The jeweller revealed his secret: you can clean gold and gold-plated jewellery with one simple ingredient.

It’s a fact that few people remember to take care of their jewellery regularly. Yet jewellery is very easy to get dirty and is also home to many germs. This is why it’s important to clean your jewellery not only for aesthetic reasons but also for hygienic reasons. The good news is that you don’t have to make a trip to the jeweller to get your gold jewellery cleaned. You can easily handle it yourself at home.

Clean your gold with dish detergent.

If you are going to a gold cleaning event at home, prepare these few things:

Remove any dirt that won’t come off with a soft toothbrush. Then remove the jewellery and place it on a microfibre cloth. Carefully rinse the jewellery under running water. Use the strainer again for smaller pieces. Finally, polish with a microfibre cloth.

Cleaning jewellery with stones

Some say you shouldn’t clean jewellery with stones yourself at home, but experts say you can if your jewellery contains a precious or semi-precious stone such as a diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire. Use the same procedure as above, but use salt water instead of plain water.

Lemon juice is also an excellent cleaning agent

If you want to try a slight variation, use a few drops of lemon juice instead of dish detergent. Mix these with warm water, stir, and let the jewellery soak for 20 minutes. Take them out, spread them out on a towel and let them dry for a few hours. Then rinse with lukewarm water and polish.