Why You Should Have Your Rings Cleaned by a Professional
For those special rings and jewellery pieces that you wear every day or simply never take off, it’s important to always keep them bright, shiny, and clean. Regularly cleaning them will ensure that no dirt or debris builds up, preserving their quality. However, the cleaning process can be tedious, and if done incorrectly, it can cause serious damage to your ring. So today, we’re going to discuss the ring-cleaning process, why you should avoid DIY methods at home, and why it’s crucial to entrust your precious rings to a professional for sparkling results.
Start by Preventing Issues
To maintain the integrity of your ring, it’s essential to prevent problems from occurring. We recommend avoiding subjecting your rings to unnecessary strain. While high-quality metals and stones can withstand a lot, it’s still best not to take advantage of their resilience. Always remove your rings before engaging in activities that involve dirt, such as gardening, doing the dishes, or working with sticky foods. By remembering to take them off before these activities, you can prevent the accumulation of dirt and debris. There are other less common activities where we tend to forget to remove our rings, such as participating in water activities, using harsh cleaning chemicals, or applying lotions. If performed frequently, these activities can compromise the integrity of your ring.
Why Is Jewellery Cleaning Necessary?
As mentioned earlier, not cleaning your jewellery can lead to damage. What does damage entail? It can start with small issues like your stones changing colour or losing their lustre and escalate to more significant problems like the deterioration of the metal. Neglecting to clean your rings can even impact your health. Surprisingly, if jewellery continues to accumulate dirt, you may experience skin irritations or allergies.
Cleaning Your Jewellery at Home
Often, attempting to clean your jewellery at home can do more harm than good. For example, many people mistakenly believe that using toothpaste is an effective cleaning method—but it’s not. Toothpaste, if not thoroughly rinsed off, can harden like glue underneath your stones and become challenging for a jeweller to remove. Instead, we recommend performing regular maintenance cleanings at home to maintain the brilliance of your piece but leave the deep cleaning to the professionals.
Ways to maintain clean jewellery at home without causing damage include gently buffing with a microfiber cloth and, if necessary, lightly cleaning your piece with mild dish soap. DIY cleaners to avoid include toothpaste (as mentioned earlier), lemon juice or other acidic substances, and denatured alcohol. All of these liquids have been suggested as cleaning agents at home, but they will only harm your jewellery.
When to Seek Professional Cleaning
Determining when it’s time to take your rings to a professional for cleaning can be subjective and depends on how often they are exposed to the elements. Generally, diamond pieces can go longer without cleaning, but more fragile pieces like opals should be cleaned more frequently.If you wear your rings regularly, we recommend the following cleaning schedule:
- Bi-Weekly: Wipe down with a microfiber cloth.
- Monthly: Gently clean with mild dish soap.
- Every Six Months: Take it to a professional for a thorough cleaning.
If you purchased your piece from a local jeweller, cleanings are typically free as long as the piece lasts. Otherwise, the cost for professional cleaning ranges from $25 to $50 and can be done at any reputable jeweller. Getting your jewellery cleaned is important because it allows the jeweller to identify any issues with the piece. You might not be able to notice a loose stone at home, but a jeweller will certainly catch it.
Bring us your beloved pieces and rings and we’ll clean them before your eyes! Browse our store while we uncover the beauty of your pieces or speak to our restoration specialists about restoring your treasured jewellery. Call us at 519-752-2230 to learn more.
