will 925 sterling silver necklace tarnish

Sterling Silver will tarnish, how quickly & to what extent depends on several factors: —If you want your Sterling Silver to last as long as possible without tarnishing, always look for and purchase only Sterling items that have a Rhodium plating, though, buyer beware: there are some sellers who claim they Rhodium plate their jewelry, but do not. Think twice before purchasing any item that ships directly from China—especially if they have only a few (& usually ridiculously glowing reviews), often made within just a couple of days of each other)—which is a sure red-flag alert. Most of those listings will be gone in a week or two. Rhodium plating will not prevent tarnishing, but sure slows it down; —Whether an item is Rhodium plated or not, Sterling Silver jewelry is sensitive to many chemicals. This means it should be removed every day after wearing, and gently wiped down with a soft cloth (microfiber, like the cloths used to clean eyeglass lenses is great for this), there are also “gem cleaning cloths”, available on Amazon, which work very well also. I dedicate separate cloths for different uses—such as I use one cloth to clean my glasses, another to clean computer touch screens, another for cleaning gemstones, and, of course, one dedicated for ONLY cleaning pearls, etc. —Gently wipe to remove any sweat, body oils, makeup, etc. each time you remove your piece (hopefully daily), before storing, and remember that exposure to things such perfume, hair spray, etc, can be especially damaging, in addition remove all jewelry before showering, getting in a hot tub, swimming, etc. —Store (wiped down) Sterling Silver jewelry in a small, sealable, Ziploc-type bag, preferably with a small square of “Anti-tarnish” cloth. You can buy little precut squares on Amazon for this purpose. I like to buy “in bulk”, like a square yard at a time, & cut it to the size I need—it’s much cheaper that way. Just make sure you store the extra cloth in a well-sealed bag. —Last but not least, invest in a good Silver Polishing Cloth (also available on Amazon. Even taking all of the above precautions, your silver will eventually start to tarnish and need a good cleaning/rubbing with a jeweler’s silver polishing cloth. If it is something you wear often, the Rhodium protective plating will eventually rub off, necessitating polishing more often. The only true way to avoid all of this, (other than after-wearing gentle cloth rub, which should always be done, regardless of the metal), is to spend much more money and buy White Gold or Platinum jewelry. Hope somebody out there learned something. Good luck!!

Does it turn color if you get it wet

Silver will ALWAYS tarnish and turn grayish black. This is how silver naturally oxidizes, especially in the presence of sulfur, which can be present in human perspiration. If you have silver that doesn’t tarnish, it has either been kept in extremely dry or oxygen free environment or coated with a clear sealer. Silver polish will fix it right up. If your grandma has real silverware or silver plated flatware (eating utensils, she can tell you all about it. It can also stain your skin black (not green, which = copper or copper containing metal such as brass or bronze).

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