At The United Jewelry, every piece is carefully crafted to combine beauty, detail, and lasting quality. Proper care can help preserve the shine, finish, stones, plating, and overall appearance of your jewelry for years to come.
Jewelry naturally comes into contact with skin, moisture, cosmetics, dust, and chemicals during everyday wear. Following the care instructions below can help protect your jewelry and keep it looking its best.
General Jewelry Care
To maintain the beauty and finish of your jewelry:
Remove jewelry before bathing, showering, swimming, exercising, or sleeping.
Avoid direct contact with perfumes, deodorants, hairspray, lotions, makeup, sanitizers, and other cosmetics.
Keep jewelry away from household cleaning products, bleach, chlorine, and other chemicals.
Do not wear jewelry while doing household work, gardening, sports, or other activities that may cause scratches or impact.
Avoid exposing jewelry to excessive moisture, heat, or direct sunlight for long periods.
Put your jewelry on after applying perfume, lotion, makeup, or hairspray.
Remove jewelry before changing clothes if the design contains delicate stones, prongs, hooks, or detailed components.
Handle delicate jewelry gently and avoid pulling, bending, twisting, or dropping it.
A simple rule to remember:
Jewelry should be the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off.
Use a clean, soft, lint-free cloth to gently wipe your jewelry after wearing it.
For suitable solid-metal jewelry, occasional gentle cleaning can be done using lukewarm water and a small amount of mild soap. Use a very soft brush only when necessary.
After cleaning:
Rinse carefully with clean water.
Pat dry using a soft cloth.
Allow the jewelry to dry completely.
Store only when completely dry.
Avoid Using
Do not use:
Bleach
Chlorine
Toothpaste
Baking soda
Strong detergents
Abrasive cleaners
Hard brushes
Rough polishing materials
Chemical dips unless specifically suitable for that jewelry type
These products may scratch the metal, damage stones, affect plating, or change the jewelry’s finish.
925 Sterling Silver Jewelry Care
Sterling silver can naturally tarnish over time when exposed to air, moisture, sweat, cosmetics, and certain chemicals. Tarnishing is a normal characteristic of silver and does not necessarily indicate a defect in the jewelry.
To care for sterling silver:
Keep it clean and dry.
Wipe it gently after each use.
Store individual pieces separately in a dry pouch or jewelry box.
Avoid prolonged exposure to moisture and humidity.
Keep it away from perfumes, lotions, chlorine, and household chemicals.
Use a polishing cloth specifically designed for sterling silver when appropriate.
For oxidized, black-rhodium, plated, or specially finished silver jewelry, avoid aggressive polishing because it may remove or alter the intended finish.
Gold Jewelry Care
Gold jewelry is durable, but it can still become scratched or lose some of its shine with regular wear.
For 9K, 14K, and 18K gold jewelry:
Store pieces separately to prevent scratching.
Avoid wearing gold jewelry during heavy physical activities.
Keep it away from chlorine and strong chemicals.
Clean gently with a soft cloth.
Check stone settings and clasps periodically.
Have heavily worn pieces professionally cleaned when necessary.
Higher-purity gold can be relatively soft, so delicate components should never be forcefully bent or pulled.
Gold-Plated & Rose Gold-Plated Jewelry Care
Plated jewelry requires additional care because the outer finish can gradually wear depending on usage, skin chemistry, moisture, friction, chemicals, and storage conditions.
To extend the life of the plating:
Keep plated jewelry away from water whenever possible.
Remove it before showering or swimming.
Avoid perfumes, lotions, sanitizers, and cosmetics directly on the jewelry.
Do not use abrasive polishing cloths or harsh jewelry cleaners.
Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth after wearing.
Store each piece separately.
Important: Plating is a surface finish and may naturally fade or wear over time. The rate of wear varies depending on how frequently the jewelry is worn and how it is cared for.
Black Rhodium Jewelry Care
Black rhodium gives jewelry its distinctive dark finish. Because it is a surface treatment, it requires gentle handling.
Avoid rubbing or aggressive polishing.
Keep away from chemicals and chlorine.
Minimize friction against hard surfaces.
Do not use abrasive silver polishing products.
Store separately from other jewelry.
Over time, frequently contacted areas may show natural changes in the finish.
Moissanite Jewelry Care
Moissanite is suitable for regular wear, but the setting holding the stone should still be treated carefully.
To keep moissanite jewelry sparkling:
Wipe regularly with a soft cloth.
Avoid heavy buildup of oils, creams, and cosmetics.
Clean gently using appropriate mild cleaning methods.
Do not use sharp objects to clean underneath the stone.
Avoid strong impacts even when the stone itself is durable.
Periodically inspect prongs and settings.
If a stone appears loose, stop wearing the jewelry and have the setting inspected before wearing it again.
Gemstone Jewelry Care
Natural and treated gemstones can vary significantly in hardness, porosity, stability, and sensitivity to chemicals.
Do not soak gemstone jewelry unless you know the specific stone is suitable for soaking.
Use a soft cloth for routine cleaning.
Protect stones from scratches and hard impacts.
Store gemstone jewelry separately.
Special Care for Turquoise, Malachite & Lapis Lazuli
These materials should receive extra care.
Avoid:
Perfume
Cosmetics
Chemicals
Acids
Excessive moisture
Ultrasonic cleaners
Abrasive cleaning products
Use a soft, dry or slightly damp cloth when appropriate and dry the piece immediately.
Pavé & Stone-Set Jewelry Care
Pavé jewelry contains multiple small stones held in delicate settings. It should be treated more carefully than plain metal jewelry.
