Charm Bracelets Zone

Charm bracelets, brand new, strait out of the box are a thing of beauty and a treasure to keep for a lifetime. A quality charm bracelet lovingly cared for can quite often outlive its owner or owners and be handed down from generation to generation.

But there comes a time when even the most exquisite bracelet, whether it’s a Pandora, Chamilia or Trollbeads creation will need some kind of cleaning and maintenance. So many things contribute to the transformation from dazzling to drab.

Better quality charms and bracelets, especially gold ones, will resist things like corrosion and tarnishing but the tendency to become dull will eventually befall even the highest quality charms, beads and bracelets.

For instance, a bracelet will often come in contact with soaps and detergents, skin lotions and other chemicals, not to mention normal skin oil, on a day-to-day basis and the result is a dulling of the original luster.

The first line of defense is obvious; don’t wear your bracelet while doing the dishes or working in the garden etc.

You can take your bracelet to a jeweler to have it professionally cleaned, but unless you are a regular paying customer, this service will have a cost, not much but it will add up over time.

You could invest in a small, ultrasonic jewelry bath. They are not expensive and if you have several charm bracelets, and other jewelry it would probably be the cheapest and best home solution.

However, if your only caring for one or two bracelets you can try this technique:

Put a few ounces of warm water in a bowl with and a small amount of clear baby shampoo. Baby shampoo tends to be very gentle soap that does not leave any soapy residue.

After letting your charm bracelet soak in the soapy water for a minute or two, take a clean soft makeup brush, the kind used for applying blush, or a sable artists brush. Hold the bracelet under the water with one hand and with the other, apply the brush to the bracelet in a swirling motion making small circles around the individual charms and beads.

When you finish, rinse the bracelet in some clean fresh water. It’s not recommended that you do this step under a running tap as you can drop your bracelet and perhaps damage some of the charms (Murano glass beads). There is also the possibility that you will have to call a plumber to retrieve your bracelet from down the drain and considering what plumbers charge, you will probably have to sell your charm bracelet to pay his bill.

Now thoroughly dry your bracelet with a soft cloth and then use a fresh dry cloth, like a jewelers cloth to buff and polish the charms and, Presto! you have a brand new charm bracelet.

Although this technique works like a charm (excuse the pun) it is not recommended for bracelets made of leather or charms made of wood or bone. For a technique for cleaning these specialized materials you will need to read, “Cleaning Charm Bracelets Made of Natural Materials“.