Ultimate care guide: Looking after your niin jewellery
If you're like us and love jewellery, you probably have quite an impressive collection at home. But over time and wear, you may notice some of your pieces looking dull or tarnished, particularly if you’re in a humid climate like Hong Kong. If some of your favourite accessories have started looking a little lack-lustre, it’s likely they are just in need of a little TLC to get them shining as good as new.
Recently, the regular washing of our hands has become an important routine in preventing the spread of coronavirus. Now more than ever, cleaning your jewellery should also be considered not only to keep your accessories as clean and germ-free as possible but also to help extend the life of your jewellery.
A few things to note on wearing rings and bracelets during the coronavirus outbreak:
- Take off all rings and bracelets before washing your hands and when applying lotion
- Avoid using sanitisers to clean jewellery and take pieces off when using hand sanitisers
Other things to note to keep your jewellery in pristine condition:
- Avoid spraying perfume, applying creams or any other liquids with chemical onto your jewellery
- Remove all jewellery when you shower, bathe or exercise, especially when swimming.
- Store jewellery separately or in a box with separators to prevent different materials rubbing against each other and getting tangled
At niin, most of our designs are handmade and the various crystals and shells used are all-natural, so it’s best to consider the hardness of the crystals and metals to determine the best way to clean them. ‘Hardness’ refers to the stone's ability to resist external stresses such as scratching.
You can determine the hardness value from The Mohs Hardness Scale below (1 being softest, 10 being the hardest):
- Talc
- Gypsum
Gold
Silver
Pearl - Calcite
Abalone shells
Copper
Howlite - Fluorite
- Apatite
Turquoise - Orthoclase
Steel
Tigers eye
Pyrite
Meteorite
Labradorite - Quartz (most niin crystals including rock quartz, citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, rutilated quartz, all Agate crystals etc.)
- Topaz
- Corundum (includes sapphire and ruby)
- Diamond (niin gentle diamonds)
Caring for materials at Hardness 7 or above
Soak in warm, soapy water as long as it takes to loosen trapped dirt. If needed, use a very soft toothbrush to gently brush the dust out of nooks and crannies. Rinse with another soak. Drip dry or wipe with a clean, soft cloth.
Caring for materials at Hardness 6 or below
For softer stones such as pearls, labradorite, abalone shells etc., use an untreated, dry, soft cloth only. If left unclean over time and accumulated dirt, it is best to use jewellery cleaning solutions suitable for pearls.
(Note: Do not submerge jewellery with these stones in the water or attempt cleaning with detergents)
Metal care
To remove fingerprints or markings and keep your precious metals looking radiant, we recommend using a polishing cloth - opt for a microfibre cloth. At niin, we use Town Talk Polish Co Ltd (available on request). Another well-known brand is Connoisseurs Silver Cloth, which polishes your jewellery while also applying an anti-tarnish formula.
With your microfibre cloth, gently rub the metal in one direction until clean. Avoid using tissue paper or paper towels to clean metal as they can cause unwanted scratches and damage.
Most niin pieces from metal are silver-based. When exposed to certain chemicals or substances in our everyday lives, silver may tarnish so we recommend caring, wearing and storing your jewellery as carefully as possible.
In addition to our standard complimentary repairs policy which covers your jewellery for the first 3 months of purchase, niin offer re-plating services for as low as HK $200.
Please note: the above instructions are recommendations only. If you have additional questions about the care and cleaning of your niin pieces, please feel free to contact us at info@niinstyle.com.
Source:
https://www.gemquarry.com/cleaning-your-crystals.html
https://www.joshuajamesjewellery.co.uk/blog/how-to-clean-your-jewellery-the-ultimate-care-guide/
https://www.gemsociety.org/article/select-gems-ordered-mohs-hardness/