Clean your gold chains with these 8 proven methods
Gold is a pretty soft material, it is only commercialized by adding other metals in its composition to take a form that will be useful to humans. This makes cleaning of a gold chain quite difficult, the gold can flake off easily if you do not know what you’re doing.
This article will provide you with the methodology on how to clean gold chain. There are actually 8 proven methods that you can do right now to clean your gold chain.
There will be disclaimers along the way since you have to do each method in a specific manner (in order to not damage the gold chain), you need to read carefully in order to properly do this. Follow appropriately and you should clean your gold chain with no problem.
Method # 1: Clean your gold chain using liquid soap and water
This is one of the most traditional ways on how to clean gold chains which not a lot of people may be aware of, you can actually use a simple liquid soap and water in order to be stain-free. This can be really simple.
First, you should add liquid soap to a container and fill it with water, preferably there should be a 50-50 split between the water and the liquid soap solution. The final product should be a solution that is watery but soapy at the same time.
Then you should submerge the gold chain into the solution and wait for the mixture to entirely cover the chain, after this, you can begin the rubbing. You can either use your hands or a clean toothbrush for this.
If you’re going to use your hands you should be careful as to not damage to the gold chain, it can be easy to get carried away with the rough rubbing. With your hands make sure that there is not a stain or oil left.
If you are going to use a toothbrush then it is simpler, just rub the thing back and forth (normally) and it should get most of the dirt. The bristles of the brush make it easier to reach the most isolated places of any gold chain, so this method is recommended.
Method # 2: Clean your gold chain using hot water
Another method that you can go for is boiling the gold chain in hot water for about 15-30 minutes, this should get rid of the dirt. This is one of the easiest methods to implement since you just have to throw the gold chain in hot water.
If you are wondering how you can possibly clean a gold chain with boiling water the reason is a little bit subtle, with high temperature the molecules are moving faster than normal. This causes the dirt to be a bit loose.
Adding the factor of water, there might be enough viscosity for the dirt to be washed off by the surrounding liquid (even without brushing the gold chain). This is of course only possible if the gold chain is completely submerged under hot water.
Brushing is not necessary since the combination of high temperature and viscosity will normally remove any excess oil and dirt, take note that you shouldn’t do this for too long though. The gold element can be separated by boiling water.
If we are talking about an antique gold chain with very weak properties then this might not be the best method (since it might damage the chain). If it is a healthy gold chain, the only thing that you should mind is the time spent under boiling water.
Method # 3: Clean your gold chain using rubbing alcohol
Learning how to clean gold chain with rubbing alcohol can be simpler than you think, it is preferred to use isopropyl alcohol which is the same one that is used in human sanitation. Rubbing alcohol is manufactured to clean things.
Alcohol has properties that allow it to identify oils/dirt and remove it (also kills bacterias) which can be very helpful if you want to clean your gold chain. With this you should only use your hand.
If you’re going to use a toothbrush it might not have enough force to completely remove the oil and dirt, using your hand makes it easy to maneuver in areas where the alcohol is applied. A toothbrush will also wipe out some of the applied alcohol.
Take note that a rubbing alcohol can also damage the gold chain once it is too old since the properties would be weaker. You shouldn’t also drench the gold chain into too much rubbing alcohol since it may remove some of its internal elements.
Method # 4: Clean your gold chain using ammonia
How to clean gold chain using ammonia? It is quite simple, drench the gold chain into a healthy mixture of ammonia and let it sit there for a couple of minutes. Take note that you should use a personal glove while doing this.
Ammonia is a very corrosive mixture, it can damage your skin in prolonged exposure so a personal glove is a must. It may be dangerous to your skin but this is also the reason why we can use it.
Ammonia is so strong that almost any dirt and oil would get wiped out from exposure (we should not forget that this is a cleaning solution) . We can use this to clean a gold chain by simply drenching it in a couple of minutes.
You should be careful with prolonged exposure of ammonia in gold chains however, it is so corrosive that it might be damaged if it was left for too long. No need to rub it as the mixture will do the work.
Method # 5: Clean your gold chain using beer
Now this is something unexpected, who would have thought that your favorite booze will be one of the methods you can use when trying to clean a gold chain? But it is actually possible.
To clean a gold chain this way simply drench the item in a healthy amount of alcohol (not even submerge it) and then start rubbing. Remember that beer is also part alcohol, this is one of the reasons you can use it.
This is how you can clean any gold chain with beer, just simply treat it as rubbing alcohol and use your hands to wash out the excess oil and dirt. Make sure to not use any dark ale since it might be too strong for the gold chain.
Method # 6: Clean your gold chain using a toothpaste
Toothpaste is one of the best cleaning solutions out there, it is antiseptic since it is literally manufactured to clean teeth and it also adds a little bit of fluorine. You can also use it to clean gold chains.
Simply treat your gold chain as your teeth and get a toothbrush, apply toothpaste and start rubbing it on the dirty gold chain. This should loosen up the dirt and let the toothbrush brush off the stains.
Using this method you can clean a gold chain with toothpaste, it is not recommended to use your hand on this though since it might not get to the most isolated areas of the gold chain.
Method # 7: Clean your gold chain using a commercial cleaning solution
There are many professional cleaning solutions that you can use to sanitize any type of jewelry, the range of products can include a filthy gold chain. You can easily find one by searching on amazon or similar commerce sites.
With these solutions instructions should be simple, you just have to apply the mixture and it will automatically flake off any dirt and oil latching onto the gold chain. Since this is a commercialized jewelry cleaning product it should not be too strong (since it might flake off the elements).
This is how you can clean any gold chain with a commercial cleaning solution, just apply it on the gold chain and it will do the magic. Read the disclaimer on the product to see if there might be any danger to gold products specifically.
Method # 8: Clean your gold chain using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner
This is pretty high-tech, an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is a sort of like a washing machine specifically designed to clean any type of stains commonly found in pieces of jewelry. This will include a gold chain of course.
This apparatus basically uses vibrations to break off any signs of dirt and oil present in the jewelry and wash it off with water. The reason why it is often called a washing machine for jewelry is that water needs to be applied to the equipment.
This is ideal if you have a huge collection of jewelry that will become dirty over time, you can wash it over and over again during circumstances where you need another cleaning. This is not good if you only have a single gold chain though.
Buying an entire apparatus that probably costs a lot of money for cleaning a single gold chain that will not always be dirty is not worth it. It is better to implement the other solutions if you don’t have a collection of jewelry that will need regular cleaning.
Conclusion
There are many ways that you can implement to clean your gold chain right now, this article has provided 8 ways you can do that which can provide flexibility in any particular situation. You’ve got to take advantage of this information.
There are many easy ones that will apply to the general population but also a lot of specific ones that will only apply to jewelry collectors. Whatever the method you choose, just make sure that your gold chain can actually stand it.
We have put in a lot of disclaimers on specific methods since it might damage your gold chain, do not do those if you think that your gold chain is old/too weak to stand it. Hope you have gotten a lot of value in this article, thank you for reading.
