How to clean gold with hydrogen peroxide at home: is it possible, recipes for solutions

Good afternoon, reader!

In today's episode we'll talk about how to give jewelry its original look. Namely, how to clean gold with hydrogen peroxide yourself.

Gold is a noble metal of yellow color, soft, but heavy due to its high density. Due to its thermodynamic properties, it is used in the creation of jewelry. The high plasticity of gold allows you to create openwork patterns; the metal is drawn into the thinnest wire.

Improved physical properties are achieved in an alloy that contains other alloying elements: copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, silver, palladium. Gold is responsible for corrosion resistance, beauty and elegance. Impurities give characteristic shades from pink to green, copper - red.

Causes of gold contamination

Pure gold does not oxidize. In jewelry it is used only as an alloy with other metals. This way the product becomes much stronger mechanically, but more vulnerable and unstable to alkalis and acids.

The aggressive environment of household chemicals, cosmetics, dust, sweat - this is a list of possible polluters. Under the influence of these natural reagents, gold items become dull and lose their shining original appearance, and darkening appears in some places. Scratches are possible during wear.

In the workshop, the jeweler will professionally clean the item and present a polished piece without scratches. But what should those who do not have such a master and extra funds for jewelry services do?

Let's reveal the secret. There are a number of products available at home, thanks to which you can clean yourself, ridding gold items of dirt and plaque. One of them is hydrogen peroxide.

Efficiency of the method

The method of treating gold jewelry with soda is really effective. The risk of damaging the product when using soda is minimal. It will not damage the jewelry, but will only remove dirt and polish the surface.

The method does not require special preliminary preparation.
The products used in it can be found in any home.
It won't take much time.

If the damage to gold is deep and cannot be repaired at home, you must use the services of a specialist jeweler.

Is it possible to clean gold with hydrogen peroxide?

You can clean gold at home using different methods. The king of home cleaning products is hydrogen peroxide. When choosing this method, you should know: peroxide is almost always used in combination with an ammonia solution (ammonia) or soap solution.

Mechanism of action of antiseptic

The mechanism of action of the cleaning solution is the interaction of hydrogen peroxide with an ammonia solution, during which a chemical reaction with the formation of peroxide causes an antiseptic property, removing dust, dirt, sweat and other bactericidal microflora. The product regains its shine and clean, even shade.

Purchased professional products

Modern manufacturers offer a wide variety of professional products designed for cleaning gold jewelry. Among them are the following:

Microfiber cloths. They have a special impregnation that helps remove black spots and dirt. The use of wipes is for cleaning, polishing and adding shine.
Gold care products in the form of paste or gel. Their use protects the surface from staining for a long time.
Balms. Cleaning gold jewelry using products of this type helps remove small scratches from their surface, as well as add shine.
Solutions. One of them is Aladdin solution. The kit includes a container with solution, a soft brush, tweezers and a napkin. The amount of solution is enough to perform 5–8 cleanings.

Advantages and disadvantages of peroxide

The advantages of this method are the availability, low cost of hydrogen peroxide and other products used with it, and a minimum of time spent. Both drugs are available without a prescription in pharmacies. Cleaning time is minimal. Before a dinner party, theatrical performance or other celebration, it is enough to dilute these two components with water and after 15-20 minutes, while you are getting dressed, the jewelry will shine like new.

The disadvantage of this cleaning method is the lack of versatility. The fact is that this method is unacceptable if there are precious stones in the jewelry. This type of cleaning medium is not suitable for them due to its aggressiveness.

Cleaning at home

The process of cleaning gold in peroxide.

To clean gold metal jewelry at home, you don’t need a large number of chemicals; you just need to know the main ones that will return the shine to the products.

Hydrogen peroxide 2% . Has an antiseptic effect that actively eliminates germs. When rubbing metal surfaces, it eliminates dirt and unpleasant odors absorbed by the jewelry. Enhances shine with an added layer of reflective units.
Ammonia is an aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide, cleanses gold from contaminants even at the slightest contact, and is an antiseptic, which helps eliminate microbes that have settled on the product during the day.
Dentifrice.

A good lightener for darkened areas. Its large scrubbing particles, like sandpaper, clean the surface of the jewelry. The photo shows a cleaned product.
Soap, detergents, and washing powders wash away the sticky coating formed on the gold product in contact with the skin, creams that women use without removing the jewelry.
Table salt gives precious metals their original shine and purity.
Ammonia peroxide, hydrogen . Ammonia peroxide is a more active chemical reagent compared to hydrogen. Therefore, its use forces you to handle products more correctly, especially if they are old or stale.

All of the chemicals and detergents listed are available for sale in a store or pharmacy.

Hydrogen peroxide

This peroxide is most often used to add shine to gold jewelry, removing the sticky dirt layer from it, lightening the dark spots.

