Yellow gold is a surprisingly soft metal that requires special care and cleaning techniques. Before you start buffing away build-up and risk damaging your jewelry, read through these helpful tips. Also, we explain the important difference between karat gold and gold vermeil (or gold-plated) jewelry and how to clean each.

Everyday Cleaning and Storage Tips

Keep your yellow gold jewelry looking bright and lustrous with these super simple preventative measures.

Remove your jewelry while showering and washing hands.

Soap residue quickly builds up on the surface of gold jewelry, leaving it dull. So slip off your rings and bracelet before bathing or washing your hands to reduce unsightly soap stains.

Wipe down gold jewelry to restore its shine.

Every night, gently wipe down your gold jewelry with a soft chamois cloth. This will keep residue from building up. Look for polishing cloths specially-made for yellow gold jewelry; TrueFacet jewelry experts recommend Blitz’s Jewelry Care Cloth.

Store your gold jewelry in a cloth-lined jewelry box.

Because gold jewelry is so soft, it is easily scratched and nicked by precious metals. Therefore, the safest way to store gold jewelry is individually in cloth jewelry bags or a cloth-lined jewelry box.

Karat Gold versus Gold Vermeil

Before you start cleaning your yellow gold jewelry, you should identify if your item is made of karat gold or gold vermeil.

Because pure gold is a very soft metal, gold is combined with another alloying metal (like nickel, zinc or silver) to make the gold more durable and therefore resilient enough to use in jewelry making. This combination of pure gold and an alloying metal is called karat gold.

Gold vermeil or gold-plated jewelry, meanwhile, is when a base metal is coated with a thin layer of gold. When it comes to cleaning, gold vermeil jewelry requires a more delicate hand than karat gold.

If you are uncertain of your jewelry’s makeup, you can bring it to your local jeweler who can use a key tester to identify the metal type.

Deep Cleaning Karat Gold Jewelry

When a polishing cloth won’t cut it, clean your karat gold jewelry with a commercial cleaner, specially designed for gold jewelry. We recommend Connoisseurs Precious Jewelry Cleaner.

If your yellow gold jewelry is in need of a serious polish (think pieces that are tarnished or have dark build-up in hard-to-reach places), bring it to a jeweler for a thorough and safe cleaning.

Cleaning Gold Vermeil Jewelry

The incredibly thin layer of soft gold metal leaves your jewelry highly susceptible to scratches, even from gentle cleaning products, so cleaning gold vermeil jewelry is best left to the experts. Ask your local jeweler to re-plate your gold vermeil jewelry at least once a year to restore its smooth texture and shine.

For more helpful tips on how to care for white gold jewelry, read our blog post on the topic here.