#ring cleaning

It goes without saying that your engagement ring is probably going to be your biggest statement/conversation piece during your engagement period. The minute you tell anyone that you're engaged, their eyes will immediately do a ring check. And when that happens, you want to make sure that your ring looks just as fresh and sparkly as the day your fiance slipped it on your finger. But if you're like me, and your setting has the underside of your stone exposed, it's even easier for your ring to get dirty and dull.

Specifically in my case, this is REALLY annoying as I picked an Asscher center stone which is an antique cut that is specifically designed to draw the eye into the bottom of the stone and take in as much light as possible. Unfortunately, after a week or so of wear, the bottom of my stone gets coated from the oils it picks up on my finger. The result, the outer rim of my Asscher stone (the non exposed portions) are super sparkly, but the very center of the stone looks dull and flat. So not hot...especially because a dirty center stone can make your entire ring look fake. *ouch!*

What to do?! Well you can take it to a jewelry store and have it professionally cleaned. But sometimes you really don't want to go out every time you want to clean your ring (or pay for it either) - which in my case is about every 2 weeks. I found a trick on a jewelry forum I Googled one day and I swear by it. So, for all you ring wearers out there, here's a simple & easy way to clean your ring with a cheap (and actually pretty safe for diamonds) household product - rubbing alcohol. Below are the steps I use to clean my ring. Of course you can make variations on this to suit your needs, but no matter what you add or remove from this suggestion list - always be gentle with your ring! You're not scrubbing baked on mac and cheese from a pan, elbow grease isn't required!

You will need:

A Towel

Rubbing Alcohol

Cotton Balls or Cotton Swabs

Tweezers

Jewelry Polishing Cloth

Rubbing alcohol is a great jewelry cleaning tool because it has a fast evaporation rate but doesn't leave streaks on stones. (FYI, this is a suggestion for harder stones like diamonds - not soft ones like opals, etc.) I like to put my rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle so I can concentrate on specific parts of my ring that gather the most dirt (i.e. the exposed underside of the center stone).

I start by spritzing the entire surface of the ring and gently rubbing it with cotton swabs to remove the easy to see dirt. Now for the underside of the stone, I take a cotton swab and pull off a bit of cotton from one of the ends because the actual swab is too big to fit into the underside of my setting. Thoroughly spritz the bit of cotton and lightly place it directly onto the exposed underside of the stone. It's okay if it's sopping wet, remember alcohol has a high evaporation rate and doesn't leave streaks so even if some of the alcohol leaks onto other parts of the ring, it won't leave water marks. Now, take the tweezers and very lightly apply just enough pressure to thoroughly clean the oil and dirt off the bottom of the stone. Remember to be gentle! We're just trying to clean the stone - not remove it from its setting!!!

Once you've finished cleaning the underside, take your polishing cloth and lightly polish the top of your stone. An added tip, remember to polish your stone(s) every other day or so to keep the top (visible part) of your ring looking vibrant!

Edited to add: