Maintenance and care of your jewelry

All our Jaylaa jewelry is made with care from high-quality materials. For example, we use precious metals (925 sterling silver) and natural gemstones. But we also use the popular stainless steel jewelry, which does not discolor. You can easily clean the 925 sterling silver jewelry with a silver polishing cloth.

Sometimes the different terms such as gold plated, gold plated 14k, stainless steel, 925 sterling silver and so on can be quite confusing. Below I will try to give you some more explanation about the materials we use and how you can best handle them so that your jewelry lasts as long as possible.

The vast majority of jewelry is made of sterling silver. This is the best-known and most used type of silver. 925 means that the silver consists of 92.5% silver, to which 7.5% copper has been added. Pure silver is too soft to be processed into jewelry, so you will not come across this when you are looking for a beautiful piece of jewelry.

silver jewelry

Discoloration of sterling silver

925 sterling silver unfortunately does discolour, its discolouration is called oxidation. Then the silver becomes black. The nice thing is that you can always polish it nicely with a silver polishing cloth. Gold plated and silver jewelry can be affected by the acidity of your skin, perfume or body lotion. Silver discolours faster in some people than in others and this also applies to the tarnishing of gold plated or silver jewelry. Unfortunately, you can't do much about the acidity of your skin...

And then gold plated/gilded that is a layer of gold over a base material in most cases that is 925 sterling silver. Disadvantage is that it remains a layer and that wears off in the long run.

Then we also have Goldfilled and that is another story and you can see that in the price. With gold filled, a double layer of gold is used, and the gold used is also of much better quality. Finally, with gold filled, a metal base (925 sterling silver) is also used, but the layer of gold on top is much thicker.

TIPS for caring for your jewelry

Here are tips on how to keep your jewelry looking beautiful for as long as possible:

  • Always protect your jewelry from sharp blows, scratches, chemicals, sunlight and heat/cold.
  • Store your jewelry in a soft lined box or bag with an anti-tarnish strip. Try to keep pieces apart so they don't rub against each other.
  • Your jewelry will age and feel, so if you want to keep your pieces in pristine condition, clean your jewelry regularly with a professional jewelry cleaning product. Always read the manufacturer's instructions.
  • Please note that tarnishing may occur as a result of oxidation, caused by the interaction of silver or gold-plated jewellery with certain elements such as oxygen or sulphur and with certain (skin) acids.
  • Never go swimming with your jewelry, as chlorine in pools can damage all metals.
  • Avoid wearing while cleaning, gardening or performing sporting activities.

Please show us your Jaylaa item, tag us on Instagram #jaylaajewelry. We'd love that!