When you discover blackened and oxidized silver jewelry in your jewelry box, it means that we have not taken care of it so that it is always in the best possible condition. Here we explain how to clean them and everything stays in the kitchen.
In short, taking care of your silver jewelry is not complicated, which will allow you to keep your bracelets, rings, earrings, etc. as new, so they will always be ready to wear at any time, on the other hand, if you don’t, you run the risk of them darkening and taking on a dark tone.
Blackened and oxidized silver: causes
But why does silver blacken and oxidize? Silver does not oxidize like other metals, but loses its luster or, as they say, “turns black” over time.
Silver is a noble metal, therefore it does not react like other elements, it cannot oxidize, however, when silver sulfide comes into contact with the air, it reacts with the sulfur present in the atmosphere, forming a compound that is deposited on our jewelry and that, after a while, darkens.
It should be noted that the fact that the silver darkens does not mean that it is of poor quality, nor that it has been damaged. It’s totally normal when it comes to this metal.
Other factors that can darken money are the products we put on our skin: perfumes, makeup, creams, etc., or sweat itself. Continuous contact with the metal means that over time it can end up darkening it.
And also factors that influence darkening are the exposure of our jewellery to long periods under the sun, artificial light or the sea. In addition, abrasive cleaning products can cause silver to tarnish.
In addition to this, the PH (acid index) of our skin can have particularities that generate a rapid darkening of silver. For this reason, some pieces can turn black for us and not for our friend.
Methods for cleaning silver jewelry
Among the many systems for cleaning blackened and oxidized silver, some that are inexpensive but safe and can be done with your own hands, involve the use of table salt.
The only thing we need is a basin in which we have poured a little warm water and salt, we can also use baking soda instead of salt.
Our silver objects should be left to soak for a few minutes and then rinsed with water. Once finished they can be polished with a dry cloth. In short, our jewel will shine again as in the past.
Smearing lemon juice and baking soda on the blackened silver jewellery also removes traces of dark patina, with a warning about the type of jewellery. In fact, you have to be careful so that there are no stones or pearls that can be damaged due to the acidity present in the lemon.
Many chains or inlays in jewelry can create difficulties in cleaning operations, in this case we can use toothpaste to pass with an old toothbrush.
In this way, we will easily reach each crevice of the object with a slightly abrasive product that does not cause damage.
How to store silver jewelry?
It is essential that to avoid oxidation we store our jewellery in a cool and dry place. And, if possible, that the closure is airtight.
You don’t need to spend a huge amount of money on a jewelry box, but choose one lined with a soft canvas on the inside.
This way your jewelry will be much more cared for. The aim of preserving jewellery in this way is to prevent the silver from coming into contact with the outside world to avoid the aforementioned oxidation.
It is also essential that when you have many different pieces of jewelry, they are stored in individual bags.
This will prevent them from scratching each other due to friction. In addition to this, we should try to expose silver as little as possible to external agents such as alkaline materials, perfumes, creams, chlorine, etc.