How to Clean Jade Earrings Safely: The Stone, the Post, and the Pair

To clean jade earrings, wipe the stone, the post and the back each time you take them off, and once a month wash them in room-temperature water with a soft makeup brush, adding a drop of mild dish soap only if there is makeup or an oily film. Dry everything afterward, including the inside of each back. The post needs the most attention, because it is the only part of an earring that passes through your skin. The routine works for studs, drops, threaders and huggies alike, the styles you'll find among our jade earrings.

Can Jade Earrings Get Wet? It Depends on the Setting

Jade earrings can get wet, and water doesn't harm the jade itself; how long a pair can stay wet depends on how the stone is held.

If you can't tell how a pair is made, treat it as glued and clean it with a damp chamois only. If you bought the pair from us, ask us and we'll tell you how it is set.

How to Wash Jade Earrings, Step by Step

To wash jade earrings you need a towel, two small bowls, a soft makeup brush or a soft baby toothbrush, cotton swabs and a chamois.

1. Work over a folded towel, not a sink, where a back can vanish down the drain. Fill one bowl with room-temperature water (plus a drop of mild dish soap if there is makeup or oil) and the other with clean water.
2. Take the backs off and set them aside; they get washed too.
3. Dip each earring and sweep the jade and the edge of the setting with the soft brush, lightly, without pressing on prongs or the rim. A glued stud or a closed back skips the dip: wipe it with a damp chamois instead.
4. Run a barely damp cotton swab along the seam where stone meets metal. On drilled bead earrings, twist it only at the mouth of the hole: the wall around the hole is the thinnest part of the stone.
5. Rinse the earrings and the backs in the clean water.
6. Dry everything, including the inside of each back, then buff the jade with the chamois in one direction.
7. Put the backs on and press the edge of each stone gently. If it rocks or turns, the glue or setting is failing, so stop wearing that earring until a jeweler has fixed it.

Why Do Earring Posts and Backs Turn Black?

Earring posts and backs turn black for two different reasons. Most often it is buildup: skin oil, dead skin cells and the ordinary bacteria that feed on them collect where the post passes through the ear. That happens on everyone's earrings, it can smell, and it wipes off. Silver also tarnishes on its own as it reacts with sulfur in the air, which water won't remove (more on that in the questions below). Neither one means the metal is failing, and the color alone doesn't tell you which you have. Wipe the posts, backs and stones each time the earrings come off, and put the backs on before the pair goes into its box; earrings stored with sweat and makeup on them let that residue settle into the stone. For a new pair, or one stored for months, wipe the post shaft with a cotton swab and a little rubbing alcohol, keeping it off the jade and any glue.

Three rules have nothing to do with the jade:

• Don't share earrings; the post passes through skin.
• Don't wear jade earrings in a piercing that is still healing.
• If your ears itch or break out in a rash, suspect the post, not the stone. Nickel in earrings and earring backs is one of the most common causes of jewelry allergy, and cleaning won't cure it. See a doctor if it keeps coming back, or if a piercing swells, feels warm or weeps, which can mean infection. Which post metals suit sensitive ears is covered in our jade earrings buying guide.

Makeup, Perfume and Hairspray: Put Your Earrings On Last

Jade earrings pick up more makeup than any other jade jewelry, because they hang right where foundation, setting spray, hairspray and perfume land. Put them on last: do your makeup, then perfume, then hairspray, let it all dry, and only then put your earrings in.

At night, take your earrings out before you remove your makeup, so cleansing oil and makeup remover stay off the stone. Take them out, too, before using a curling iron or a hot hair dryer near your ears: heat bakes product onto the stone and is hard on glue.

If foundation gets on a stone, wipe it off the same day with a damp chamois, while it still lifts easily. Built-up makeup or skin oil comes off with the wash above and a single drop of mild dish soap; makeup wipes and cleansers leave a residue of their own, so keep them off the jade.

Why Do Jade Earrings Look Dull?

Jade earrings that look dull are usually dirty rather than worn: makeup, hairspray and dust caught in the stone's surface and the setting take away most of the shine, and a wash brings it back.

Our jade is finished with a thin polishing wax, a standard final step, and earrings lose it much more slowly than bangles do. In our experience, on a pair worn every day the shine takes about a year and a half to two years to drop noticeably, against six months to a year on a bangle. A bangle rubs against the wrist, so as its wax goes, its surface softens into a gentle glow. The face of an earring barely touches skin and sits in the open collecting dust and makeup, so once its wax has gone, it tends to look hazy instead.

If a clean pair still looks hazy, what to do depends on the jade:

• Ice-type jadeite (bing zhong), the trade's name for fine, dense, glassy jadeite, has very small pores. Without its wax it settles into a soft satin glow rather than looking dirty, and regular cleaning is all it needs.
• Glutinous-type (nuo zhong) and bean-type (dou zhong) jadeite, the coarser and often grayer grades, have larger pores that hold dust once the wax has gone. A jeweler can apply a thin coat of wax to the face of the stone only and buff off the excess, without dipping the whole earring. We don't offer this service ourselves.

