Keeping up Appearances

Easy tips on cleaning your diamond ring at home!

The days are getting shorter and darker, it’s time to make that ring shine. The easiest way to make your ring look like a million bucks is to keep it clean. You carefully selected your diamond for maximum sparkle and brilliance. Why lose all that time and money to layers of hand cream and soap scum that dull your amazing diamond ring and make it look less expensive? Keep an extra toothbrush next to the sink for your ring and get in the habit of giving it a quick scrub every night when you brush your teeth.

The Diamond Dazzle Stik (not a sponsor) is a tool about the size of a tube of mascara. It has some cleaning gel that twists up into a small brush, which is great for getting to the underside of a diamond through the setting. Most jewelry cleaners are a weak solution of ammonia and water. If you are making your own, try 1 part ammonia to 6 parts water. Denture cleaning tablets, vinegar and alka seltzer can all shine up dull, gummy diamonds. In a pinch, vodka does a pretty great job restoring sparkle- but be careful not to leave your ring in a martini glass at the bar! What are you cleaning off exactly? Well, we knew a jeweler once who called that gunk “chicken”. Whatever it’s called, you probably don’t want that funk all up in your piece. Gah-ross.

***Surprisingly, bar soap is not ideal for cleaning a diamond. I certainly does not damage the setting or the diamond but it can leave a minute film that can make the diamond take longer to dry. 

Should you get an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for home use? We don’t recommend it. Ultrasonics are surprisingly powerful tools, and while they can get things very clean, they do it by vibrating the heck out of your jewelry. That can make slightly loose settings worse, and shake the diamonds out of very loose settings. Ultrasonics are not all bad. When a jeweler cleans your ring they use an ultrasonic and sometimes a steam cleaner. The difference is that the jeweler will carefully check the ring before and after to make sure none of the stones are loose at all. 

Our last and most important piece of advice: If you are going to clean your diamond ring over a sink… remember to cover the drain. It is really easy for that little ring to slip out of your fingers and fall down the drain. Many people have ended up under the sink disassembling pipes and wondering how they could have forgotten something so simple. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. :)

If you any questions about how to maintain jewelry of a specific gemstone, such an an emerald, morganite or aquamarine then just drop us a line. We would be happy to give you basic information you need. 

Best wishes from the Little Birds!