Hydrogen peroxide should be in every MOM's first aid kit!

Typically, cleaning expensive accessories involves generously moistening a piece of cotton wool, gauze or a cotton swab with peroxide, and then polishing the gold item . However, there are more effective cleaning methods using several chemicals that do not require extensive polishing of the jewelry.

Peroxide and ammonia

To add shine you will need the following ingredients:

a glass of plain water, warmed to room temperature;
hydrogen peroxide - 3 tbsp. l.;
ammonia - 1 tsp;
liquid laundry soap - 1 tsp.

The use of toothbrushes is not recommended.

Mix the above components in a small glass container.
Place gold items in it for 20 minutes.
After the specified time has elapsed, remove the accessories from the liquid and wipe with a soft piece of cloth or non-woven cloth.

Peroxide and soda

Peroxide and soda ash or baking soda also seem to be good cleaning agents. If you don't have the latter, you can use regular tooth powder.

Existing methods for cleaning gold items from sticky, dirty deposits are determined by the following actions:

While boiling water, add hydrogen peroxide and two tablespoons of any soda or tooth powder.
Accessories are wrapped in gauze and immersed in boiling water for no more than 10 minutes .
Then they are taken out and rinsed with a stream of water .
Peroxide is mixed in a glass with soda, a cotton swab or ear swab is dipped into the mixture and the product is wiped. Do not wash purified gold with water.

It is not recommended to use synthetic fabrics, sponges, or hard brushes. Only soft natural fabrics and cotton wool are used as cleaning materials .

Which samples can withstand this treatment?

This cleaning method is suitable for all precious metal samples.

Important: The product sample indicates the gold content in the alloy and is controlled at the state level. The higher the standard of gold jewelry, the higher its vulnerability to damage.

5 samples are considered generally accepted in Russia:

375 (Au 38%)
500 (50.5% gold)
585 (58,5%)
750 (75,5%)
958 (96,6%)

999 - pure gold, hallmark for bullion. In the country's jewelry industry, there are products of 583, 900 and 916 samples, as evidenced by the stamp on the gold jewelry.

Preparing gold for cleaning

When preparing gold for cleaning, you need to consider the following factors:

the presence of precious stones on the product;
sample of gold jewelry;
density of the material.

If the product has at least one addition in the form of a precious stone, then with such decoration you need to be doubly careful and choose a more gentle cleaning method.

A lot depends on the sample of gold jewelry. The lower the grade, the more difficult it is to clean the product, which means it is necessary to soak it prematurely.

The high density of the material allows its owner to carry out all types of cleaning with decoration. After all, with the low density of the product, it is very easy for the owner to scratch the decoration.

Attention!

Before cleaning, you should leave the jewelry in a salt solution if there are no gemstones on the item.

How not to clean gold

There are many proven ways to clean gold at home. Although their effectiveness has been proven in practice, there are contraindications.

When delicately cleaning gold items with precious stones, you should refrain from using aggressive reagents. They cannot be cleaned with acids, including vinegar. Subject to mechanical impact with abrasive materials or a rough brush. Products inlaid with stones are afraid of water. Turquoise and coral do not tolerate alcohol. White gold reacts negatively to powder and toothpaste.

Features of purification of various types of gold

Different types of metal are cleaned differently. Due to differences in alloy compositions, one or another product may damage the jewelry or be completely ineffective.

Red

The alloy contains copper, so the products acquire a beautiful shade. Such gold can be cleaned at home using all available methods, which cannot be said about white jewelry.

Matte

Such gold requires careful handling and delicate cleaning. You can prepare a solution from 3 g of quicklime, 1 g of soda, a glass of clean water and leave it to infuse for several days. After the specified time, the jewelry is immersed in liquid for 3 hours, then washed and dried.

Low quality

Gold with a purity lower than 585 must be carefully cleaned only using a soap solution. Compositions containing ammonia can change the color of the metal by reacting with it. Before you clean gold of this type, you should think a hundred times whether it’s worth the risk, or whether it’s better to turn to a professional.

Gold plated items

Many jewelry stores offer jewelry made not from a gold alloy, but with a slight coating - gold plating. Such things easily become scratched and lose their shine, so it is important to choose a delicate but effective cleaning product. You can moisten a cotton pad in beer or wine alcohol and gently wipe the product. Then rinse the jewelry under running water and dry with a clean soft cloth or in the open air.

Cleaning Solution Recipes

Try to clean gold with the simplest and most commonly available household products: soda and salt. From them, cleaning solutions based on hydrogen peroxide are prepared, which cope with light stains. Sometimes sugar is also added there.

