How to Clean Gold-Plated Jewelry

Featured: The One and Only, The Hammer and The Promise in Gold

You just got a gorgeous gold engagement ring, and you want to keep it looking its best. Routine cleanings go a long way towards that. While you can strictly outsource your cleaning and have it professionally done, it’s actually easy to do at home. Discover how to clean gold-plated rings and other jewelry in this blog post.

What Makes It Gold-Plated?

Some hear the term gold-plated and worry that they’re buying fake gold. Fear not — that’s not how this works at all. While gold-plated jewelry is not pure gold, there is real gold in it. The difference here is that plated gold pieces are mixed with a non-gold base metal.

Gold plating is different from something like gold vermeil, however. Plating can be done on any metal, but vermeil can only be done on sterling silver. To be considered gold-plated, there has to be a layer of at least 0.5 microns of gold.

So, no, gold plating does not mean putting fake gold on a non-gold base. Plating is a fantastic way to get the look of gold jewelry at an affordable price. Plus, it’s easy to take care of!

Gold-Plated Jewelry Preventative Care

While this isn’t exactly part of how to clean your gold-plated jewelry, it is important. Getting into the habit of cleaning your jewelry is immensely important for the long-term health of your pieces. When you invest in jewelry, even if it’s an affordable piece of plated jewelry, you want to keep it for the long term. Why let it fall apart before the end of its useful life?

Featured: The Alexandria - Gold

One of the best things you can do is habituate yourself to clean your jewelry after you take it off. You don’t have to do a whole lot. Just wipe it down with a soft towel or cloth. Consider doing a more intensive cleaning every month or two. If you want, you can just outsource it to a pro once or twice a year. 

Plated jewelry may need to be re-plated from time to time, so bringing it to a professional for that every couple of years makes those repairs simple and minimal.

How to Clean Gold-Plated Jewelry Step by Step

Step 1: Warm Water and Dish Soap

Make sure the water isn’t hot. You want it to be comfortably warm, not scalding hot. Think of it like a relaxing bath for your ring. Once you’ve got the right temperature, mix in a couple of dashes of dish soap. A little goes a long way, so don’t worry about using too little.

Step 2: Use a Little Ammonia

Less is more on this one. In fact, you just need a couple of drops at most. Ammonia is strong stuff, so go really light when mixing it in.

Step 3: Carefully Apply

People find it easy to use a soft-bristle toothbrush or anything similar to apply the cleaning mixture to the ring. There are other options, but a soft toothbrush is the simplest way. Some people prefer to leave the ring in the mixture for a few minutes. If you’re going that route, leave it in for five minutes at the most.

Step 4: Rinse

But not in the warm water mix. You want lukewarm water for this. Drop your ring in a bit of lukewarm water until all the mixture is rinsed off. You may need to clean a bit off yourself, but the water should be able to do the trick on its own.

Step 5: Dry

You have two options here: air dry or use a gentle towel. If you’re air drying, make sure you place your ring on a soft surface like a plush towel. If you want to manually dry it, use a non-abrasive towel or paper towels and dry it gently.

Featured: The Belle - Gold

That’s all there is to it. Whether you have a yellow gold-plated necklace or a gold ring, the process is basically all the same. There are other recipes out there for cleaning your jewelry, so feel free to tailor your routine to what seems to work best for your piece. However, the fundamentals of all the cleaning routines are the same, so there’s not too much guesswork involved. 

Have a rose gold ring in need of a good clean? Don’t worry. We got you covered there, too! Read our blog on how to clean rose gold jewelry for precise instructions and care tips.