How to clean earrings, backs and all

Step by step: how to clean earrings, backs and all

Safety first. Rubbing alcohol is flammable: use it away from candles and flames. Do not use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or ear care solutions with benzalkonium chloride on a healing piercing; the Association of Professional Piercers recommends sterile saline instead.

1. 1

   Take the earrings apart over a towel

   Remove the backs and lay everything on a folded towel so nothing rolls away. Sort solid gold, platinum, sterling, titanium and surgical steel into one pile, and pearls, opals, turquoise, plated and costume pieces into another.

2. 2

   Soak the solid metal earrings

   Stir 2 drops of mild dish soap into a small bowl of warm water. Drop in the solid metal earrings and backs and let them soak for about 10 minutes. The waxy film on the posts and inside the backs will soften.

3. 3

   Scrub the posts and the inside of the backs

   Brush the posts, hooks and fronts with an extra-soft toothbrush. Butterfly backs trap the most grime in their curled tabs: push a toothpick or interdental brush through the hole and wipe it out until nothing gray comes away.

4. 4

   Rinse and check the backs

   Rinse everything in a bowl of clean water, not over the drain. Look at each butterfly back: if the tabs have spread and the back slides off easily, gently pinch them closer together or replace it so you do not lose the earring.

5. 5

   Wipe the posts with rubbing alcohol

   Dab a cotton swab in 70% isopropyl alcohol and wipe the posts, hooks and backs of solid metal earrings. Let them air dry for a few minutes. Keep alcohol off pearls, opals, turquoise, enamel and glued stones.

6. 6

   Wipe delicate and plated earrings by hand

   Wipe pearl, opal, turquoise, plated and costume earrings with a soft cloth barely dampened in the soapy water, then with plain water, and dry right away. Clean the posts on these with a damp swab, holding the stone away from the liquid.

7. 7

   Dry fully and store in pairs

   Let everything dry on a towel for 15 minutes so no water stays inside hollow hoops or backs. Push each back onto its post and store pairs in a divided box or small bags so posts do not bend and stones do not scratch.

How to clean each type of earring

Clean by material first and shape second: solid metal can soak, while anything soft, porous, glued or plated gets wiped.

To clean diamond earrings at home, give them the same soak as other solid metal studs and spend most of the brushing on the back of the stone, where lotion and skin oil collect and dull the sparkle. Pearls are soft and react with acids and chemicals; the GIA lists perfume, hair spray, cosmetics and even sweat as things that can damage them, and rules out ultrasonic and steam cleaning. For plated and vermeil earrings, Mejuri advises a soft dry cloth, a light hand with polishing cloths, and no steam or ultrasonic cleaners.

Cleaning a new piercing is different

Leave starter earrings in and clean the piercing, not the jewelry, until it has fully healed. The Association of Professional Piercers recommends sterile saline labeled as a wound wash, with 0.9% sodium chloride as the only ingredient, and says not to use homemade salt mixes, contact lens saline, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, iodine or products with benzalkonium chloride.

• Wash your hands, spray or rinse the front and back of the piercing with saline, and pat dry with clean paper towel.
• Do not twist, spin or rotate the earring while it heals.
• Earlobes heal faster than cartilage, which can take many months. Ask your piercer how long yours needs before you change the jewelry.
• A healed piercing can shrink quickly, so put the next pair in soon after taking the old one out.

Why earrings make your ears itch or smell

A sour smell usually comes from dead skin, oil and sweat building up on the posts and in the backs, and regular cleaning fixes it. Itching, redness or a rash that starts a day or two after wearing a pair is more often a metal allergy, most commonly to nickel.

MedlinePlus lists nickel in jewelry as a common cause of allergic contact dermatitis and notes the rash can take 24 to 48 hours to appear. Cleaning will not stop that reaction. Switch to posts made of implant-grade titanium, niobium, or nickel-free 14K or 18K gold, the materials the APP lists as suitable for sensitive and new piercings, and see a doctor if the lobe swells, oozes or feels hot.

Mistakes to avoid

• Cleaning the fronts but not the inside of butterfly backs, where most of the buildup and smell lives.
• Wiping pearl or opal earrings with rubbing alcohol.
• Twisting new piercings or using alcohol and peroxide on them.
• Soaking costume earrings until the glued stones fall out.
• Putting earrings away damp, which tarnishes silver and rusts base metal posts.