How to Care for Your Fine Jewelry
Fine jewelry is crafted to last for generations, but even the hardest diamonds and most durable precious metals require mindful care. Daily wear exposes your jewelry to physical impacts, chemicals, and oils that can dull its sparkle or compromise its structural integrity.
When you don't have time to swing by our Holly Springs, NC studio for a quick cleaning, these core guidelines for daily wear and at-home care will keep your custom Joel McFadden Designs pieces looking as brilliant as the day you picked them up.
When you don't have time to swing by our Holly Springs, NC studio for a quick cleaning, these core guidelines for daily wear and at-home care will keep your custom Joel McFadden Designs pieces looking as brilliant as the day you picked them up.
When to Take Your Jewelry Off
The easiest way to protect your jewelry is knowing when not to wear it. We highly recommend removing your rings and fine jewelry during the following activities:
- Working Out & Heavy Lifting: Gripping dumbbells, barbells, or even bicycle handlebars puts immense pressure on a ring. The metal can easily bend out of shape, and you risk crushing the prongs or chipping your gemstones.
- Swimming & Hot Tubs: Chlorine is the enemy of precious metals. Over time, exposure to chlorine in pools and hot tubs will actually eat away at the alloys in gold (especially white gold), making the prongs brittle and highly prone to breaking.
- Harsh Household Chemicals: Using bleach and heavy household cleaning agents can cause severe, irreversible structural damage to your jewelry. Just like pool chlorine, these harsh chemicals act corrosively on precious metal alloys, deteriorating the structural integrity of your settings and permanently pitting the metal.
- Applying Cosmetics & Lotions: While not structurally dangerous, applying lotions, hairspray, perfumes, and makeup will quickly leave a thick, hazy residue on your gemstones. This buildup acts like a magnet for dirt, completely suffocating the brilliance of your diamonds and colored gems.
- Sleeping: It may seem harmless, but sleeping in your jewelry is one of the fastest ways to age it. The polishing wheels we use in the studio to sand and smooth metal are made of linen and cotton—the exact same materials as your bed sheets! Every time you toss and turn, your bedding acts like a slow buffer, wearing away metal details. In fact, a five-year observational study tracked clients who wore identical rings; the ones who slept in their rings required full metal restorations at the end of the five years, while those who took them off at night still had crisp details and excellent prongs. Furthermore, sleeping can cause prongs to catch on fabrics, and delicate chains can easily stretch or break.
At-Home Cleaning (The "No Soap" & "No Brush" Rule)
You will often hear advice on the internet telling you to clean your diamond rings with dish soap or scrub them with an old toothbrush. As master jewelers, we strongly advise against this.
Most modern dish soaps and hand soaps contain heavy moisturizers, botanical extracts, or degreasers. While these are great for your hands, they leave a hazy, microscopic film on the surface of your gemstones. Over time, this buildup acts like a magnet for dirt, completely suffocating the stone's sparkle and leaving it looking cloudy.
Furthermore, brushing your jewelry—even with an ultra-soft baby toothbrush—is highly dangerous. The bristles can easily catch on the metal and pull prongs away from your gemstones, resulting in lost stones.
Most modern dish soaps and hand soaps contain heavy moisturizers, botanical extracts, or degreasers. While these are great for your hands, they leave a hazy, microscopic film on the surface of your gemstones. Over time, this buildup acts like a magnet for dirt, completely suffocating the stone's sparkle and leaving it looking cloudy.
Furthermore, brushing your jewelry—even with an ultra-soft baby toothbrush—is highly dangerous. The bristles can easily catch on the metal and pull prongs away from your gemstones, resulting in lost stones.
The Best Way to Clean at Home:
- For Diamonds & Hard Gemstones (like Sapphires): To cut through daily oils and buildup without leaving a film, we recommend this simple DIY cleaning solution:
- 1 cup of distilled water
- 1 cup of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol)
- 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (OR substitute 1 tablespoon of household ammonia)
To clean your jewelry, simply soak the piece briefly in the solution, and then rinse thoroughly with warm water. To dry the piece perfectly, give it a few quick bursts from a can of compressed air (the kind typically used for cleaning computer keyboards).
Master Jeweler Tip: If it has been a while since your last professional prong inspection, gently pat it dry with a soft, lint-free cloth instead. The pressure from compressed air can easily send a loose gemstone flying!
For a quick touch-up, standard Windex glass cleaner is also an excellent, safe alternative for soaking these hard stones.
Professional Maintenance & Prong Checks
Just like a luxury vehicle, fine jewelry requires routine mechanical maintenance to ensure everything is secure.
- The 6-Month Checkup: We recommend bringing your everyday wear jewelry (especially engagement rings) in for a professional inspection every 6 months. We will place the ring under our microscopes to check for bent prongs, loose stones, or thinning metal that needs to be reinforced.
- Professional Cleaning: During your checkup, we will thoroughly clean your piece. Because certain gemstones require delicate handling, our experts evaluate each piece and use professional methods tailored specifically to your metal and gemstones. This process removes months of hidden buildup and restores your jewelry to its maximum brilliance.