Make Your Jewelry Shine Like New With This Simple Hack

From family heirlooms to the precious gifts we’ve received from partners, jewelry holds a special place in our hearts. But no matter how much we cherish our pieces, whether they are worn on the regular or stowed away, chances are they could use a good shine. While you could go out and spend your money on a costly jewelry cleaning solution, why not freshen your pieces with things you already have on hand?

Jewelry can get dirty or lose its original shine for a lot of reasons. For one, oils from your skin can slowly build up as you wear your favorite pieces making them appear foggy or cloudy. Dirt and grime from surfaces you touch can also end up making your jewelry look dirty. Luckily, you can make your favorite pieces shine like new with two household ingredients: club soda and dish detergent!

There are a few ways to use club soda and dish detergent to clean your jewelry — it also depends on what you’re cleaning. The carbonation in the club soda helps to soften dirt while the dish detergent works on removing oils. If you’re cleaning metal like gold or silver, you’ll soak your jewelry in a solution made of these two ingredients before giving it a soft scrub. The same hack can be used to clean gemstones like diamonds, turquoise, and rubies.

If you’re cleaning pearl jewelry, you don’t want to soak them as this can cause the stones to lose their original luster. Instead, you’ll mix your solution and soak a wet cloth in it, then use that cloth to clean each stone individually.

To make your own jewelry cleaning solution, mix two to three cups of club soda with 10 drops of dish detergent in a small bowl. Fully immerse your pieces in the mixture (remember, don’t do this with pearls!), and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, remove your jewelry from the bowl and using a soft-bristle toothbrush, scrub the jewelry to remove any additional dirt and grime. Let dry and voilà!