Yes, You Need To Clean Your Earrings Regularly: Here's How To Do It

Buffing and polishing jewelry does so much more than spruce up their shine: After all, it's important to make sure what touches your skin (be it jewelry, a beauty tool, or even clothing) is up to snuff on the cleanliness front. The same goes for earrings, which quite literally poke through the skin; it's important to make sure those gems don't accumulate any buildup, which can make your jewels go from glam to, well, gross.

If you have pierced ears, chances are you know the drill: For newly bejeweled ears, it's imperative to clean the area once a day for about eight weeks. That's because before the earring hole forms a new skin covering around it (a process called "re-epithelization," says board-certified dermatologist Loretta Ciraldo, M.D., FAAD), your newly pierced ears are more prone to infection. Once that hole seals, however, "it's exceptionally rare for you to get an infection from a dirty earring," she says. 

But that doesn't mean you should neglect those piercings: Even if you've had your piercings for years, cleaning those jewels regularly is essential. "Earring posts can accumulate retained skin oils that help yeast, fungus, and bacteria overgrow," explains Ciraldo. You might think a simple shampoo in the shower is enough to wash away that gunk, but even leftover hair products can build up around the earring post and accumulate in and around that tiny earring hole. Yuck.

"The technique that I've always used is simple," she tells mbg. "Just a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad to clean the post and the backing." Simple, sure, but effective: Rubbing alcohol is a cleaner, a solvent (meaning it can dissolve buildup), and a disinfectant, making it a quick and easy way to remove all that gunk and sanitize the metal. 

If you don't have any rubbing alcohol on hand, Maker suggests another product-free route: Simply boil some hot water in a kettle and hold your jewelry up to the steam. "That steam will help to loosen any dirt," she explains. Then you can lay your pieces in a microfiber cloth to gently buff them shiny. Keeping your jewels sparkling is yet another reason to clean them regularly, no?  

If you're looking to clean the stones of your earrings (whether to remove buildup or just to shine up any hazing), the rubbing alcohol method will do just fine for gold, platinum, and diamond earrings. But hold the cotton pad for pearls: "Rubbing alcohol could ruin the very, very delicate finishing that pearl has," Maker explains. Rather, she suggests using a soft dust cloth to gently wipe down the surface, without using any liquid at all.