How To Keep Your Engagement Ring Sparkling

Keeping your ring in dazzling, just-said-yes! condition is a serious task, especially today. All the stringent hand cleansing and hand sanitizing now part of our daily lives with COVID-19 is not just hard on your skin, it’s hard on your rings. Daily wear definitely takes a toll on your jewelry; add in all the stepped-up hand washing (experts recommend you do remove rings before washing or sanitizing) and you have even more stress put on the metal of your ring and even the stone which can lose its fire due to a buildup of residue.

Bringing the sparkle back to your ring can easily be done at home. Toronto based jewelry designer Liz Wright says you can do a quick DIY clean at home and all you need are three things: a bowl of warm water, dish soap and a soft toothbrush. Simply soak your ring for five minutes in the warm soapy solution, give a gentle scrub with your toothbrush and your ring will look shiny and (almost) new again.

Once we return to life being business-as-usual, take your ring in for a professional deep cleaning. If you have a white gold engagement ring, you may notice the metal may have begun to yellow. Here’s a little lesson for you: gold is an element and a precious metal, and it is always yellow. What jewellers use as white gold is actually an alloy mixture of gold and white metal (usually nickel, silver or palladium). To make it sparkle, white gold pieces are typically treated with a thin layer of rhodium electroplating (rhodium is actually a member of the platinum family) to make that jewelry shine. White gold plated with rhodium also helps to keep the piece looking its best longer as rhodium will not tarnish or discolour, and since it is a harder substance, it is much less likely to scratch. Rhodium does not last forever though, and is something you should have redone once you see your ring looking less than spectacular. It’s recommended to have your rings plated every six months to a year. Many jewellers offer rhodium plating as a complimentary service to brides just before their wedding day to ensure their ring shines on the day, so ask yours about having the service done.