Learn How To Protect Your Jewelry This Summer with 5 Easy Tips

If you're like me, than you love your jewelry...and I am pretty sure you love summertime too!  It's full of picnics, parties, and vacations.  There are so many opportunities to show off your jewels.  However, it can also be one of the riskiest times of year for your jewelry.  Here are five important tips that will help keep your jewelry safe and sparkling all summer long.

 1. Chlorine is Bad
Let's start with what is chlorine?  Chlorine is a halogen, a chemical that reacts with the alloys used to make the various gold carats and colors.  Halogens erode and eat away at the alloys, essentially dissolving your jewelry. 
 
Another common summertime halogens is bromine, often used in hot tubs, this too can destroy your gold jewelry.  In fact, the heat from a hot tub can expedite the chemical reaction, making the damage occur much faster.  To be safe, always remove any gold before taking a plunge!  
 
2. Sunscreen is Good (But NOT for Jewelry)
While sunscreen is an absolute must to protect your skin from harmful UV rays, it can wreck havoc on your jewelry.  Not only can it act like glue, gunking up your beautiful stones and engraving with goop and sand, but it can also act as a lubricant, making it easy for rings to slip off. Always remove your jewelry when applying sunscreen and wait till it has been absorbed before trusting your rings to stay on!
 
3. Cold Water Woes
Another concern for rings and sunscreen is cold water!  During hot and humid days your fingers may swell, making your rings fit snug (sometimes a little too snug), but what you may not expect is that swimming in cool water can rapidly decrease the swelling in your fingers.  This makes it easy for rings to slip off in the water.  Sunscreen acts a a lubricant, making it even easier to loose your rings.
 
4. Security is Risky
If you are flying for vacation, than I'm sure you already know the airport drill, you have to remove all metal and put it in a little uncovered dish that often times passes through the metal detectors before you do.  Yes, there are security agents monitoring the the process but their focus is on protecting passengers, not your belongings.  You don't know who is waiting on the other side of security.  Therefore, I always recommend keeping your jewelry in your purse or carry-on luggage and waiting till after you pass through security to put it on.  
 
5. Over Pack, Over Worry
The more jewelry you travel with, the more you have to worry about, and who wants to worry on vacation?!  Layout your outfits before packing and find one pair earrings, one necklace, one bracelet, etc. that will go with everything.  However, if you do need to pack jewelry DO NOT put it in checked luggage.  Also, check out our Pinterest page for some helpful packing tips that will keep your jewelry from scratching and tangling.