You’ve probably heard this before: avoid the 5 “S’s”: shower, sleep, sweat, spray and swim. In short, remove your jewelry before bedtime. showering or swimming; apply lotions and sprays before donning your gems and don’t wear your jewels to the gym, or while performing tasks that might expose them to water, chemicals or extremes of temperature.

Most gemstones can be cleaned simply with warm water, a gentle dish soap and a soft brush. Mechanical means of cleaning should generally be reserved for hard stones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires and spinel (and even then, avoid ultrasonic cleaning unless you are certain that the stones and settings can withstand it.) A soft damp cloth is all that should be used on soft stones such as carnelian, pearls, turquoise and resins (including amber).