Congratulations, you’re engaged! You can’t wait to start showing off your engagement ring to your friends and family, and they can’t wait to see it. What’s more, this special token of love is going to be with you for the rest of your life and will be catching people's eyes forever, and so, it is important to ensure your ring receives all the tender love and care it deserves. After all, it's symbolic of the love you and your partner share, and a huge investment.
Now, it’s all well and good knowing you need to care for your ring, but the how is always a little more puzzling. Therefore, we have consulted with our diamond experts so that you don’t have to and compiled the most important information when it comes to caring for a diamond engagement ring.
Here are our top tips for caring for your diamond engagement ring:
1) Remove when showering or washing hands
Your engagement ring is designed to withstand day to day interference, but it is important to know when to leave your ring on, and when to take it off.
Try and resist the urge of wearing your engagement ring in the shower or when washing your hands. Scented soaps and shower products can cause cloudy buildup on the stone, and oftentimes, under the stone, which is extremely hard, and sometimes impossible to clean if the diamond is exposed to these products over a long period of time.
Although forgetting to take it off in these situations once or twice is not going to cause immediate damage to your ring, it is always best to get into the habit of removing it to save your ring any future damage.
2) Cleaning your ring regularly at home
Fortunately, cleaning your engagement at home is not a difficult process. All the tools you’ll need are at your disposal at home. First, take a mug and fill it with some warm soapy water – either a few drops of mild hand soap or dishwashing detergent is great – and let the ring soak for a few 5-10 minutes. You can leave your ring to soak overnight as the water-soap solution is extremely mild and won’t cause damage to your ring.
Once you have removed your ring, gently brush the stone with a toothbrush to remove any build up of dirt. Rinse and pat dry. It is recommended you clean your ring at home like this once every few weeks to keep your ring in top condition.
3) Avoid contact with harmful chemicals
The day-to-day chemicals that you will come into contact with can be harmful to your diamond engagement ring. These include scented moisturisers and hand soaps, hand sanitiser, and chlorine. Also be wary of cleaning agents such as bleach and rubbing alcohol. Again, these won’t cause immediate damage, but over time will dull the shine of your diamond and also discolour the metal setting. Keep in mind that once the shine of your diamond is affected, you can’t get it back.
Therefore, be sure to take your ring off when using any of these products, and only place them back on once your hands are dry.
4) Store in a jewellery box
With a big ticket purchase such as an engagement ring, correct storage is a priority. When you’re not wearing your ring, be sure to place it in a jewellery box so you don’t lose it. If you have an extensive jewellery collection, and thus a pretty packed jewellery box, you should try and store your engagement ring alone, or wrap it in a soft cloth to prevent it from scratching other jewellery.
Although, when you need to take it off to do household chores, it might be tedious to wrap it up and store it just for a short period of time, therefore you may think it easier to leave it on the kitchen tops, side table, window sill etc. however, with this comes the risk of forgetting where you’ve placed your jewellery. So, try and leave ring dishes around the house, so when you take it off for a few minutes, you’ll know exactly where to leave it, and where to find it again.
5) Have your ring professionally cleaned and serviced
It is highly recommended that you have your engagement ring cleaned every 6 months to once a year. Not only does this guarantee that all important shine and sparkle to your diamond, but also allows a jeweller to take a closer look at the diamond and setting to discover any chips or impacts that may not be apparent to the naked eye. This is by far the best way to prevent any potential damage.
By committing to a professional cleaning service at least once a year, on top of your home care cleaning, you will keep your engagement ring looking gorgeous and dazzling all year round!
6) Insure your ring
A crucial step in your engagement ring care is to insure your ring as soon as possible. You can add your ring to an existing insurance policy, such as your home or renters insurance. This is a prudent move and is going to help you if the ring is stolen so that you are protected financially.
Keep all insurance related documents safe and make yourself familiar with the policy. A lot of the time your policy will require ring receipts, photos, certificates etc. Also, consider having a valuation done every two to three years, just to make sure that your insurance coverage is still sufficient.
You should certainly view your ring as an investment as well as a symbol of your love, this way you can rest assured knowing your ring is protected both physically and financially.
If you need any more help or advice on caring for your diamond engagement ring, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team of experts at Rocks.
