Best Way to Clean Earrings

Published: December 9th, 2025 

Key Takeaways:

Best Way To Clean Earrings: Soak earrings in warm soapy water, scrub gently with a soft brush, rinse, and dry with a clean cloth.

Clean regularly to stop buildup of oil, skin, and bacteria, which helps prevent irritation and keeps metal finishes bright.

Match the method to the material, using mild soap for gold and pearls, alcohol for metal only, and a damp cloth for wood or acrylic.

Clean new piercings daily with saline, avoid harsh chemicals, and use fresh towels or swabs to protect both your ears and your jewelry.

Cords Club makes jewelry out of hypoallergenic materials, which are safer for your ears and even easier to clean.

No need to overcomplicate it! The best way to clean earrings is to soak them in warm, soapy water, gently rub them to loosen dirt, and dry them with a soft cloth. 

 

Cleaning your earrings regularly is super important for keeping your jewelry shiny and avoiding infection (gross!). Let’s take a second to walk through the best cleaning methods, what to avoid, and care tips for sensitive ears. We promise it’s easier than you think!

Why Cleaning Earrings Regularly Matters

If you have sensitive skin or a brand new piercing, keeping your earrings clean is extra important! While you’re out living your life, your skin is gathering things like oil, bacteria, and other gross gunk.

 

According to Geeta Yadav, MD, of Facet Dermatology, the buildup of dead skin, dirt, and oil around your earlobes is the “perfect food for bacteria.” 

 

That buildup can start to look goopy really quick. It can even build into something called “ear cheese,” which is an “accumulation of rancid oil—oil that gets exposed to air— and dead skin cells, as we’re constantly shedding, bacteria, and sweat,” according to Purvisha Patel, MD of Visha Skincare.

 

Cleaning regularly is the best way to keep your pierced ears nice and clean and avoid icky, smelly ear cheese. (Is a grosser term than “ear cheese?” We’ll wait.) It will also keep the metal finishes on your jewelry bright and long-lasting, meaning you’re getting more sparkle for your buck!

What You’ll Need to Clean Earrings at Home

If you don’t have the time to visit a professional cleaner, don’t worry. It only takes a couple of minutes and a few household items to clean your earrings at home! Make sure you have some mild dish soap or saline solution, and a soft toothbrush or cotton swab. 

 

If your earrings are metal, you’ll also want to have some rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide handy to keep things disinfected.

 

We recommend having a clean towel or paper napkin handy to dry off your earrings at the end, so you don’t splash all over the place (which we have done once or twice!)

Step-by-Step: Best Way To Clean Earrings

Ready to get your studs squeaky, sparkly clean? Here’s the walkthrough:

  1. Wash your hands. You don’t want to introduce new bacteria!
  2. Soak earrings in warm, soapy water for 5-10 minutes. 
  3. Gently scrub the earrings in warm water to get rid of dirt and grime. Use a soft toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crevices!
  4. Rinse your earrings with clean, hot water.
  5. Dry completely with a clean towel or paper napkin.
  6. If your earrings are metal, like stainless steel or titanium, use a cotton pad to disinfect earrings with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide.

When you’re all done, pat dry with your clean cloth, and you’re good to go!

How To Clean Different Types of Earrings

Not all earrings are created equal (sensitive skin girlies know!), which means different materials have different cleaning methods. Make sure you know what your earrings are made of before you start cleaning!

 

Gold Earrings

 

For gold earrings, it’s important to use mild soap and avoid harsh chemicals – you don’t want the gold plating to come off! Dawn dish soap in warm water is perfect for both gold and silver earrings. Scrub very gently using your soft toothbrush or a lint-free cloth, then pat dry.

 

Diamond Earrings

 

They might be a girl’s best friend, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to clean! Diamond earrings and other gemstone jewelry can have lots of delicate metalwork, which means more hard-to-reach areas. To clean diamond earrings, use a soft bristled toothbrush to get out deep-set dirt and grime and restore shine.

 

Pearl Earrings

 

Real pearls are delicate, so make sure you don’t soak pearl earrings in anything too harsh! Chemicals like rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide will damage the pearls and leave your earrings looking sad. Instead, use only warm water with mild soap or baking soda. Make sure you dry them completely before you put them back on!

