Designed for the active woman, Bronwen Jewelry is as strong and beautiful as the woman who wears it. But even the strongest and most beautiful women among us need a deep clean and some restorative self-care every once and awhile. Especially those women who spend a lot of time living life in motion!
The best way to maintain the beauty of your jewelry is to take proper care of it from the beginning. Below are some tips on caring for and cleaning your jewelry.
Washing
We recommend washing your Bronwen Jewelry on a regular basis for heavy use, and as needed for light use. Hand wash the item with liquid dish soap such as Dawn or other comparable product. Use warm water to pre-rinse, then use your fingers to massage dish soap into all the beaded sections and into the cord. Rinse dish soap out completely with warm water. Lay item out flat on a towel to dry.
If the piece is especially dirty, you may need to repeat the process twice in a row to remove all the oil and residue.
Polishing Sterling Silver
Sterling silver tarnishes. Period. Sad but true. Luckily, sterling silver can be restored to a bright shine by using a specific sterling silver cleaning agent.
Our favorite sterling silver cleaning agent is a product called Sunshine Polishing Cloth. If you would like to purchase a Sunshine Polishing Cloth, you can purchase one directly from us.
Alternatively, Sunshine Polishing Cloths are available at many other online and local retailers.
To polish tarnished sterling silver, fold the Sunshine Polishing Cloth in between your thumb and forefinger and place the sterling pendant or bead in between the folded cloth. Move your forefinger and thumb in a circular motion pressing into the metal piece with the Sunshine Polishing Cloth. It can take a lot of circular motions to get the piece to shine again. Repeat for each silver element on the necklace. After polishing your items with the Sunshine Polishing Cloth, wash the item by following our washing instructions above. Warning! When using the Sunshine Polishing Cloth, your fingers will become visibly dirty with a dark residue from the cleaning agent imbedded in the cloth. Washing your hands afterwards with dish soap will remove the residue from your fingers.
What to Avoid
To keep your Bronwen Jewelry items looking their best, avoid exposing the items with chlorinated or chemically treated water. Avoid exposure to all beauty products or cosmetics, especially products containing bleaching agents such as benzoyl peroxide or colorants.
Storing your jewelry
The best way to store your jewelry is in a jewelry specific storage box or purse that has separate dividers inside to prevent tangling of multiple jewelry items. When storing jewelry, it is important to wash and dry the item before storing. Avoid storing your jewelry in the bathroom where the humidity will speed up the tarnishing process. You can place a silica pack (these often are found enclosed in new shoe or garment packages) or a piece or chalk inside the jewelry box to absorb any moisture. For short term storage, you can place dry jewelry items in individual Ziploc bags to prevent tangling.
Water friendly – Swim, Sweat, and Shower
If you plan to use your Bronwen Jewelry heavily in water, please be sure to select items that are indicated with water friendly in the product description for best results. Even though we are an active jewelry brand, not all our pieces are made to endure the extra demands of being called water friendly.
World Scout Jewelry
We love jewelry, not just our own jewelry, but other brands too! Some of the jewelry items available to purchase on our website are produced by other jewelry companies and those items are indicated as World Scout in the product’s description. These items are not intended for active use or use the water. World Scout items will have this logo in the product description:
Aging Jewelry
We know our customers love our handmade jewelry line for its ability to withstand all the rigors of active life. That is why we design our jewelry, select materials, and train our artisans to skillfully create jewelry pieces that are expected to perform.
However, with a lot of heavy use putting Bronwen Jewelry to the test by wearing it daily, wearing it in the water, swimming, showering, and sweating in it, putting it through all the rigors of a life lived in motion, our jewelry will gain an “aged” look.
Even with following our cleaning and care instructions, our Bronwen jewelry will show signs of wear and tear, such as cord and bead colors fading or changing into a new color, gold plating starting to thin out, or sterling silver starting to get that antique oxidized patina look. We like to think of it as an attribute, something that is earned, and proof of all your life’s fun and adventures – like wrinkles and grey hair!
If your item is starting to look beyond the “aged” phase and more into the “disintegrate” phase, we encourage you to take advantage of our repair program. If our Warranty doesn’t cover the type of repair such as natural breakdown of materials over time or wear and tear, we only charge a small and reasonable fee to get your old favorite back into commission once again.
If you are interested in this, you can click here to learn more about our Warranty and Repair Program.
Or you can click here to get started by filling our our repair form.