Peroxide with soda

To clean, you need to do a number of well-established steps:

In 200 ml. water, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and the same amount of 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Place the decorations on the foil-lined bottom of the container you are using overnight.
Upon completion of the process, remove, rinse, dry, rub with a napkin until shiny.
A colorless lipstick will give a polishing effect.

Important: it is recommended to use a non-metallic container (glass, ceramic) for cleaning reagents.

With salt

A simple solution for cleaning precious metals, called express cleaning, is salt water.

The manipulations are really simple: dilute three tablespoons of salt in a glass of warm water. Immerse the gold jewelry and leave it overnight; In the morning, rinse and dry, polish with felt, velor or velvet. That's all. Your jewelry will shine again, shining with purity and nobility.

Cleaning chemicals

Peroxide is an excellent auxiliary component for more effective cleaning of jewelry.
Soda is not the only ingredient that can be used to clean gold. A high degree of purification of gold products is achieved by the use of hydrogen peroxide. You can simply apply it to a cotton pad and wipe the ring.

Also, a good cleaning result is achieved by using a mixture of peroxide and ammonia. The components are mixed in a ratio of 2 to 1, then the gold items are immersed in this solution for 10-12 hours. The container must be covered with a lid so that the vapors of the chemical ingredients do not evaporate too quickly.

Cleaning tarnished gold jewelry with vinegar is also possible, but requires great care. The concentration of acetic acid should not exceed 3%, but even in this case it must be diluted by half with water. If we are talking about a ring or bracelet with inserts made of precious or semi-precious stones, the use of vinegar when cleaning them is unacceptable.

With any method of chemical cleaning, after completion, the items must be thoroughly rinsed under running water.

What's the best way to clean very dirty gold?

If the jewelry is very dirty and the previous 2 methods did not help you, then it would be best to use the following solution with hydrogen peroxide.

Preparing Jewelry for Cleaning

Take off your gold jewelry and sort it into categories:

separate pendants with stones from the chain;
rings with diamonds or other precious stones;
set white gold aside from yellow gold.

This sorting is necessary because what is suitable for one subgroup is not suitable for another and vice versa.

The importance of following the recipe exactly during the cleaning process

The favorable outcome of the procedure undertaken entirely depends on pre-thought-out actions - this includes the choice of container for cleaning, the preparation of cleaning products (solution, sticks, brushes, napkins) - everything is prepared in advance and is at hand.

Observe the time of immersion in the solution, do not overexpose it - a moment that cannot be neglected.

Peroxide + ammonia

Let's consider the cleaning algorithm:

Take a glass (not metal!) of clean, boiled, warm water.
Pour 2 teaspoons of ammonia and 2 tablespoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide into it.
Thoroughly stir the contents of the glass and immerse the jewelry for 15-20 minutes.
Rinse cleaned products thoroughly.
Dry with a soft, clean cloth.
Polish with a cloth (velor will do).

By the way, you can try to do without ammonia by replacing ammonia with dishwashing detergent in the amount of 1 teaspoon.

How to clean jewelry?

You can clean precious metal with peroxide yourself. Of course, this procedure is less effective than the one offered by the jeweler, but it will help remove dirt and plaque from the surface of the jewelry.

Hydrogen peroxide

In addition to peroxide, you can use it for cleaning:

Soap or dishwashing liquid.
Powder for washing things.
Ammonia or ammonium peroxide.
Sugar, salt, soda.

You can clean jewelry with peroxide after preparing a special solution. It is not recommended to use only one element. Hydroperite in diluted form or hydrogen peroxide are sold in pharmacies; they have a bleaching effect and react with water (hissing and the release of gas in a small amount). Some time ago, women were frantically buying peroxide, wanting to turn their dark hair white.

To remove dirt and plaque from the surface of gold, it is the property of bleaching or lightening that is needed.

But first, you should prepare a solution in which you will need to immerse the jewelry. The solution contains the following components:

water in the amount of one glass (250 ml);
ammonia, one or two teaspoons;
hydrogen peroxide, 30–35 mg (it is advisable to use a 3% solution);
liquid soap, two teaspoons; If there is no soap, you can replace it with dishwashing liquid.

It is worth using non-metallic dishes for cleaning; porcelain, earthenware, ceramics and even plastic are suitable. Warm water is poured into the container and all the components are added, the solution is thoroughly mixed using a wooden spoon, and all the jewelry that needs cleaning is placed in it.

Gold cleaning

The solution should completely cover the jewelry; you should not disturb or remove jewelry from it. The procedure lasts no more than 10–15 minutes. Then the products are taken out of the solution and washed under a stream of cold water, wiped dry, and polished with suede.

The method is quite reliable, but not very popular for certain reasons. The disadvantages of such cleaning can be considered:

Low efficiency.
Cannot be used to clean jewelry with stones.
Do not use if you need to clean white gold.

