Hello World! Welcome Friends! Congratulations, you’re finally engaged! And your partner gave you a diamond ring to profess his love to you. Like most women, it’s hard to take it off your finger even for a while. You just can’t stop admiring the brilliance that no other gemstones possess.
But there are circumstances where you need to take it off. Household activities such as cleaning the kitchen can damage your engagement ring. The cleaning solutions that you’ll be handling contain some chemicals that cause corrosion on your ring’s metal band. More importantly, it can also ruin the diamond attached to it.
While you can always clean your diamond ring from time to time, the damage can be a lot worse. In this article, we list down some tips on how you can take care of your engagement ring while cleaning the kitchen. Be sure to follow them if you want your diamond ring to last forever!
1. Get to Know Your Kitchen Cleaning Agents
Kitchen cleaning solutions contain harsh chemicals to remove specific stains. For example, abrasives like bleach are used to sanitize countertops and cutting boards.
Although it is an effective solution, this cleaning agent can react negatively with jewelry. Most people often forget they are wearing their rings when they do household chores. As a result, cleaning agents like bleach can scratch the diamond on your ring.
You should also remember that engagement rings aren’t just about the stone it contains. Their bands are made of metal, either gold, silver, or platinum. If you’re not careful, these metals can corrode at the touch of harsh chemicals.
There are four main categories of kitchen cleaning agents. These include:
Detergents
The most popular type of cleaning agent you’ll come across is detergent. These products are mostly used in household and commercial kitchens. When applied on a surface, it breaks down dirt and soil so you can easily wash them off. Detergents come in powder, liquid, gel, or spray form, and have different functions for cleaning the kitchen.
Degreasers
As the name suggests, degreasers are used to remove grease on surfaces. Before, people used methylated spirits as degreasers. However, they emit fumes that are not safe for the environment. That’s why most degreasers today contain non-toxic ingredients to avoid food contamination.
Some of the homemade, non-toxic degreasers include distilled vinegar, baking soda, and soap.
Abrasives
Abrasives are agents that clean surfaces by rubbing against one another. As washing and rubbing occur, hard components in the solution break down dirt particles. These cleaning agents are commonly used to clean floors, pots, and pans.
However, they should be handled with caution. Because of its hard elements, they should not be used to clean kitchen equipment made of plastic or stainless steel. Abrasives come in the form of powder or liquid cleansers. Some also function as disinfectants like household bleach.
Acids
Acid cleaners are the most powerful cleaning agent and should be used with caution. This type of solution can be extremely dangerous if they are not properly diluted.
There are strong acid cleansers and there are also mild ones. Some examples of strong acid cleansers include oxalic and muriatic acid. These cleansers are commonly used to remove rust and stains on stone surfaces.
Other acids like phosphoric, citric, and acetic acid (vinegar) are on the milder side of the spectrum. Phosphoric acid is a non-corrosive agent that’s why it’s safe to use. Citric and acetic acid are natural disinfectants that can remove hard water stains and rust.
2. Put Your Ring to Safety Before You Start Cleaning
One of the most effective ways of taking care of your ring is to remove it before cleaning. However, you should not simply remove it and place it anywhere in the kitchen. If you do so, chances are you’ll lose your ring in the process of cleaning.
The best way to store your engagement ring is to put it in the jewelry box. And not just any jewelry box, but one that has divisions in it. The reason is that other pieces of jewelry can scratch the stone on your ring (yes, even diamonds). You may have saved your ring from harsh cleaning chemicals, but the scratches are a whole different thing.
Furthermore, your jewelry box should have a permanent hiding place. Somewhere hidden, but not in a place you’ll soon forget. While most people temporarily store their rings in a drawer, more often than not, they forget about it until it gets lost.
3. Wear Gloves if You’re Handling Cleaning Solutions
If you’re running out of time and need to clean the kitchen right away, it’s easy to forget to remove your ring before cleaning. When this happens, you can always wear gloves before you start the process.
We recommend you use thick rubber gloves instead of cloth or plastic. Usually, cleaning solutions are liquid and you need to wipe them off after applying. Cloth gloves are porous and the chemicals can seep through them. On the other hand, there’s a chance of plastic gloves breaking in the process of cleaning.
4. Cover the Drain On Your Sink
If you’re only washing the dishes, you don’t need to worry about cleaning solutions that damage your ring. While that is the case, the water you use to wash the dishes can loosen the grip of your ring. And when that happens, your ring can possibly go down the drain.
