All of us ladies with some bling on our fingers should have the right tools and tips when it comes to keeping them sparkly. Here I’ve got some tips for you from Jennifer at the Fair Trade Jewellery Company on keeping your ring clean. Jennifer does custom design work at FTJCo and FTJCo is also where I got my e-ring made. In fact, that’s my ring up there in the photo 🙂
Note that these are tips for gold or platinum jewellery with diamonds/sapphires. For other materials, such as silver or pearls, other methods need to be used.
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Cleaning
The best place to start is with a soft toothbrush, warm water, and liquid dish soap. That should take off the oil that holds onto dust and skin, and causes a film.
Some people like to buy a jewellery cleaning solution. It comes in a little container with a brush and a holder. If you use that, I’d still give it a little wash after to remove any solution.
Jewellers (like us) have stronger, safe machines designed to remove dirt from hard to reach places (like under the side diamonds). That can be done once in awhile, but not necessary all of the time.
Polishing
A soft cloth (like an eyeglass cloth) can give a quick shine.
There are also polishing cloths for sale that are impregnated with a compound to help bring out a brighter shine.
For more obvious scratches and dulling, jewellers can buff the ring again to bring it closer to the original. This does remove a tiny bit of metal, and is also not needed regularly. After a long period of time, some people choose to have the stone ((other than diamond) re-polished, and the facets sharpened up again.
The materials I would warn against are abrasives (like Comet or baking soda) that can scuff and dull the gold, and other jewellery with diamonds and sapphires (tossed in a bag/box/pocket together), that can scratch each other.
Safety tips
Make sure to do your cleaning over a bowl or container instead of the sink or in mid-air, just in case you knock out a loose stone or the ring slips from your fingers.
Regarding loose stones, you can check by gently tapping the stone with your fingertip and seeing if it moves, or makes a noise. If it’s loose, or suddenly began to catch on clothes, or it’s been left in the laundry, stepped on, or worse (it happens!), bring it to your jeweller for an inspection to see if it needs some upkeep/repair. Most jewellers do not mind taking a look anytime, to make sure the ring is in good shape and the stone is secure.