Summer Jewelry Care

Summer Jewelry Care
Summer is my favorite time of year, but all that fun-in-the-sun can be hard on your jewelry. Here are a few tips to help you make it through beach season with your favorite jewels in tact:

It’s best to keep your jewelry out of the sun.

Gemstones can be sensitive to light. Amethyst and topaz for example, can fade in color when exposed to sunlight. Pearls can become dry and brittle when subjected to extreme heat and light. It’s best to leave your gemstone jewelry at home when you are headed out for a beach day.

Be careful with sunscreen.

The chemicals in sunscreen are hard on jewelry. They may dull the finish of metal, or even cause discoloration of certain gemstones. Plus, any kind of lotion can build up on your jewelry causing gemstones to look dull and dirty.

Always remove your jewelry before applying sunscreen. Once the lotion has dried, you can put your jewels back on.

If you do happen to get sunscreen on your jewels, clean them up using warm water and gentle soap, and then rinse them well.

Don’t wear you jewelry in the pool or ocean.

Saltwater and chlorine can eat away at the metal in your jewelry, causing it to look dull. Over time, this can even cause the metals in your jewelry to become more brittle and fragile.

Additionally, many gemstones can be adversely affected by saltwater and chlorine. For example, porous gemstones like opal can become discolored when exposed to chemicals. Color-treated gemstones like topaz are sensitive as well. I once had a client wear a blue topaz ring in a hot, salt-water spa, which caused the color of the topaz to fade.

And lastly, you wouldn’t want to lose any of your jewelry in the ocean. Say you are at the beach and want to jump into the ocean for a quick dip. That cold water can make your fingers shrink and your rings to loosen. If that precious ring falls off in the ocean it is gone forever, and we don't want that.

Pack with care.

Go ahead and invest in a jewelry travel case for your next vacation. That way you can keep your jewels organized and safe. When packing, keep individual pieces of jewelry from touching one another. That will keep harder metals from abrading softer alloys, or a harder gemstone scratching a softer one.

Wishing you (and your jewels) a wonderful summer!

Thanks for reading.

~ Claire


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