If your silver has small details, use a soft-bristled toothbrush to get them shining. Finish by rinsing with water, and buffing dry with a clean cloth. Rinse your silver with cold water, and buff it dry with a soft cloth.
Skip the toothbrush. The bristles are too stiff and can scratch. Instead, use a horsehair brush designed for cleaning silver.
Scrub: If necessary, gently scrub to remove any dirt with a soft bristled toothbrush or damp cloth. Its important for the toothbrush bristles to be as soft as possible – harsh bristles can scratch the silver.
6 Toothpaste
This is a classic, easy DIY silver cleaning recipe. Use non-gel and non-abrasive toothpaste. Squeeze a small amount of it on a soft cloth or paper handkerchief. Rub onto the jewellery or silverware with circular motions to polish it and clean off the tarnish.
Clean jewelry with soap and water.
Just add a few drops to a warm basin of water and let your jewelry soak for 15-30 minutes. Then remove it from the basin and gently brush with a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush to get grime out of the grooves. Finally, rinse and dry.
Cleaning your wedding rings at home is a simple task that you can do with everyday items you readily have in the kitchen or bathroom, such as dishwashing soap, warm water, a soft bristle toothbrush and a gentle cotton cloth.
Clean Silver with Dish Soap and Water
The key to cleaning silver without damaging it is to avoid abrasion. Cleaning silver with harsh abrasive products like chlorine bleach, or storing it using rubber bands and newspaper, is a no-no.
Toothpaste contains abrasive particles that can polish off tarnish.
Sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to salty air, chlorine, sulfur, humidity, perspiration, cosmetics, household bleach and other strong chemicals.
PREMIUM 1% HORSEHAIR BRISTLES: Horsehair is the only bristle that will not scratch silver. These extra soft genuine Horsehair brushes are gentle enough to be used on even delicate and detailed silver pieces. They can safely be used to clean, apply polish, foam, paste, wash and spray polish to fine and heirloom silver.
The copper reacts to moisture and sulfur in the air, causing the sterling silver tarnish. Silver tarnishes faster in areas with high humidity and air pollution. Chemicals like hairspray, perfume, deodorant, body lotion, bleach, etc., can speed up the tarnishing process.
"In general, a few drops of good old Dawn dish soap in warm, not hot, water will do the trick to keep most gold and silver jewelry clean. Let your pieces soak for about five minutes in the solution and rinse in lukewarm water. Then place them on an untreated microfiber cloth to buff dry," says Levitt.
Simply pour the coke into a bowl and submerge your silver into it. The acid in the coke will quickly remove the tarnish. Keep an eye on it – just a few minutes should be enough. Rinse with warm water and dry carefully with a soft cloth.
Combine the baking soda and salt. Then add vinegar and boiling water. The simple (but fun-to-watch) chemical reaction should begin to remove the tarnish immediately. Heavily tarnished pieces may need to soak a little longer.
Cleaning silver with vinegar is safe for your silver, you, and the environment, and it's great for bringing back the sparkle. Vinegar is a natural cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer that is tough on tarnish. Here's how to polish silver and get back that sparkling shine with vinegar and baking soda.
Aluminum is one of several metals that are more reactive than silver. Since it's more reactive, it will pull sulfur atoms from tarnish through an electrochemical process. The silver sulfide (the tarnish) transfers its sulfide ions to the aluminum, converting back into silver and creating aluminum sulfide on the foil.
A mild dish soap: The pros recommend using citrus-free and phosphate-free dish soaps like Dawn Dishwashing Liquid. Cotton balls, pads, or swabs: These are best for applying hand sanitizer or polish to your silver to remove tarnish.
If you leave it in over the recommended amount of time, it won't harm your jewelry, however if a chemical reaction does occur that discolors your jewelry, use a polishing cloth to remove the color and restore the original color.
Jewelers use ultrasonic cleaners with high frequency sound waves and chemicals, which create bubbles that latch on to the dirt on the diamond. The high frequency sound waves pull the dirt away from the stone and bring them up to the surface.
Combine Vinegar and Baking Soda: Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 Tbsp. baking soda together, then let your silver jewelry soak in the mixture for two to three hours before rinsing and polishing.
Vinegar is another popular at-home solution for cleaning. But like lemon juice, vinegar is very acidic and will cause damage to your soft stones and plated jewelry. Soaking your jewelry in a bowl of vinegar will remove the jewelry's shine and finish.