How to Care for and Clean Natural Turquoise Jewelry
Natural, untreated turquoise while beautiful needs some special care and attention to maintain its wonderful luster and color. Failure to handle nature turquoise properly can result in the stones becoming discolored or even damaged. The following guide will help prevent any harm to your precious turquoise jewelry.
- Store turquoise jewelry individually and separate from jewelry with harder gemstones that can scratch the softer turquoise.
- To prevent silver from tarnishing, place silver turquoise jewelry in a sealable zip-lock bag with all the air pushed out. For extra protection place an anti-tarnish cloth in the bag.
- Watch out for cosmetics! The chemicals in beauty products, presumes, sunscreen, etc. can discolor the stone. Apply and let beauty products dry before putting on turquoise jewelry.
- Prolonged direct sunlight or extreme temperature can also damage or discolor turquoise stones. Do not store turquoise jewelry in direct sun or near extreme hot or cold.
- When preforming household chores, remove turquoise jewelry so that any extraneous activities or chemicals do not damage the stones.
- Commercial jewelry cleaners and ultrasonic cleaners can damage or discolor turquoise. Never use these to care for your turquoise jewelry.
- To properly clean turquoise, using just water carefully brush with a soft brush and dry with a soft lent free towel.
- Contrary to popular belief, mild soap and any cleaning agent can damage turquoise stones.
- To remove any tarnish that develops on silver, rub it off carefully with a jewelry polishing cloth.
- Watch out for sweat! Sweat will cause silver to tarnish and the oils and salts from your skin can discolor and damage natural turquoise.
