How to Clean Silver at Home

Silver tends to lose its shine over time. It can become tarnished and even black if left long enough.

Tarnish is due to a chemical reaction when the silver mixes with sulphur in the air and environment.

Most modern silver is coated with a very thin layer of rhodium. This slows down the tarnishing process, but this layer will wear off over time.

If you’ve noticed your silver tarnishing, here are some simple ways of cleaning silver at home with things that you likely already have at home.

How to Clean Silver at Home 1
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Aluminium Foil and Laundry Detergent

This is a brilliant trick for silver that is only slightly tarnished. Line a large bowl with foil, add some hot water and a tablespoon of detergent. Add your silver to the bowl and leave to soak for a minute or two.

Remove the silver, wash it under warm water, and watch as it shines once more. This is a really simple silver hack that doesn’t take any scrubbing.

And, usually, this is enough to bring a slightly tarnished silver back to life. If your silver is more heavily tarnished, no worries. Keep reading to see how to clean this.

Aluminium Foil and Bicarbonate of Soda

This is considered by most to be the best silver cleaning hack and is used all over the world. It is perfect for when you have a lot of silver to clean, but you can scale the recipe to suit your needs.

Simply cover the bottom of a large glass or ceramic baking tray with the foil (shiny side up). Fill with water and then add the bicarbonate of soda.

You’ll need one and a half tablespoons for every gallon of water you use.

Bring this to the boil, and then add your silver. The silver only needs to be in the boiling solution for 15 seconds. Remove it with tongs and then leave it to dry on kitchen towels.

You should notice all of the tarnished areas are clean. For heavily tarnished silver, you may want to repeat this process.

This is fantastic for all types of silver but should never be used on jewellery that has gemstones of any kind as it may damage the gemstones.

Tomato Ketchup

Using ketchup as a cleaning product is nothing new. While it may sound strange, ketchup has a lot of uses. This is thanks, in part, to the high vinegar content in ketchup.

If you only have a few silver items to clean, using ketchup saves the hassle of setting up one of the baths above.

Simply add a few drops of tomato sauce to a paper towel and gently rub the tarnished silver. If the silver is really old and heavily tarnished, you can leave the ketchup on the silver for 15 minutes.

This will break down the tarnished areas. After that, rub the silver with a microfibre cloth and rinse it with water.

If the silver item you are cleaning has lots of small areas to clean, you can use a soft toothbrush to reach into these areas.

Cornflour and Water

Mixing up a paste of cornflour and water and coating a piece of silver in it is also a great option. Put the paste on thick, leave it to dry, and then rub it off as you rinse the silver with water. This one is messy but does a fantastic job of getting rid of very heavy tarnish.

Hand Sanitiser

If you need a rapid solution to your silver problems, hand sanitiser can be used. The high alcohol content of hand sanitiser makes it a fantastic cleaning product.

Simply add a few drops to a paper towel and give your silver a clean. You’ll notice very quickly that light tarnishing is removed, and the silver looks highly polished.

Again, this method shouldn’t be used anywhere near gemstones or on encrusted silver jewellery.

Toothpaste

Toothpaste has been used to clean silver for a very long time, it is one of the oldest silver cleaning hacks in the book, and it is still an excellent option for smaller cleaning jobs.

Try and find a non-abrasive, non-gel toothpaste (typically, the cheapest toothpaste you can find is best for this job).

Rub it into the silver and leave it to soak for about 5 minutes. Rinse it off with water, and you’ll be amazed at how clean the silver is now.

Window Cleaner

Window cleaner is quite a strange silver-cleaning hack, as it does work great, but only in very special circumstances.

Window cleaning products should never be used to clean antique silver of any kind, and it should only ever be used on sterling silver, not plated.

Just spray a little bit of window cleaner on a cloth and start scrubbing away. You can use a soft toothbrush to get into tighter areas if needed.

Window cleaner does work great, but if you aren’t sure whether the silver you need to clean is sterling or how old it is, another method from this list should be used instead.

We hope this look at silver cleaning at home has helped you. There are many ways of cleaning silver at home, and most use products that you likely already have at home. There are also specialised silver cleaning products that you may wish to use instead for antique silver, as this can be quite fragile.

Julie Higgins
Author
Julie is a Staff Writer at momooze.com. She has been working in publishing houses before joining the editorial team at momooze. Julie's love and passion are topics around beauty, lifestyle, hair and nails.