How often should you clean earrings you wear every day? Once a week is enough for the earrings, and her earlobes need a gentle rinse every day, which happens naturally in the bath or shower. For the weekly clean, take them out, clean the earrings and the backs, and let her lobes have a few minutes in the air while they dry. Our safety FAQ covers everyday care too.
How often should you clean earrings you wear every day, and why weekly?
Build-up is slow. Skin cells, natural oils, soap and a little sweat collect around the post and inside the butterfly back over several days. A weekly clean removes it before it hardens or starts to smell, and that's often enough for a healed ear and a well-made earring.
Daily removal isn't necessary for most children, and taking studs in and out every day gives small fingers more chances to lose a back.
How often should you be cleaning your earrings if she swims or plays sport?
More often. Chlorine, salt water, sweat and mud all leave residue on metal and skin. After swimming, rinse her ears and the earrings with fresh water and dry them. After a sweaty game or a long, hot day, a quick clean that evening keeps the weekly routine from turning into a scrub.
What about sunscreen, lotion and hair products?
These are the biggest source of residue on everyday earrings. Each one leaves a film, and the film builds up behind the stud and inside the back faster than anything her skin produces.
One habit does more than any cleaning schedule. Earrings go on last and come off first. Products go on before her earrings and come off after. In summer, when sunscreen goes on every morning, clean her earrings twice a week instead of once.
How often should you take your earrings out to clean?
Once a week, for the weekly clean. You can't clean the inside of a butterfly back or the post properly with the earring still in her ear, and her lobe needs cleaning on the side the back sits against.
Between weekly cleans, leave them in. A rinse in the shower reaches enough of her lobe to keep it fresh.
How often should you clean stud earrings with a detailed shape?
Studs collect build-up in two places: behind the front, where it meets her lobe, and inside the back. Weekly suits most studs. Earrings with an open setting or a detailed shape, such as a flower, have more edges where residue settles, so give those a soft toothbrush each week rather than a wipe.
How often should you disinfect earrings?
For a healed ear and an earring that stays in her own ears, routine disinfecting isn't needed. Warm water and a drop of mild soap remove what matters. Our article on whether you can clean her earrings with rubbing alcohol explains when alcohol is worth using and when it's harder on the earring than it needs to be.
If an earring has been dropped on a bathroom floor, borrowed, or shared, clean it before it goes back in.
How do I know it's time for a clean sooner?
- A smell when the earring comes out
- White or gray residue on the post or inside the back
- A dull front that used to be bright
- Build-up you can see behind the front, where it meets her lobe
None of these is unusual on a pair worn every day. They're signs to clean sooner, not signs that something has gone wrong. If her lobe is hot, swollen or painful, or there's discharge, take the earrings out and speak to her pediatrician. Cleaning an earring isn't the same as treating an ear.
For the method itself, step by step, our guide to how to clean your daughter's earrings walks through it.
Does cleaning more often make cheap earrings last longer?
Not much. On a poorly made earring, the trouble isn't dirt. After six months of daily wear, a cheap pair goes dull, shows patches where the coating has rubbed through, and the posts turn a darker steel color where they were never finished properly. The backs tarnish because they weren't given the same finish as the front. Cleaning removes residue, and it can't replace a finish that's worn away.
The same pair can also behave differently on different children. Skin chemistry, how much she perspires and what products she uses all change how fast an earring dulls.
If you're wondering whether it's time for a new pair rather than another clean, our article on how long she can keep the same earrings in covers that decision.
What we do
We make earrings in two materials. The Polished Surgical Steel range is S316L Surgical Steel throughout, with nothing plated over it. Our 24K Pure Gold range is finished in pure 24 karat gold with Aunix™ 24K, our engineered gold finish, which is a gold-plating process, over that same S316L Surgical Steel core. The core runs through the setting, the post and the butterfly back, so the back is finished to the same standard as the front.
For both, I'd use the same weekly routine: warm water, a drop of mild soap, a soft toothbrush, a thorough rinse and a complete dry. Independently tested by SGS to ASTM F2923, CPSIA and BSEN 71-3, with nickel release not detected under EN 1811.
A detailed shape needs that toothbrush more than a plain one. The Flawless Crystal Daisy Stud Earrings in 24K Pure Gold are a good example of a style worth the extra minute. The single-material range is on the Polished Surgical Steel collection, and our guide to how to choose earrings for young ears covers the rest of the choice.
Questions parents ask next
Can she sleep in her everyday earrings? Many children do, with small studs and secure backs. Keep to the same weekly routine, because a pair worn day and night needs it as much as any.
Should I clean the butterfly backs separately? Yes. Take them off the post, because the inside of the back is where most residue collects.
Can she shower with her earrings in? With well-made studs on a healed ear, yes. Rinse soap away and dry around the back afterwards.
What's the quickest way to clean earrings during a busy week? A soak in warm soapy water while she brushes her teeth, a quick brush, a rinse and a dry. It takes a few minutes.
What happens if her earrings are never cleaned? Residue builds up behind the stud and inside the back, and it starts to smell. Her lobe can become irritated by the build-up itself, whatever the earring is made of.
Related reading
- How do I clean my daughter's earrings?
- How long can she keep the same earrings in?
- Can I clean her earrings with rubbing alcohol?
- How do I choose earrings for young ears?
About the author. Matt Westmore is the founder of purepixxi. He came to children's jewelry from manufacturing and sourcing rather than marketing, which means he has walked the factory floors and knows what is actually inside a product rather than what a label says about it. purepixxi uses two materials only, names them exactly, and has them independently tested.
