If donning adorable sparkling jewelry is what you love the most and has become more of your habit now, then you must also be aware that these ornaments need to be taken special care of from time to time to protect them from wearing or tarnishing and to maintain their original luster and worth. This case is especially true for some of the jewelry pieces such as an engagement ring or a wedding band, a metal chain, or gemstone studs that most of us wear every day. In the article below, we’ll be sharing some tips on how you can take care of your most precious ornament, that is, your everlasting engagement ring.
Need for Regular Jewelry Cleaning & Care
When you wear any piece of jewelry often or almost every day for most of the time, both the metal and the gemstones, if any, studded in the metal began to appear dull as if they have lost their real shine. Have you wondered why does this happen? This is because when the precious metal and gemstones come in contact with atmospheric dust, smoke, or humidity in the air, a thin layer of dust, carbon, or at times rust is formed on the metal surface.
Not only these but wearing a jewelry piece over time can tarnish its surface by repeatedly coming in contact with body sweat, oil, perfume, makeup, etc. Dirt may also accumulate around your jewelry when you wear it while doing daily household chores. Hence, any piece of jewelry needs to be cleaned periodically to increase its shelf life and prevent it from wearing out while maintaining its original luster.
Simplest Household Solution
Ever wondered what could be the most inexpensive yet effective way to keep your jewels dazzling? Well, for that all you want is liquid soap, lukewarm water, a soft-bristle toothbrush, and a soft towel. Add 2-3 drops of soap to half-bowl water and dip the ring inside the solution for around 5 minutes. Use a toothbrush to rub the ring gently from all corners. In the last, rinse the ring with plain water and dry it with a towel. This technique can clean light-hued transparent gemstones like those in an aquamarine engagement ring or spinal engagement ring as well.
Ways to Remove Tarnish from Your Engagement Ring
While it is easy to keep your metal and gemstone jewelry tarnish-free by keeping them dry, storing them separately, and using a jewelry protector liquid to remove blackness from your sterling silver, brass, copper, or gold jewelry, you can still remove tarnish from these metals by cleaning them with liquid dish soap, baking soda, lemon juice, and even toothpaste along with a toothbrush, soft cloth, and lukewarm water.
Use Mild Cleaning Solutions
Harsh washing detergents with acetone, chlorine, bleach, or cleaning agents with chemicals can’t be used to clean the centerstone or the base metal of your engagement ring since they can damage the metal or scratch them away. Only mild liquid detergent or dishwasher liquid soaps should be used to clean sensitive jewels with baby shampoo also being a good choice.
Using Electric Devices for Jewelry Cleaning
If using basic household products does not match your taste, then you can opt for an ultrasonic cleaner or a steam cleaner. While the former takes more time to clean and requires you to use a special solution for cleaning, it is comparatively more affordable than the latter which is quicker and does not require any solution to remove dirt, oil, grime, etc. from your ring or rather any piece of jewelry. However, you need to be extra careful while using these appliances since they put high pressure on your gentle stones for cleaning which might damage your stones if frequently used.
Taking Professional Help
If it’s really been a long time since you cleaned your ring the last time or maybe if you haven’t cleaned it at all for more than a year and you are not confident with yourself about cleaning it then visiting a professional jewelry expert would the best option for your ring restoration.
Parting Thoughts
By now you would have understood how important it is to keep your jewelry twinkling bright and clean just as new ones. But one thing that you need to understand is that while using simple cleaning methods frequently can make your ring more attractive, using artificial cleaning devices for the same purpose may cause your ring to wear more quickly or may even lose its gemstone setting. So the ideal time would be to clean your engagement ring every two to three weeks depending on how frequently or little you wear it. With this, we, at GemsNY, would also like you to get acquainted with our unique engagement rings for both him and her.
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