Caring For Your Turquoise

By: Alan Eby

Hello Jewelry Enthusiasts,

In this article I will be talking about caring for the turquoise in your jewelry, so you will be able to keep it beautiful for years to come.

Turquoise is a semi-precious gem stone, that comes in a wide variety of blues and greens it is rather fragile. There are quite a few “enemies” of your turquoise, some obvious, others not so apparent. We hope you all will find it helpful or at least interesting.

The first, and most obvious, “enemy” of your turquoise is physical stress. If you wish to keep your turquoise in one piece avoid dropping it, or knocking it against any other objects as this could fracture or break the stone. Another stress to avoid is extreme temperatures. Most turquoise is both turquoise its self and the mother rock that turquoise is found in. The mother rock is usually referred to as matrix. In extreme temps the turquoise and the matrix will expand and contract at different speeds, often causing cracks in the stone.

Next lets look at jewelry cleaners. Due to the composition of turquoise, any liquid with a low pH (acids) will break down the stone. Most jewelry cleaners are slightly acidic and can attack the luster and/or the color of turquoise. Other items to avoid bringing your turquoise jewelry in contact with are sunscreen, hairspray, perfume, and some cosmetics. Even skin oils can often affect turquoise to a slight degree, usually changing the color over time.

If your turquoise jewelry comes in contact with any of these “enemies” it should be cleaned as soon as possible. To clean simply take a soft, damp, cloth and wipe off the surface of your turquoise. A good idea would be to make a habit of cleaning your jewelry whenever you take it off. This will take care of anything your turquoise came in contact with while you were wearing it.

Finally lets talk about storage. To ensure you keep your turquoise as long as possible in the state and color it is now in. You will want to store your jewelry in an airtight container and if possible store you pieces with turquoise in separate containers from your other jewelry. This will decrease the amount of chemicals that can affect your turquoise.

If you clean your turquoise regularly and store it in a container that it as airtight as possible, and avoid knocking it against anything. Than you should be able to keep your turquoise beautiful for a long time.