Do not pull, bend, squeeze, or twist pavé jewelry.
Avoid impacts against hard surfaces.
Do not use pins, needles, or sharp tools around stones.
Clean gently.
Check regularly for loose stones.
Remove before sports, workouts, household work, or sleeping.
If you notice movement in any stone, stop wearing the piece until the setting has been inspected.
Enamel Jewelry Care
Enamel provides beautiful color and detail but should be protected from hard impacts and abrasive surfaces.
For enamel jewelry:
Avoid dropping the piece.
Do not scratch the enamel with hard objects.
Keep it away from strong chemicals.
Avoid extreme heat.
Clean with a soft cloth.
Do not use abrasive cleaners.
Store enamel jewelry separately so other jewelry does not scratch its surface.
Charm Holder, Carabiner, Padlock & Jewelry Lock Care
The United Jewelry manufactures various functional jewelry components including charm holders, push locks, swivel locks, carabiner-style locks, padlocks, shackle locks, connectors, and enhancers.
These pieces may contain moving mechanisms and should be handled carefully.
Recommended Care
Open and close the mechanism gently.
Never force a lock if it does not open easily.
Do not bend the opening mechanism sideways.
Avoid overloading the holder with excessive weight.
Keep dust, cosmetics, and debris away from moving parts.
Check the lock before wearing to ensure it has closed properly.
Avoid repeatedly opening and closing the mechanism unnecessarily.
If a mechanism becomes difficult to operate, do not use excessive force, as this may damage small internal or moving components.
Chains, Clasps & Jump Rings
Chains and connecting components can be more delicate than the main jewelry piece.
To prevent damage:
Do not pull the chain forcefully.
Keep fine chains untangled during storage.
Check clasps before wearing.
Check jump rings and connectors periodically.
Avoid hanging excessive weight from delicate chains.
Store chains flat or hanging separately to reduce tangling.
Please Note: When a pendant or charm is sold without a chain, any chain shown in product photography may be used for presentation purposes only. Please refer to the individual product description for exactly what is included with your purchase.
How to Store Jewelry Properly
Correct storage is one of the easiest ways to protect jewelry.
For best results:
Store jewelry in a clean and dry environment.
Keep individual pieces separated.
Use soft jewelry pouches, lined boxes, or individual compartments.
Keep chains untangled.
Close clasps and locks before storing.
Keep jewelry away from bathrooms or other humid locations.
Avoid direct sunlight and excessive heat.
Make sure jewelry is completely dry before storage.
For silver jewelry, suitable anti-tarnish storage materials may help reduce tarnishing.
Things to Avoid
For longer-lasting jewelry, avoid exposing your pieces to:
Particularly delicate, plated, enamel, gemstone, and pavé pieces require extra care.
Can I Wear My Jewelry in the Shower?
We recommend removing jewelry before showering.
Soap, shampoo, conditioners, minerals in water, and other products can accumulate on jewelry and reduce its shine. Repeated water exposure may also shorten the life of plated finishes.
Can I Wear Jewelry While Swimming?
We recommend removing jewelry before entering a swimming pool, hot tub, ocean, or other body of water.
Chlorine, salt water, chemicals, and prolonged moisture can affect metals, plating, gemstones, and jewelry finishes.
Can I Sleep While Wearing Jewelry?
We recommend removing jewelry before sleeping.
Chains, prongs, clasps, stone settings, charms, and delicate components can experience unnecessary pressure, pulling, or friction during sleep.
Why Has My Sterling Silver Jewelry Tarnished?
Sterling silver may naturally react with substances in the surrounding environment and develop tarnish.
Humidity, sweat, cosmetics, chemicals, storage conditions, and individual skin chemistry can influence how quickly this occurs.
Regular gentle cleaning and proper dry storage can help maintain its appearance.
Why Is My Gold-Plated Jewelry Changing Color?
Gold plating is an outer surface layer. With regular wear, friction, moisture, cosmetics, sweat, chemicals, and individual skin chemistry can gradually affect the plated finish.
This is why proper care is especially important for plated jewelry.
Natural wear of plating over time is different from damage to the underlying jewelry.
Professional Maintenance
Jewelry worn frequently should be inspected periodically, especially pieces containing:
Pavé settings
Multiple gemstones
Hinges
Moving locks
Clasps
Fine chains
Delicate prongs
Jump rings
A professional jeweler can inspect settings, tighten loose stones, clean difficult areas, polish appropriate metals, and restore certain finishes when required.
Important Jewelry Care Disclaimer
Jewelry is a delicate product and its appearance and longevity depend greatly on how it is worn, handled, cleaned, and stored.
Normal wear may include minor scratches, surface marks, tarnishing of silver, gradual changes in polished finishes, and wear of plating. These changes can occur naturally over time and may vary according to frequency of use, environmental exposure, skin chemistry, and individual care habits.
Damage caused by pulling, bending, crushing, dropping, improper cleaning, chemical exposure, misuse, or excessive force may permanently affect the jewelry or its components.
Gemstones can also have natural variations in color, texture, pattern, inclusions, and appearance. Such variations are part of the individual character of many natural materials.
Always follow the specific care instructions provided for your jewelry whenever available.
Need Help With Your Jewelry?
If you are unsure how to clean or care for a piece purchased from The United Jewelry, please contact us before using chemical cleaners, polishing products, or attempting repairs.
Our team can help you understand the appropriate care method based on the jewelry’s metal, plating, gemstones, enamel, or construction.
The United Jewelry
Custom Jewelry Manufacturer & Exporter — Jaipur, India
