So I've ran into a bit of a problem. I have a bottle of the Chloé perfume, and the top part is made out of silver. After keeping the bottle for roughly half a year, the silver became cloudy. Dark brown tarnishing covered the top and sides of the silver. I have tried to wipe the tarnishing off, but had no luck. I never owned anything silver. I wasn't aware that silver needs to be periodically polished or it becomes dirty looking. As someone with no polishing or silver cleaning supplies, I turned to the internet for cleaning solutions. I stumbled across a "How to Clean Silver" video which helped me out immensely.
My Chloé perfume. As you can see, it looks "dirty" because the silver is not polished.
How to Clean Silver: Without Using Chemicals or Polishing
1.) Line a bowl with Aluminum Foil
2.) Add 1 tbsp of Baking Soda & 1 tbsp of Salt OR a 1:1 ratio of the two
3.) Pour in warm water to the bowl and mix it
4.) Submerge the silver into the mixture and let it sit for a few minutes
5.) With a gentle cloth or wet paper towel, wipe off the extra cleaning solution
If your silver is really tarnished:
Gather a little bit of aluminum foil, dip it into the solution, and gently scrub. The tarnishing should come off at this point.
I submerged half of the bottle into the cleaning solution and was amazed to see it so clean. Although I have to admit, I did use a little bit of aluminum foil to scrub off some of the tougher stains.
My Chloé bottle after it was cleaned! It is now super shiny!
Overall, I was surprised at how well this aluminum foil trick worked. I honestly didn't think anything was going to happen. When I first submerged the silver into the solution, nothing happened (like it did in the example video). I stood there wondering if I was making a fool out of myself, but then I decided to be patient and just let it sit in the water. I gently scraped the silver against the foil when I was picking it out from the bowl and realized that the tarnishing came off! That was when I decided to start scrubbing the foil across the silver.
I'm pretty sure there is some sort of science behind all of this. I just don't know what it is, but it works!
