How to keep plated jewelry from tarnishing

Plated jewelry does not fail randomly. It fails at specific points, from specific causes, in a fairly predictable order — and almost all of them are avoidable with habits that take no effort once they are habits.

This is what a counter learns from pieces coming back, arranged by how much damage each cause actually does.

What is happening to the metal

Two different processes get called tarnishing, and they need different responses.

Tarnish is a chemical film on the surface — silver reacting with sulphur compounds in air, sweat and some foods. It is a discolouration, not a loss of metal, and it polishes off completely.

Plating wear is physical removal of the gold layer, exposing the base metal underneath. It cannot be polished off, because polishing removes more of what is left. Once it has happened, only replating fixes it.

Everything below is aimed at the second one, because the second one is permanent.

The five things that do the most damage, in order

1. Chlorinated water. A swimming pool or a hot tub will strip a light plating in a handful of sessions and attacks the solder in settings. This is the single worst thing you can do to plated jewelry.
2. Perfume, hairspray and lotion. Alcohol and oils sit on the surface and accelerate everything else. The fix is order of operations: jewelry last, after everything else has dried.
3. Sweat during exercise. Salt plus friction plus heat. Take bracelets and rings off at the gym; a necklace under a shirt survives far better than a bangle on a wrist.
4. Cleaning products. Bleach and ammonia are the obvious ones. Washing-up liquid on its own is harmless; the dishwasher is not.
5. Storage in a heap. Pieces rubbing against each other in a dish is abrasion, and abrasion is what removes plating at the edges.

A storage routine that costs nothing

Plated jewelry wants to be dry, dark and separated. Any of the following works:

• The pouch or box the piece arrived in — this is what it is for, and it is why we ship the boxed sets in their boxes.
• A small zip-lock bag per piece, with the air pressed out. Unglamorous and extremely effective, because it limits contact with air.
• A compartmented box, one piece per compartment.

Chains should be hung or laid flat rather than balled up. A snake chain that has been folded sharply keeps the kink permanently.

Keep everything away from the bathroom. Steam and humidity are worse for a jewelry box than anywhere else in a home.

Cleaning, in the right order of aggression

Start with the gentlest thing that could work and stop as soon as it does.

1. A dry microfibre cloth. Wipe after wearing. This alone prevents most tarnish, because it removes the sweat before it reacts.
2. Warm water and a drop of plain washing-up liquid. Dip, wipe with fingers or a very soft cloth, rinse in clean water, dry immediately and completely.
3. A silver polishing cloth — on sterling silver only. These contain a mild abrasive. On a plated piece they remove plating.

What to avoid entirely on anything plated: toothpaste, baking soda, ultrasonic cleaners, jewelry dips, and any “instant” chemical cleaner. All of them work by removing surface material, which on a plated piece is precisely the material you are trying to keep.

Pearls and porous stones are different

Pearls are organic, soft and porous. Water gets behind them, silk threads stretch, and any chemical at all will dull the surface. Wipe a pearl with a dry cloth after wearing and put it away. Never soak a strung strand.

Opal and turquoise are porous too, and both dislike heat as well as chemicals. Treat them exactly like pearls.

Where wear shows up first

If you want to know how long a piece has left, look at the contact points: the underside of a bangle where it rests on a desk, the back of a clasp, the inside curve of a ring, and the point where a pendant touches a zip or a button. Those go first, always, and they go on every plated piece eventually.

A necklace worn over clothing lasts several times longer than a bracelet worn against a desk. That is not a quality difference, it is a friction difference.

What we can and cannot promise

We will tell you what a piece is made of and how the manufacturer says to look after it. We will not tell you a plated finish is permanent, because it is not, and any shop that does is describing something that does not exist.

If a finish fails unusually early — weeks rather than months, with ordinary wear — that is a fault and it is covered. Email the counter with the order number and photographs and we will deal with it under the Refund and Returns Policy.

Choosing for durability in the first place

If a piece is going to be worn every day, sterling silver and heavier plated pieces on the everyday pendant necklaces page will outlast a light costume finish. If it is for occasional wear or a gift, the boxed gold plated jewelry sets give far more for the money and store perfectly well between outings. The bracelets and bangles take the hardest life of anything we sell, so that is the page where the finish matters most.