Don't wax earrings at home with candle wax or hand cream: it goes on unevenly, collects in the setting and yellows as it ages.

Drops, Hooks and Leverbacks

Jade drop earrings, French hooks and leverbacks take the same routine as studs, with three adjustments.

• French hooks have no back to lose, but the thin wire bends. Hold them by the stone or the body of the hook, and store them where nothing presses on them.
• Leverbacks have a hinge that collects residue the way posts do. Open the lever, work a damp swab into the joint and dry it; a stiff hinge has usually gone gummy, not broken.
• Dry hanging styles hanging up, so water runs out of the fitting instead of sitting in it.

What Not to Clean Jade Earrings With

Keep jade earrings out of ultrasonic cleaners and steamers, and keep abrasives, solvents and homemade wax off them too.

• Ultrasonic cleaners and steamers. GIA says both are safe for untreated jade, but nearly every earring has glue or a small setting, and vibration and heat weaken glue and loosen settings.
• Abrasives: toothpaste, baking soda and polishing compounds. Toothpaste cleans teeth by abrasion, and on jade it scratches the polish and strips the wax.
• Solvents and dips: silver dip, jewelry cleaning solutions, acetone and ammonia, which reach both the stone and the glue.
• Candle wax and hand cream, for the reasons above.

For other jade pieces, such as a bangle or a pendant, our guide on how to clean jade covers the rest.

How to Store Jade Earrings as a Pair

Store jade earrings with the backs on the posts and both earrings together, in one pouch or one slot. Backs on the posts keep the smallest parts from going missing and stop the post tips from bending or scratching other pieces. Keep jade away from harder stones and loose metal, which scratch it; the box your earrings arrived in, or a small soft pouch, is fine for long-term storage. For travel, use a small hard case rather than a toiletry bag, and keep it in the same pocket of your bag every trip.

If one earring does go missing, a jeweler can turn the one that's left into a pendant.

Jade Earring Cleaning Questions

Can I clean jade earrings with rubbing alcohol?

Rubbing alcohol is fine on the metal post of a jade earring, applied with a barely damp cotton swab. Keep it off the jade, where it can dull the polishing wax, and away from any glue.

Why do my jade earrings keep slipping out of their backs?

Jade earrings that keep slipping out usually have a worn back, not a problem with the post or the stone. Butterfly backs loosen as their coils spread, and silicone backs harden or crack with age, so a new pair of backs is the simplest fix. For a heavier pair, switch to screw backs or locking backs; screw backs need a threaded post. If the post is bent or the stone moves in its setting, don't bend anything back yourself: our jade earrings repair guide explains what a jeweler can do.

Is an ultrasonic cleaner safe for jade earrings?

An ultrasonic cleaner is safe for untreated jade on its own, according to GIA, but jade earrings are nearly always glued or set, and its vibration can weaken glue and loosen small settings, so wash them by hand.

Do jade earrings tarnish?

Jade earrings don't tarnish, but their silver posts and settings do. Sterling silver darkens as it reacts with sulfur gases in the air, faster in humid air, and gold-plated silver tarnishes where the plating wears thin, usually first on the post. On plain, unplated silver, use a dry silver polishing cloth on the metal only and wipe the post clean afterward so no polish goes into your ear. On gold-plated silver, use a plain soft cloth instead, because a polishing cloth wears through plating. Never use silver dip, and store a fully dry pair in a closed pouch, ideally with an anti-tarnish strip.

Can I shower or sleep in jade earrings?

Take jade earrings out for both. Shampoo and conditioner leave a film on the stone and inside the backs, and sleeping in studs presses on the posts, which can bend them and work the backs loose.

I'm Hong, founder of BMjade. I've bought jadeite rough at Hpakant since 2016 and had it cut and finished in our Kunming workshop, where every pair is cleaned and checked this way before it ships. When customers send us photos of earrings that have "lost their shine," most of them are simply dirty, and one wash with the steps above brings the shine back. How we source and certify each piece is on our About us page.

Sources

• American Academy of Dermatology. "Nickel allergy: How to avoid exposure and reduce symptoms." Accessed November 2026.
• Mayo Clinic Staff. "Nickel allergy: Symptoms and causes." Mayo Clinic. Accessed November 2026.
• Canadian Conservation Institute. "Understanding how silver objects tarnish." Government of Canada. Accessed November 2026.
• Colgate. "Hydrated Silica in Toothpaste." Colgate Oral Care Center. Accessed November 2026.
• GIA. "Jade Care and Cleaning Guide." Gemological Institute of America. Accessed November 2026.