How To Clean And Protect Your Diamond Jewelry
The diamond’s brilliance is its most stunning feature. That’s why it’s important to preserve it as much as possible. Everyday activities allow the accumulation of dirt. Shampoo, hairspray, hand soaps, and cooking oils can leave a hazy shine on your jewelry. If your diamond looks duller than usual, it’s time to give it a thorough cleaning.
Diamonds are one of the most precious gemstones there are. They have a dazzling brilliance that is unmatched by any other stone. Moreover, they are the toughest stones on Earth, with a scale of 10 on the Moh Scale of Hardness. While that is the case, other aspects can be damaged by environmental factors.
Every diamond jewelry needs safeguarding, whether it’s lab-grown or natural. Cleaning your diamond earrings or engagement ring helps keep their luster throughout time. For this reason, we’ve compiled a list of the best ways to clean diamond jewelry without destroying it.
Why Should You Clean Your Diamond Jewelry?
Diamonds are practically indestructible. However, their brilliant shine is more susceptible to damage than you might think.
The light shines down on the diamond at any given time. Reflection occurs when some of that light bounces back off of an object’s surface. The rest passes through the diamond, bouncing off its meticulously designed facets and returning through the top to your eye. This is what gives diamonds their brilliant glint.
Oil from your fingertips transfers to the surface of the diamond over time. This creates the ideal habitat for dust and debris to gather. As a result, the diamond seems duller than before.
On top of this, dirt on your jewelry serves as a breeding ground for germs. Once you use dirty jewelry, it can result in skin irritation, allergies, and discoloration of the metal.
Cleaning your diamond jewelry regularly prevents this from happening. By doing so, you’ll have diamond jewelry that seems new every time you wear it without the risk of any skin condition.
How To Properly Clean Your Diamond
The diamond’s brilliance is its most stunning feature. That’s why it’s important to preserve it as much as possible.
Everyday activities allow the accumulation of dirt. Shampoo, hairspray, hand soaps, and cooking oils can leave a hazy shine on your jewelry. If your diamond looks duller than usual, it’s time to give it a thorough cleaning.
However, simply brushing your diamond jewelry will not do the trick. With that in mind, here is what you need to do to clean your diamonds.
Diamond Rings
1. Soak In Soap And Water For 20 To 40 Minutes
Plain soap and water is the best approach to cleaning a diamond ring, regardless of the setting or metal type. Simply combine lukewarm water and basic dishwashing soap in a small basin. Then soak the ring for 20 to 40 minutes.
2. Use A Soft-Bristled Brush
After the recommended time, remove any residue using a soft toothbrush. Make sure that the bristles are soft. Otherwise, it can do more damage to the stone as well as to the metal band. If there’s still dirt clinging to the ring, rinse it under warm running water and brush softly.
Diamond Bracelets And Necklace
1. Soak In Soap And Water For 15 Minutes
In a small cup, pour dishwashing liquid and warm water. You need approximately an inch of water to cover your jewelry and a small amount of dishwashing detergent to create bubbles. Let the bracelet soak for 15 minutes.
2. Gently Scrub The Bracelet With A Toothbrush
Like diamond rings, you need to use a brush that has gentle bristles when you scrub the jewelry. Get in between the diamonds, but keep an eye out for the prongs. Bracelets and necklaces should then be rinsed in warm water over a mesh strainer. This will allow you to capture any loose diamonds that may fall out throughout the cleaning process.
3. Dab It With A Lint-Free Cloth
Lints can ruin bracelets and necklaces as you dab the cloth when drying the jewelry. When this happens, the lint can get caught on the chains of the jewelry and result in breakage. That’s why lint-free cloth is advisable, although you still need to be careful not to get the fabric on the prongs.
Diamond Earrings
1. Get A Jewelry Cleaning Kit
These kits include a unique cleaning solution made specifically for cleaning earrings. This way, you’ll be sure that it will not harm your earrings.
Fill a basin with a small amount of the solution and soak your earrings in it overnight. In the morning, rinse the earrings with warm water, dry them, and polish them with a lint-free cloth.
2. Clean Your Earrings On A Flat Surface
Your earrings can fall down the drain if you clean them near the sink. You can also have the drain covered with cloth. However, you might not notice a piece of your earring that fell on the cloth. It can accidentally go down the drain when you remove the cloth.
3. Use Dish Soap As An Alternative
If you don’t have a jewelry cleaning kit, you can use household items to restore the luster of your diamond earrings.
Combine a cup of lukewarm water and a teaspoon of dish soap in a mixing bowl. Stir everything together until bubbles appear. Make sure your dishwashing liquid doesn’t contain any perfumes or dyes, as this could harm your earrings. Allow them to soak for 3 to 4 minutes.
Ways To Take Care Of Your Diamond Jewelry
It is recommended to clean your diamond jewelry once a week. And, if you don’t have time to do so, you can bring it to a professional to have it cleaned.
Cleaning removes all the dirt and makes your jewelry look as if you just bought it. However, certain activities result in damages that cleaning can’t fix. That’s why you need to know how you can take care of your diamond jewelry to make it last a lifetime.
Always Handle Your Diamond Jewelry With Care
This seems to be a no-brainer, but sometimes, people often forget and unconsciously touch their jewelry. And each time they do, they leave a trail of finger oil behind, which attracts even more dirt. For longer-lasting diamond brilliance, try to be conscious and avoid it as much as possible.
Avoid Using Abrasive Solutions With Harmful Chemicals
When buying a jewelry cleaner/polisher, you should do your research and check the chemicals included. Certain chemicals can tarnish your diamond ring or remove its durability. Sparkle Bright is a great jewelry cleaner that can polish and repair rings made of any metal.
Wear Diamonds Only When Necessary
Diamonds last for a long time, but that does not mean you can wear them anywhere you go. If you’re doing physical activities, you shouldn’t wear any kind of diamond jewelry, no matter how glamorous it looks.
More specifically, chlorine in swimming pools can damage your diamond jewelry. In addition to this, the water and your movement around it can loosen the grip of your ring on your finger. This often results in your ring or earrings falling off. That’s why it’s a good idea to remove your jewelry before diving in.
Have It Regularly Cleaned And Inspected
While you can clean your diamonds at home, if your jewelry has any damages, it’s best to call for professional help. Professionals not only apply the right chemicals to your diamond jewelry but also know how to fix them.
You should get your diamond jewelry cleaned and examined every six months or if it has any kind of damage. This will help keep loose stones from coming off and significantly extend the life of your jewelry.
Store Your Diamonds In A Safe Place
Even though diamonds are one of the toughest minerals, your diamond jewelry can still get damaged. Your jewelry consists of more than just a diamond. Other parts of a diamond ring, such as the setting, can loosen with time, increasing your chances of losing your diamond.
To store diamond jewelry, you need to keep each item in its own case. You can put them in individual soft fabric pouches. Or you can get a jewelry box with segregated compartments for each piece of jewelry.
At the same time, it’s equally important to safeguard your jewelry box to keep your diamond safe. Try finding a place where it is dry, cold, and safe.
Final Thoughts
It’s easier than you would think to keep your diamond beautiful and shining for a lifetime. With the right tools and equipment, you can keep your jewelry collection sparkling and shiny.
Most importantly, you should always be gentle when you clean your diamond jewelry. Be mindful of how you scrub and dry your jewelry as diamonds can fall off of them. Lastly, you should know when is the right time to wear your diamond jewelry, which is not all the time.
By following the list above, your diamonds can look brand-new and stunning for decades to come.