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Gold discoloration happens frequently and you might have already encountered it. You might have also used several solutions to solve this problem. With regard to this need, we are going to introduce several solutions to prevent gold discoloration. Regardless of the gold karat level, these solutions help you restore the shine and brightness of your pieces of jewelry and enjoy their beauty.
Gold Discoloration Short After Buying Gold
You have definitely noticed that soon after buying some pieces of jewelry, they lose their shine and brightness that they had at first. Therefore, your piece of gold doesn’t shine like before and looks like second-hand jewelry. However, this is a frequent problem and not long after you buy a piece of gold, you will see that it tarnishes. Though it is an entirely usual problem for pieces of jewelry, there are still distinctions in different types of gold. Due to these distinctions, pieces of jewelry tarnish differently.
As mentioned, gold discoloration is a recurring problem that you may have experienced too. This can happen more intensively in some cases and less in others. So the first question to be answered is what leads to gold discoloration and secondly, we should look for ways to solve this problem.
There are many things that affect the gold color and brightness. From how you use your piece of gold to how frequently you wear it and even the quality of the piece of gold, can all affect gold discoloration. No matter what the reason for gold discoloration is, there are methods to prevent it which will be discussed in this article.
Gold Discoloration and Tarnish in White Gold
The first thing that can cause discoloration is the color of gold. Taking a look at your pieces of gold, you will notice that white gold tarnishes faster than white gold and loses its brightness. This is a scientifically proven fact and is true about the white and yellow gold.
It should be also taken into account that white gold is more sensitive than yellow gold and discolors a lot faster. The reason for this fast pace is that gold is actually yellow and to change it to white, they need to use other metals such as silver, nickel, and rhodium. In other words, after the piece of gold is made with yellow gold, it should be plated with these metals. Gold is usually plated with rhodium. With the passage of time, the cover will go away. This is the first reason for the gradual tarnishing of gold and leads to the loss of brightness and beauty of pieces of gold.
Four Main Outer Reasons for Gold Discoloration
The fact that gold tarnishes gradually, is quite natural and understandable. Besides being natural, there are several factors affecting the color of gold and some can even speed up its pace. The best approach is to know them all so that we can easily control them. In this article, we will discuss four main reasons for gold discoloration, knowing which helps you take care of your pieces of gold more carefully.
Using Gold While Working with Detergents
Detergents can easily affect the color and brightness of gold and discolor it to a large extent. For example, if you are wearing a gold ring and want to work with detergents, you need to take it off and wear gloves before you start.
Gold Discoloration Due to Close Contact with Water
Since water contains chlorine, it can easily discolor gold. That’s why many people suggest taking off pieces of jewelry before taking a shower. This way, gold will not tarnish.
Body Sweat and Gold Discoloration
The hot summer weather or any other reason that causes you to sweat can cause gold ornaments to lose their brightness. Sweat carries waste materials and toxins which can affect the beauty and brightness of the piece of gold which are in contact with your body. Therefore, whenever you think that you will sweat more than usual, it’s preferable not to wear gold ornaments.
Constant Use of Gold
All the points that we have mentioned so far can remind us of one point. Using gold constantly can increase the possibility of damage to gold and the reasons that we have already mentioned above are all probable in this sense. If you want to have bright pieces of jewelry, you need to use them only occasionally.
Important Points in Gold Tarnishing and Discoloration
Besides the points that were just mentioned, there are other points that should be taken into consideration. These factors are not related to external factors and are related to the gold itself. So discoloration is not exclusively due to how we use the pieces of gold and other factors can influence it as well.
The most important point to take into consideration is the gold karat level. The higher the gold karat level, the less the possibility of discoloration. This is quite obvious and as mentioned in the definition of gold in previous articles, as the gold karat level increases, the purity level improves as well. As a result, they have more resistance to discoloration factors.
Furthermore, the plating style and the material used in the plating procedure can be effective in discoloration as well. So buying gold and jewelry at reliable shops is an important subject that can affect the quality of your gold pieces very much.
Don’t miss the article Gold Karat Analysis.
How to Brighten Gold with Home and Industrial Remedies
So far the reasons for gold discoloration which can be either inner or outer have been mentioned. Despite all these, there’s no need to worry and even if your pieces of gold discolor after a while, there are still several ways to make them look bright again. To capture some of these remedies, you need to visit the jewelry shop. Besides, you can also take action personally.
Now it’s time to provide you with some home remedies for cleaning tarnished gold. This way you can make your pieces of gold shiny and bright again.
Two Home Remedies for Cleab Tarnished Gold
As mentioned before, there are several ways to clean tarnished gold. There are also home remedies, two of which will be discussed as follows.
Using Ammonia to Make Gold Shine Again
One of the things that can help you remove tarnish from gold and make it shine again is ammonia. Using ammonia to make gold shine again is a method that needs great attention and care. In this regard, you need to make a dilute ammonia solution and leave the discolored piece in it for about a minute. To prevent any possible damage to your skin, you’d better use a metal clip for taking the piece into or out of ammonia. Finally, wash the piece of jewelry with lukewarm water and dry it with a towel.
Cleaning Tarnished Gold with Baking Soda.
Baking soda is another substance that can be used to make pieces of gold shiny again. To do so, you need to dip it in baking soda first and then wrap it in aluminum foil. Finally, pour some boiling water on it and let the foil react with baking soda. This reaction can take up to five minutes. After this remove the foil from around the piece of gold and wash it with water.
We also suggest you take a look at the further details on gold maintenance at home.
Article Conclusion
This article was about gold discoloration which happens inevitably to our frequently-used pieces of jewelry. In the beginning, we talked about the factors that can dull, tarnish or discolor gold, and the first piece of advice was to prevent them from too much contact with water, body sweat, and detergents. Therefore, the article provided you with some information about gold tarnish and discoloration and what to do and what not to prevent gold from getting discolored. Furthermore, we said that there’s no need to worry even if the piece of gold is discolored, and suggested a few ways for removing tarnish and making the pieces of gold shiny again.
The first way we suggested, was having the pieces plated again at the jeweler’s shop. This is, however, not much time-consuming and can be done fast. Secondly, we talked about home remedies and said that you can remove gold tarnish at home with ammonia. We also mentioned that it should be done carefully with a metal clip. The second home remedy is using baking soda. Dip your pieces of gold in baking soda, wrap them in aluminum foil, and finally pour boiling water on them. It causes a chemical reaction that brings brightness back to gold.
We hope that you have found this article useful and we’ll be looking forward to hearing your suggestions for cleaning tarnished gold.
