When properly cared for, sterling silver jewelry like Pandora will look great for years to come. Here are some tips and products that I’ve found to help clean your precious Pandora pieces, and to protect them from the effects of tarnish and oxidation (when you don’t want it).

What causes silver to tarnish?

Sterling silver starts off bright and shiny, but as it’s used and enjoyed it will eventually start tarnishing; the surface will turn a slight yellow, and if not cleaned it the piece will gradually shift from yellow to a black. This discoloration is the result of oxidation and is caused primarily by two things: contact with sulfur compounds, and moisture.

Technically hydrogen sulfide causes the reaction, and it’s found in lots of everyday objects like wool, rubber, and foods like eggs and onions. Excessive exposure to items containing hydrogen sulfide will accelerate the tarnishing process so if you’re working with these things be sure to take off your Pandora jewelry first! The second cause of tarnishing is moisture — exposure to excessive moisture will hasten the oxidation process just like sulfur, except that it’s a lot more difficult to completely avoid moisture. Proper storage will help minimize this while you’re not wearing your Pandora jewelry, but the simple act of wearing your bracelet or necklace means that your pieces are slowly tarnish.

But don’t worry, tarnishing is a natural effect and is not permanently harmful to the silver. In fact, Pandora actually uses this as a detailing technique on many of their sterling silver pieces!

How to clean your silver Pandora jewelry

It’s pretty easy to clean off the tarnishing that occurs as part of everyday wear and there are variety of tools and techniques you can use.  First, and most importantly:

Never use chemical jewelry cleaners!

Some jewelry stores sell bottles of liquid chemical cleaner that’s supposedly designed for deep cleaning all kinds of jewelry, including sterling silver and gold. While this may sound like what you need, these chemical cleaners are often too harsh and not designed for handmade, delicate detailed pieces like Pandora jewelry. Often a bath in these cleaners does TOO good of a job, and all of the fine detailing on your charms that was done with oxidation effects is now gone! There’s any number of horror stories of ladies putting their charm bracelets into these cleaners and having their jewelry come out ruined.  If this happens to you, take your charms to your nearest store for advice.

Using a silver cloth

A silver cloth is a great and easy tool for helping you get that tarnish off your Pandora pieces. These silver cloths are soft polishing cloths that contain a mild chemical that helps remove oxidation from the silver surfaces. No water or special handling is needed; you simply rub the silver piece with a clean section of the cloth and watch as all the tarnish gets cleaned right up. These are great for spot cleaning since you can quickly clean up a piece without having to use water, towels, or other tools.

The only downside to silver cloths is that it get used up pretty quickly — once a section of it is “dirtied” with tarnish from cleaning, it can’t really be reused again. While Pandora says that you can keep using the clothes even after it’s completely dirty, I’ve not found it to be as effective. Washing the cloth will remove the tarnish and make it look new, but the cleaning chemical that was in the silver cloth is removed as well .

Silver cloths can be found at jewelry and department stores under a variety of brands, but I found that the Pandora branded one that they sell in the concept stores works particularly well and only costs $5 USD. It seems to do a better job of removing the oxidation from the small nooks and crannies of the charms, and it’s what the Pandora sales ladies use in the store to keep their collection looking brilliant.

Using warm soapy water with a toothbrush

If you don’t have specialized products on hand, you can always use simple warm soapy water to clean up your Pandora pieces. This technique is actually recommended by Pandora for basic cleaning — add a drop of mild liquid soap or dish detergent to a bowl of warm water, and use a soft bristled toothbrush dipped in the water to gently scrub your silver pieces.

The warm water and soap helps loosen up the tarnish and any other organic bits while the soft bristles of the brush (make sure it’s a soft toothbrush!) scrub them out without scratching the silver. It can take a little more elbow grease than some of the other methods but it works, and everyone should have some soap and warm water nearby :). For very tarnished and dirty pieces, Pandora recommends soaking the piece in the warm soapy water for a few minutes before tackling it with your soft bristled toothbrush.

Be careful to wrap your pearls to keep them from getting wet. Pearls are made from organic materials (i.e. in an oyster!) and can eventually erode (after decades). Because of this you’ll want to keep from exposing pearls to water, lotions, perfumes, etc.