Jewelry with turquoise gemstones is lovely and will stand out from the crowd. As with any gemstone though, turquoise needs to be cleaned occasionally.

 

Cleaning turquoise jewelry is relatively easy but still requires a certain amount of care because turquoise, which is between five and a six on the Mohs scale, is one of the softer gemstones. The ease of cleaning turquoise jewelry though is shown by the fact that it can be done with the soft toothbrush, a cloth and some plain, room temperature water. 

It should be noted that some soaps can be as harmful as chemical cleaners to turquoise. Turquoise should not be immersed in the water but should be quickly dipped before being softly scrubbed with the toothbrush. The residual wetness should then be dried off with the lint-free cloth.

 

It really is as simple as that to clean the majority of turquoise jewelry pieces. But at no stage though should you ever consider using an ultrasonic cleaner because that will cause the fragile turquoise to fracture.

Turquoise is porous and so will soak up any chemicals, so avoid jewelry cleaners. In some cases, the metal setting of the jewelry will need to be cleaned, and unless the turquoise can be removed, special care needs to be taken, or else the hands of a professional jewelry cleaner may be required.

Having successfully cleaned the turquoise jewelry there are certain things that can be done to ensure the piece remains in as good a condition as possible. The fragile nature of the gemstone means that cosmetics can damage it, causing a permanent color change. For this reason jewelry containing turquoise should be put on after applying perfume and hairspray.

A sensible approach should also be taken as to where turquoise is worn. Don't wear it at the beach because the chemicals in sun creams and sunlight can discolor the gemstone. Heavy work will also ensure that excess amounts of body oils are produced which can harm the stone.

 

Exercise some care when storing turquoise jewelry. Pieces should always be gently rubbed down before being put away. Turquoise should never be stored in direct sunlight, as the turquoise can become dehydrated, damaged and discolored. For a similar reason, though, it should also be allowed to breathe; meaning airtight containers and safes are out of the question. Best practice is to put the pieces in a soft bag where they cannot come into contact with other pieces of jewelry that could scratch the turquoise jewelry.

With care and attention, turquoise jewelry can stay as impressive as the day it was purchased.