Who doesn’t love to see their diamond engagement ring shine in the light after a thorough cleaning? Luckily, you don’t have to visit a jeweler every time you want to give your diamond rings a nice clean and polish. There are plenty of simple and safe methods for cleaning your diamond rings at home.
How to clean a diamond ring?
At-home cleaning works great for rings that have been dirtied by the oils on your hands and by the cosmetic products that you use every day like lotion, hairspray, makeup. In this case, regular dish soap will do the best job. All you need to do is place the ring in very warm water mixed with dish soap for 20 to 40 minutes, then use a very soft toothbrush to brush the diamond and rinse the ring under running water. If this didn’t take all the residue off the ring, you can repeat the process until the ring looks flawless. As an alternative to dish soap, you can try using shampoo or body wash, but don’t use products that claim to be moisturizing, as they will leave a film on the ring, making it appear dull. Additionally, when drying the ring, go with a soft cloth or air drying and avoid paper towels since they can leave tiny scratch marks on the metal.
How often should I clean a diamond ring?
In most cases, you should clean your engagement ring at home about once a week. If you do a lot of cooking or work in the garden without taking off your diamond ring, you might want to clean your jewelry more often. In addition to at-home cleaning, you should take your diamond ring to be professionally cleaned at the jeweler about once every six months as at-home cleaning can’t remove all the residue build-up.
Products to avoid when cleaning your diamond ring
Unfortunately, there are many products that are absolutely not suitable for cleaning your rings and they can actually damage the metal, causing more harm than good. For instance, harsh household chemicals like chlorine, bleach or acetone are absolutely unacceptable for cleaning your rings because they can break down the metal in the band. Additionally, since gold, silver and platinum are very soft metals, you should never use abrasive products like toothpaste, baking soda or any other powders to clean your rings as they will leave scratches on the metal.
Can I use an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner at home?
You may be tempted to buy an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for cleaning your jewelry at home, but it’s probably not a very good idea. The issue is that the machine uses vibrations and vigorous movement to clean the jewelry, which means that the stones in your engagement ring can become loose or fall out. If they fall out, you can get the ring fixed by a jeweler, but if they become loose, the stones can fall out at any time, causing you to lose the diamonds.