Diamonds are the hardest natural substance on Earth yet the oil from the touch of a human finger can cause dirt to collect and make this nearly indestructible gemstone quickly lose its sparkling appeal. Here are some tips on cleaning:

A simple plan to keep your diamond jewellery looking beautiful is to treat it like your dishes, soak it in water with a bit of dishwashing liquid, once or twice a week. When you remove the ring from the water using a toothbrush to gently brush your diamond. The toothbrush should be new and used only to clean your jewellery. Use it to clean hard-to-reach places like the back of the diamond, which collects the most oil and dirt. The key to a diamond’s sparkle lies in its facets – which work like a series of many tiny mirrors reflecting light in and out of the stone. Regularly cleaning the facets will keep your diamond sparkling.

Gentle is the most important word. For fragile settings, like older prongs in antique jewellery or a tension setting where the diamond is held in place by pressure from the shank, don’t scrub vigorously. After brushing, just rinse your diamond ring with water and dry with a lint-free cloth. Remember to close the drain if you’re cleaning over a sink!

Bleach, household cleansers or toothpaste should never be used when cleaning diamond engagement rings. These chemicals can damage some of the metals used for settings and abrasives can scratch the gold.

To clean your ring in those hard to reach places an ultrasonic machine can be necessary. By sending low-frequency sound waves through water, ultrasonic machines cause vibrating fluid to remove accumulated dirt and grime. We have one running in our Christchurch store and it is free to use so feel free to pop in and give your rings a thorough clean and we can also check the claws and setting.