 

Hypoallergenic Earrings

 

If you’re wearing Cords Club earrings, you’re wearing metal like medical-grade steel, which is hypoallergenic and even easier to clean! We like to use a simple warm water rinse – that’s enough to kill bacteria and get rid of gunk, so you can pop your earring stack back in right away!

Cleaning Earrings While They’re Still in Your Ears

Okay, but what if you can’t take your earrings out yet? Don’t worry, you can still clean your earrings while you’re wearing them.

 

If you’ve just gotten a new piercing, you shouldn’t remove it for at least 6 weeks (for ear lobe piercing) or even longer for a cartilage piercing – sometimes up to 12 months!

 

To clean your jewelry while it’s still in your ear, you’ll need a saline solution or spray. You can get this at your piercing store, your local pharmacy, or make it yourself by dissolving ¼ teaspoon of iodine-free salt into 1 cup of warm water.

 

Soak your cotton pad in the cleaning solution, and then hold it over your piercing for about 2 minutes. You don’t need to rub or wipe – that can irritate your new piercing, which we really don’t want. Just hold the soaked pad on your jewelry like a compress, and let the saline solution clean it out.

Mistakes To Avoid When Cleaning Earrings

There are two major things we want you to avoid when cleaning your earrings: damaging your ears and damaging your jewelry!

 

To avoid the first one, make sure you’re keeping everything bacteria-free. Wash your hands (including under your nails) before you get started, and don’t re-use dirty towels or swabs. When you’re scrubbing or drying your earrings, make sure you use a lint-free cloth, so no residue gets left behind.

 

To avoid damaging your jewelry, make sure you pay attention to the materials it’s made from. Plated jewelry like gold or silver is delicate, so make sure you don’t use bleach or strong alcohol to clean it. 

 

If your earrings are made from wood or acrylic, don’t soak them in water. Soaking them will warp the wood or take the design off the acrylic – not good! Instead, gently wipe the earrings with a damp cloth and scrub away gunk with your soft bristled brush. Make sure you dry them quickly!

How Often Should You Clean Your Earrings?

If your piercings are brand new, you should be cleaning them every day – preferably twice, to keep your ears from getting infected.

 

Once your ears are totally healed up, you don’t have to clean your jewelry quite as often. We recommend once per week for earrings you wear regularly, and once per month for those special occasion earrings you rarely wear. 

 

Make sure you store those rarely-used earrings somewhere that protects them from dust and grime, like a lidded jewelry box, and give them a wipe before you wear them again.

Conclusion

Let’s recap: the best way to clean earrings is warm, soapy water and gentle care. There’s usually no need for professional cleaning, and definitely no need for harsh chemicals!

 

Especially if you have sensitive skin, you want to make sure you're cleaning regularly to avoid infection – and to make sure your jewelry has a long, shiny life! Clean earrings = happy ears = confidence to rock whatever look you're going for. We love that for you!

 

Shop hypoallergenic earrings from Cords Club – all of our earrings are easy to clean and perfect for sensitive ears.

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Frequently Asked Questions

I have really sensitive ears. What are your pieces made of?

My team and I have sensitive ears, too! Our goal is to provide high quality, affordable, hypoallergenic options for our sensitive-eared girlies. All materials are listed in each product's item description. We use stainless steel, surgical steel, and implant grade titanium in our earrings. These materials are rust and tarnish proof and won't turn your skin green. 

 

If your ears are extra extra sensitive, I recommend giving our flat back earrings a try! They're made of surgical grade materials. Less than 1% of the population is allergic to true implant grade titanium, which makes it the best metal for sensitive skin. 

To learn more about why implant grade titanium is awesome, read this peer-reviewed article: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/12/2/214
 

Note that our gold titanium flat back studs do have an 18K Gold PVD plating. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. 
 

Is your jewelry waterproof?

Oh yeah! 99% of our earrings are waterproof. Unless otherwise stated (we have a few hand painted statement earrings), you're getting jewelry that you can get wet.

Do you offer discounts?

We are priced very fairly when you look at other brands with our same caliber of quality! We do have a monthly discount and an extra special yearly birthday discount for members of our Cords Club (it's free!). 

Do you have a loyalty rewards program?

We do! Earn rewards for such tasks as referring friends to Cords Club, making a purchase, following us on social media, and more! Find out more about our rewards program here.
 

Did you have rewards points with the old Indiecords site? Fear not! Reach out to hello@cordsclub.com with the details.

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