Although you can still get your ring from the drain, there’s no way of telling how much damage the fall causes. The stone on your ring can get knocked on the metal pipes in the drain. This will result in scratches, making the stone duller than usual.
To avoid this, you can put a cloth or a sink drain cover on it.
5. Use DIY Cleaning Solutions
If you’re unsure if the solution you’re using can harm your ring, then go for a DIY one. You can avoid the risks of using dangerous chemicals by creating your own kitchen cleaners. Aside from this, you can save a lot of money since the ingredients are usually household items.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is a great deodorizer and cleanser. You can combine it with vinegar to clean and eliminate blockages. Similarly, you can use it with natural soaps to soften water and increase the cleaning power of the foam.
Baking soda is also safe when it comes into contact with your ring. In fact, it is commonly used as an alternative material to clean pieces of jewelry.
Hydrogen Peroxide
To avoid using bleach, you can use hydrogen peroxide which has disinfectant and mild bleaching properties. It can kill a wide range of bacteria and is more environmentally friendly than chlorine bleach.
Hydrogen peroxide is also used to clean the metal band of your ring. It can be used on different metals like gold and silver since it will not damage them if handled carefully. It removes fat deposits that have developed on rings due to environmental influences.
6. Thoroughly Wash and Dry Your Hands Before Wearing Your Ring Again
Before wearing your ring, make sure that you remove any cleaning ingredients from your hands. While mild dish soaps do not tarnish your ring, they can build up after some time. This can dim your diamond ring’s sparkle and ruin its beauty. More importantly, the build-up attracts bacteria and germs that cause skin conditions.
That’s why cleaning or having your ring inspected by professionals is an important factor in taking care of it. You don’t want to ruin a piece of jewelry that symbolizes your partner’s love for you.
7. Determine What Cleaning Agents Can Harm Your Ring
Taking care of your engagement ring means knowing what chemicals to avoid. Several cleaning products have been known to dull the shine of rings. Some also have the potential to corrode the metal band. Here are some kitchen cleaning agents that you need to avoid while wearing your engagement ring.
Chlorine
Chlorine is used not only in pools but also in cleaning the kitchen. Metal bands like gold and silver rings react differently with chlorine. The effects of chlorine on the ring build over time, causing some to distort.
Gold
To begin with, chlorine does not have any effect on gold. It does, however, react with the alloy contained in most golden rings, causing the ring to dissolve.
Chlorine attacks other metals on your gold ring. It destroys nickel, zinc, and silver from your jewelry, leaving small bubbles within. Because of this, your gold ring will become brittle. Settings can crumble, causing your diamond to slip off your ring.
Silver
Chlorine also reacts negatively with silver rings. The application of this harsh chemical on silver rings can potentially blacken some areas of the ring. And, just like gold, it can weaken the connection between alloys, allowing the metal to break easily.
Harsh Soaps
Some dishwashing liquids are safe around engagement rings. Others, however, can damage them. When your ring is exposed to harsh dishwashing soaps, it causes rapid discoloration. Your ring will eventually lose its luster, making it appear older and duller.
Hand Sanitizers
Using hand sanitizer while wearing a ring won’t harm diamonds or gemstones right away. However, it can create a filmy residue on the stones that dulls the brightness over time.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to get that luster back after it’s gone.
Cleaning with soap and water regularly can help avoid the accumulation of this residue. However, some soaps include abrasives, which can harm the surface of jewelry and cause rhodium to wear away.
Ammonia
In some cases, rings made of silver and gold are cleaned using ammonia. It is also a good cleaning agent to bring back a diamond’s original shine. While that is the case, you should use it with caution.
Though ammonia can make your diamonds sparkle, it can cause harm to your ring if handled incorrectly. Furthermore, despite its potency, ammonia does not kill germs and bacteria.
Final Thoughts
It’s perfectly understandable to want to wear your engagement ring every day. However, if you want it to last a lifetime, you need to learn when you should take it off. Activities such as cleaning the kitchen can damage your engagement ring.
Even though diamonds are the hardest material on Earth, it’s not immune to scratches. And metals are prone to corrosion when harsh chemicals come into contact. By following the tips above, you can keep your engagement ring like it’s never been used at all.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
How to Hire a General Contractor
Compelling Reasons For Trimming Your Hair
Advantages of Installing a Ceiling Fan
Keep Kitchen and Groceries Well-Organized
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Toodles,
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