For many people, an engagement ring or wedding set is the first piece of jewelry they receive that has a significant financial value. Learning how to properly clean and maintain your engagement ring is key for making your fiancé or husband’s investment last a lifetime. Unfortunately, we often see engagement rings come through our store that with missing diamonds or damage on the metal due to improper cleaning. Today we are going to teach you to maintain your jewelry at home the easy and safe way!
Most jewelry damage happens at home
We recommend that our customers remove their jewelry and store it in a safe location when they get home from work or are done with their errands for the day. We know this is a point of contention with most women – they love their ring and HATE taking it off! While we certainly don’t blame them, it’s always better to protect your jewelry than have a jeweler repair it. 🙂 Be sure to avoid wearing your ring while gardening, working out, or any other physical/manual labor type of activity.
Surface cleaning won’t cut it
One of the common mistakes made when cleaning jewelry at home is that only the top surface of the diamonds are cleaned. The trick to getting a diamond to sparkle and shine the way that it was when you first put it on is to clean the underside of the diamonds. The bottom of a diamond is the most important area for letting light shine through and bounce off of all the diamond’s facets. The top of the diamond actually has less to do with how bright the diamond shines.
How to clean and maintain your engagement ring at home
Toothpaste
This may come as a surprise, but a toothbrush and toothpaste are one of the best ways to remove dirt and oils from your ring! Best of all – it’s inexpensive and will not damage your jewelry.
- Take your toothbrush and put a small dab of toothpaste
- Use warm water and work the paste into a good foam
- Scrub both the top and bottom of the main stone, and then work out to the smaller stones – we recommend that you do not clean your engagement ring over the sink to avoid losing any loose stones
- Rinse the ring in warm water and air dry. DO NOT TOWEL DRY. Using a cloth or paper towel will leave fibers stuck in the smaller stones and could compromise your cleaning. Take the ring between your thumb and pointer finger, and gently wave back and forth until the ring is completely dry
Windex
Windex is a great alternative substance to toothpaste to use for engagement ring cleaning. Using a toothbrush, work the mixture into a foam and follow the steps listed above for a brilliant shine. Don’t worry – Windex does not harm rhodium plating on white gold. This is the method we use for our wives’ jewelry on a regular basis.
When in doubt, always bring it in! Most jewelers have an ultrasonic cleaner and can also steam your jewelry (the best way to get a perfect shine in our opinion). There are plenty of home-use ultrasonic cleaners out there, but we don’t recommend them to our customers.
Ultrasonic cleaners can work extremely well, but at times the smaller diamonds and gemstones in your ring can become loose and fall out. Experienced jewelers will check the smaller stones after an ultrasonic cleaning and make adjustments as needed with the correct tools. It’s always better to play it safe when it comes to your engagement ring.
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