there are also downsides of buying gold plated jewelry.
Since the gold has just been plated with a metal, it will wear away at some point. Daily use of your gold plated jewelry will obviously wear out.
But how fast will wear your gold plated jewelry out will depend on the number of reasons, including the metal your jewelry made of and the thickness of the plating.
If you are comfortable with the thought that gold plated jewelry will tarnish or fade away, then you can go ahead and buy one. Also, if you do not want to intend to wear the gold plated jewelry every day, then it is best to buy one for yourself.
For instance, you need a gold bracelet or bangle that you want to wear it only to match your dress in special occasion, then you should go ahead and buy gold plated bangles or bracelets.
However, there are a number of ways to avoid so that your gold plated jewelry will not tarnish or fade away easily. In the event that your gold plated jewelry fades away, you can have it re-plated.
The only issue with re-plating is that it costs you money and sometimes buying another gold plated jewelry is more practical that having faded jewelry re-plated.
So please make sure that you know the cost of the re-plating of your jewelry before even ask the jeweler to re-plate your old jewelry.
Cleaning Your Gold Plated Jewelry
Gold plated jewelry will lose its shine and luster if used so often, especially if you will wear it every single day. Wearing your gold plated jewelry will be exposed to dirt and oils and then it will begin to build up the dirt and will start your gold plated jewelry to look bad or dull.
The more you wear it, the more it will be exposed to substances and elements that contribute to tarnishing or fading of your gold plated jewelry. By following the simple steps below will make your gold plated jewelry shine again.
- Clean after Use
Just like with other accessories, there is a need for you to clean your gold plated jewelry every after wear or use. The more you wear your gold plated jewelry, the more it is exposed to elements and substances that contribute to tarnishing or fading your jewelry.
So it is best to wipe away all the dirt that builds up in your gold plated jewelry with clean cloth or cotton ball. This way, the gold plated jewelry will stay sparkling clean or shiny.
- Use a jewelry cloth to restore its shine
When we buy jewelry, sometimes it includes with a velvet bag and a jewelry cloth. The velvet bag and jewelry cloth are made of soft cloth that could be used in cleaning your dirty gold plated jewelry.
You can actually use these freebies to rub the surface of your gold plated jewelry to restore the shine of your jewelry before storing it back to the jewelry bag or box.
- Prepare a soap solution
If you feel that by simply rubbing or wiping your gold plated jewelry does not help cleaning your jewelry, you can use a non-hazardous soap to clean your jewelry.
First, you can make a soap-water solution. Make sure that your soap does not have any unknown ingredient that may be dangerous to your gold plated jewelry.
Also, antibacterial soap is not a good cleaning agent for gold plated because of the antibacterial agent present in the soap.
- Soak gold plated jewelry to soap solution
The dirt that has been accumulated in your gold plated jewelry will sometimes be hard to remove. So it is best to soak the jewelry in the soap solution for quite a while.
This way, the accumulated dirt will lose and will facilitate easy brushing. Please make sure to use a soft-bristle toothbrush so it will not damage your gold plated jewelry.
- Dry gold plated jewelry and store
Use clean and lint-free cloth to dry your gold plated jewelry. Avoid rubbing the cloth to your jewelry as it may create friction. Alternatively, you can just let the gold plated jewelry to sit in your clothe and let it air dry before storing it to your jewelry bag or jewelry box.
Remember, it is extremely important to keep your jewelry dry with freshness and away from direct sunlight.
Things to Avoid
Gold plated jewelry are not only for the individual who cannot afford pure gold jewelry. They are also for
| Common Things, | Short Reasons & Reminders |
| Swimming | Salt water or Chlorine |
| Sunscreen Lotion | Attract dirty and Dull |
| Bug Spray | Chemical and Dull |
| Direct Sunlight | Fade in Color |
| Extreme Cold Water | Create space between finger, slip off |
| Gardening | Tiny rock or dirts, will damage |
| Heavy Lifting | Damages, if direct pressure on jewelry |
| Laundry | May clash wit |
| Hand Lotion | Chemical and Dull |
| Perfume | Chemical |
Although gold plated jewelry wears out eventually, there ways that you can do to restore its value and you can still wear it for a long period of time. Below are the things to avoid to keep the shine in your gold plated jewelry.
- Perfume and Cologne
It is best that when you spray perfume or cologne, you do not have any gold plated jewelry on. Or even if you are not wearing it, make sure that when you wear your gold plated jewelry on, your skin should be dry.
The chemical present in your perfume or cologne may have a reaction to the metal in your jewelry.
- Cream and Lotion
Some lotion and cream contain chemical that may be harmful to your gold plated jewelry. This is why you need to make sure that your skin is dry so when your jewelry will come in contact with your skin, there would not be any reaction from your gold plated jewelry.
- Swimming or Taking a Bath
Chlorine present in the swimming pool or water is a chemical that may react to the metal in your gold plated jewelry. This may cause tarnishing easily. So make sure you do not have any jewelry on when you go swimming to taking a bath.
- Active Lifestyle
When you have an active lifestyle, you may want to consider not wearing your gold plated jewelry. This jewelry should not be worn when you do your regular exercise or when you do some sports.
Your sweat may contain natural acids that may react to the metal in your gold plated jewelry.
Last Resort, Electroplating
When your gold plated jewelry eventually fades off, the main metal will be visible and therefore it would be awkward to wear it. If that happens, it is best to bring your jewelry to the jeweler and have it restored.
To restore the jewelry to its original color, jewelers will do a process known as electroplating process. Electroplating is a method to manipulate jewelry in various colors. This is a process where it gives color to metals through the coating by electrical currents.
This is done by putting the item into the solution with the metal. The current will cause a reaction to the metal that binds the solution to the surface of the item.
This process will not affect if there is a gemstone in the jewelry so you do not have to worry about your gemstones in your jewelry. But you should always ask before confirming your refurbishment. Few of the most popular colors in electroplating are gold, rose gold and silver. Perhaps you can color to a new plated color for a new look.