The cleaning solution will not help remove dirt from hard-to-reach areas. It will be difficult to clean openwork carvings and other decorative elements from plaque.

Jewelry set with stones is not cleaned this way. Soaking may cause the stone to change color. Minerals, as well as gemstones, react differently to humidity.

White gold is an alloy of several metals; the material itself is capricious, so it is best to clean it in a workshop.

There are several more methods that will help remove dirt, plaque and even oxides from the surface of jewelry:

The easiest and safest way is to wash the item in a soap solution; you can prepare a concentrated product, or you can simply open the tap and wash the jewelry under hot water.
Salt and sugar are suitable for cleaning jewelry. Sugar or salt in high concentration is added to hot water, after which the jewelry is placed in the water. It is better to leave the product in the solution for the whole night, and then rinse with water and wipe with suede.
There is another method - boiling, but it is considered dangerous: not all decorations tolerate increased temperatures well. If the product is inlaid with stones, then you should not boil it; at high temperatures, the stone may darken or even fall out. You need to boil the decorations in clean water, using a metal container, with foil placed on the bottom of the container. Dishwashing detergent is added to the water, then the items are placed and boiled for 15–20 minutes.

If there is a danger of harming the product, then you should refuse to carry out the procedure at home and contact a jeweler.

After each cleaning, the product should be wiped with a dry, soft, lint-free cloth. Be sure to rinse under water, since the reagents can interact with the metal after the procedure is completed. Such contact can lead to the surface of the product being damaged and stains and marks appearing on the jewelry. It will be difficult to get rid of them.

Baking soda and tooth powder are two more ingredients that can be used in the procedure. But they should only be used if there is no fear of damaging the jewelry or scratching its surface. Tooth powder can be replaced with paste, and it is better not to use soda at all unless absolutely necessary.

And one more simple tip: any solution that is intended for cleaning items made of precious metals can be strengthened with soap or dishwashing liquid. If you don’t have anything like that on hand, then laundry detergent is also suitable. But first it should be completely dissolved in hot water so that no grains remain.

Polishing is another important stage; precious metals are polished exclusively with suede or cloth. The fabric must be clean and dry. If you polish your jewelry regularly, they won't need cleaning.

Other cleaning methods

If the above recipes with peroxide helped, but hard-to-reach places in the form of openwork weaves of precious metal remain untouched, then mechanical work cannot be done without.

Mechanical

For hard-to-reach places on jewelry, mechanical cleaning is used. The surest way is to use toothpicks, which you will have to dip in the cleaning solution. If necessary, wrap a small cotton swab around the tip of the toothpick.

The most effective thing here is not hydrogen peroxide, but a universal paste, which includes laundry soap, chalk, petroleum jelly, and tooth powder. These components are mixed with water until smooth. Apply a thick mixture to the product with a soft cloth and wipe off. The final stages of cleaning are standard washing and drying. In this way complete triumph is achieved.

How to polish gold to a shine

Polishing jewelry is another way to achieve a natural shine. As we have already said, you can use GOI paste for this purpose (Nos. 1, 2 and 3). You need to rub with light movements, avoiding excessive pressure and scratches.

You can make polishing paste with your own hands.

We will need the following components (in equal proportions):

regular toothpaste (without abrasive inclusions);
Vaseline ointment;
crushed chalk;
crushed laundry soap;
warm water.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, achieving a paste-like consistency. This composition is applied to the decoration and wiped thoroughly with a soft cloth. Then the jewelry is washed under running water, getting rid of the Vaseline. All that remains is to place it on a paper napkin and dry it.

You should absolutely not use abrasive materials for polishing, for example, soda, salt (even fine salt), or tooth powder. All these compounds can simply scratch the product, as a result you will not only not get rid of the dirt, but also get a new problem that will be almost impossible to get rid of.

Rules for wearing, caring for and storing gold jewelry

Delicate care of precious metal products will extend their service life. You should wear gold items carefully, do not expose them to mechanical stress, remove jewelry at night, periodically clean it, and store it in a special wooden case or box.

We hope that our recipes with hydrogen peroxide have helped you and brought additional knowledge to your treasury of worldly wisdom. In order not to miss all the most important things, subscribe to our articles. Don't forget to share useful information on social networks with your friends. See you soon!

Preventive measures

To preserve the shine and shine of gold for as long as possible, it must be handled correctly. If you are going to play sports or do any work associated with increased dirt, humidity, temperature changes - washing, cleaning, servicing equipment, etc. – before starting, hands should be freed from rings, rings and bracelets. Also, they should not be worn when going to the beach or to the bathhouse.

Women should try to avoid getting perfume on them. When removing jewelry, you must wipe it with a cotton swab. It is best to store gold in a box specially designed for this purpose (not a cardboard box!), away from sunlight, humidity and high temperatures.