High-quality cubic zirconia stones can get dirty from day-to-day wear, just like diamonds and other gemstones, so you do have to clean them to maintain their original luster and brilliance. The same goes for precious metals platinum, palladium, gold, and sterling silver; you want to clean them from time to time to keep your jewelry in the best shape.
There are numerous jewelry, precious metal, diamond and gemstone cleaning products and liquids you can buy from most jewelry stores and even department stores. Some jewelry cleaning liquids and other products aren't sold to consumers at all-- jewelers only-- or cost an arm an a leg. But that's not the biggest danger.
WARNING: What kinds of jewelry, metal/material and stones they work well with cleaning-- versus what they can actually harm more than help-- varies widely.
Without reviewing the exact brand along with your intended use-- what materials make up the jewelry to be cleaned-- we believe no reputable jeweler or retailer should recommend any of these varied cleaning products for use on your jewelry. A recommendation should be for a specific product for a specific use (type of jewelry) with warnings not to use in other ways that could possibly harm other kinds of jewelry. See below for our CubicZirconia.com recommendation specific to jewelry purchased from CubicZirconia.com.
And don't even get us started on the 'home remedies' some people talk about for cleaning some kinds of jewelry. Sure, maybe it works on some jewelry some of the time but most of these substances like toothpaste, ammonia, bleach, or floor and glass cleaners are so harsh they ruin jewelry quickly with use (even if for a moment they make them look good). Yet because there can be a few moments or days where the jewelry looks clean/sparkles/shines...the false information that this is a good idea continues to spread.
But not to worry.
There are two simple ways to clean your CubicZirconia.com jewelry yourself, at home. One method is basically free, and the other will cost you less than US$15 bucks. We'll discuss both methods of cleaning fine CZ jewelry below.
With one or both of these simple, inexpensive methods you’ll be able to keep your CubicZirconia.com jewelry well-maintained, looking shiny/sparkly and in excellent wearable condition.
We recommend cleaning daily-wear rings, earrings, and pendants from CubicZirconia.com every week or at most every two weeks.
How to clean fine cubic zirconia jewelry in two simple ways:
1. Warm soapy water made with mild, blue Dawn-brand dish soap
a) To make the solution, use 2 parts warm water (not hot!) and 1 part dish soap.
We recommend Blue Dawn liquid dish soap because it is milder than most dish soaps made to cut grease and wash dishes. The water should be warm enough so it can wash away any build up of oils, lotions or soaps..but no so warm a reasonable person would call it “hot”.
b) Fully immerse jewelry into a bowl of solution fully and let soak for 2 minutes.
c) Gently scrub exterior surfaces with new, soft-bristle brush (example new toothbrush).
Do not scrub too hard, being especially careful about necklace clasps, and multi-shared-prong settings. Be even more gentle when slowly brushing tiny nooks and crannies, such as underneath a ring’s center stone, alongside tall prongs, within a necklace clasp, or surrounding tiny prong-set micropavé and small prong-set pavé accent stones (these can be pulled out of shape by too strong a tug if a bristle gets stuck under there).
d) Rinse each jewelry piece individually in second bowl of water (warm, not hot!).
e) Pat dry using a soft, lint-free cloth without strings (a jewelry polishing cloth works great, an eyeglasses cleaning cloth, or well-made absorbent towels that haven't started to fray with strings).
f) Repeat if necessary
Sometimes dirt and oil build-up on daily-wear jewelry-- or jewelry not cleaned for a long time-- can take a more than a single cleaning to thoroughly remove. Be patient and try a second time before taking any other action.
That’s it!
Forget every other “home remedy” jewelry cleaning BS you’ve ever heard.
Most of those are dangerous on at least some jewelry.
This soapy water is mild enough to protect your finest jewelry, and strong enough to do some serious cleaning even with the most durable materials.
For most jewelry cleaning, this simple method is all you need.
For rings, pendants, necklaces, bracelets and earrings that you wear daily, we recommend you clean them at least once a week; at the very least, clean these jewelry items every other week for longest-lasting wear.
This will help prevent the build-up of grime from sweat, dirt, body/hair oils, makeup and dust (any jewelry can easily acquire a buildup of such substances that will diminish its brightness-- especially if it is jewelry worn every day).
If that isn’t enough, there is also...
As mentioned before, there are a LOT of jewelry cleaners on the market. Some work for some jewelry and actually harm other jewelry made from different materials.
To help our staff answer questions of this nature, we contracted with a jewelry-cleaning product manufacturer that makes a jewelry cleaning liquid and polishing cloths we can recommend specifically to work for our kinds of jewelry (platinum, gold, palladium or sterling silver paired with 5A cubic zirconia stones).
The maker sells us jewelry cleaning liquid and polishing cloths at a good, wholesale-discounted price we can pass along to you fairly cheaply (less than US$15 bucks).
You receive two polishing cloths free with every purchase of our Gentle All-Purpose Fine Jewelry Cleaning Liquid. Or purchase just the polishing cloths from this product webpage.
Regardless of the jewelry cleaning fluid used, no more than twenty minutes submersion. And be careful not to submerge pearls, emeralds, opals or anything glued-in or inlaid in any cleaning fluid.
Please note the instructions on our product page if using CubicZirconia.com jewelry cleaning products. The CubicZirconia.com jewelry cleaning products are made and recommended to be used with our kinds of jewelry (platinum, gold, palladium or sterling silver paired with 5A cubic zirconia stones). We do not recommend use on any other jewelry. And we do not recommend the use of any other cleaning products on our jewelry.
See our through "Care and Cleaning FAQ" for more answers to these questions for additional how-to-cleaning notes specific to the precious metal TYPE of your CubicZirconia.com jewelry:
- "What is the best way to clean sterling silver cubic zirconia jewelry?"
- "What is the best way to clean gold cubic zirconia jewelry?"
- "What is the best way to clean palladium zirconia cubic jewelry?"
- "What is the best way to clean platinum cubic zirconia jewelry?"
Get CubicZirconia.com's jewelry cleaning liquid here.
Get CubicZirconia.com's jewelry polishing cloths here.
While not a “cleaning” per se, it is also recommended that white metal jewelry be rhodium-plated again every 6-12 months to protect it from normal wear and tear. Go here to read more about rhodium plating.