The Essential Guide: Caring For Your Engagement Ring

Author Taylor Rao
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Date May 5, 2018

The Essential Guide: Caring For Your Engagement Ring

Once that ring goes on your finger, you’ve not only gained a fiancé –you have a new prized possession to admire. And while your engagement ring will always look beautiful from afar, it’s up to you to keep that close-up view as sparkly as the day you got it. This isn’t just an ordinary piece of jewelry, so before you grab your cleaning supplies, make sure you’re following specific instructions to care for your new carats.

Not sure where to get started? This guide will get you on track for what will become the lifelong project of taking care of your engagement ring (and wedding band).

Insure your ring

Insurance is one of those things you don’t think you need until you need it. If you’ve taken the risk of not protecting a trip or adding a warranty to a piece of technology and had it backfire, don’t make the same mistake when it comes to your ring.Shop for an insurance policy to find the option that works best for you –some couples add ring protection to their homeowners or renters insurance, and others insure it through the jeweler where the ring was purchased or a third-party insurance company. To get started, schedule yourself an appraisal of your ring to see what insurance plan makes the most sense.

This is a step in the process that simply can’t be missed. While insuring your ring will add an additional cost (according to The Knot, you can estimate a yearly fee of $1-2 per $100 it would cost to replace), it’s the price you pay for peace of mind to know you’re covered in almost any unfortunate scenario.

 

Give it a home (away from home)

It’s not unusual to be fearful of misplacing or losing your ring, which often leads to keeping it on at all times. But remember, this is a piece of fine jewelry and it should be treated as such. That means taking it off to perform daily activities like cooking, sleeping, swimming or going to the gym.

“Never wear your ring while doing the dishes or while taking a shower or bath,” says Chelsea Roy, owner and wedding planner at Everything But the Ring. “Soap and other detergents can harm the ring over time, not to mention making your hands slippery, which could cause a ring accident you don’t want to see happen.”

Here’s the trick: every time you take your ring off, put it away in the exact same place, like a certain shelf in a safe or a particular section of your jewelry box. That way, if it’s not on your finger, there’s only one other place it could be.

 

Know when it’s time to clean

While you’re getting used to wearing the ring on your finger, take the time early on when it still feels new to learn how (and when) to clean your ring at home.

Whenever it’s on, the ring is getting dirty –from shaking hands or showing it off, to running errands or just plain running in it, bacteria and dirt builds up and should be cleaned off every couple of weeks.

Luckily, many household products can be used for at-home routine maintenance. The simplest way to clean your ring is to fill a bowl with warm water and a squirt of dish soap, letting the ring soak for 20 minutes or longer (depending on how dirty the ring is). If there’s any residue or buildup on the ring, use a toothbrush to lightly scrub the dirt off.

And if you’re concerned about your ring looking good while you’re on the go, invest in a pocket-sized cleaner like the Gem Pen by The Mrs. Box to keep the shine and sparkle going all day long.

 

Hand it over to the professionals

Just like you can’t miss your biannual trips to the dentist (even though you wish you could), try to schedule two visits a year for your ring to be dropped off at the jeweler. That way, it can undergo a more thorough inspection and cleaning than you can do on your own. Plus, at Long’s, an ultrasonic bath and a steam clean are a complimentary service to customers.

And once you’re an expert in cleaning your engagement ring, you’re one step closer to earning the next piece of “I Do” jewelry –the wedding band.

 

When you’re ready to shop for him or for her, visit Long’s Jewelers Wedding Band Weekend events to shop custom wedding bands from the industry’s top designers. (And use the time in the store to ask a professional questions about routine maintenance on your ring, insurance or at-home cleaning.)

 

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