RING CLEANLINESS

[madelise]

Alright, I've just had it. What is with people not cleaning their rings?!?! What is with people not taking OFF their rings?!?!

An acquaintance of mine had a very, very dirty ring. She was complaining about how her ring doesn't sparkle anymore. Well, no duh, it's DIRTY. But I didn't say anything. She made a comment about how sparkly mine was. YES, MY CHANCE! I tell her I clean my rings multiple times a day. I give them a good scrub about once a day, and I make sure to clean them properly when I wash my hands. She said her jeweler told her fiancé that her engagement ring will get damaged if she washes it. WTH?!?! I told her that is absolutely not true, and I got a closer look at her ring to confirm there was no pave that might potentially get damaged or loosened if someone were to aggressively clean it. Nope. YELLOW GOLD SOLITAIRE. No rhodium plating to worry about, and no premature patina to worry about. She had gunk. ALL. OVER. in between the damned prongs. Crusted on. UGH.

Then another friend of mine had a similar conversation with me. SAME SCHPELE. Hers is covered in crud from lotion, and dust and dirt catching on to the lotion.

WHAT ON EARTH?


I just don't get it. Ok, most people aren't PS'ers, and most people aren't obsessed about their very very expensive diamond that SHOULDN'T be so dirty that it looks like a horrible old beat up fakey. Most people don't care.

BUT COME ON?! You clean with those hands, you cook with those hands, you touch your face with those hands, and touch children with those hands. It's currently FLU SEASON, and I'm scrubbing my hands multiple times a day to get rid of germs and viruses, and people still won't clean their rings?

These people work in healthcare, mind you.


This is a photo showing germs doused in photofluorescent gel, after the person has washed their hands.
Look at where the germs are all located! Right there, at the bend of the knuckles and at the connection region of the finger to the hand! Right where we keep our rings! Ew!


So, even if people don't clean their rings for vanity reasons, they should be cleaning their rings for hygienic reasons. Someone needs to make a big PSA on this. I'm quite disgusted at the idea of my friend cooking with her hands, with her ring on, spreading whatever junk she touched throughout the day while working at a hospital.. onto her food.

 

[mary poppins]

Odd that her jeweler didn't explain an appropriate way to clean a ring. May he or she wants customers to come back for ring cleanings so there's an opportunity to make a sale.

And eeeuw, the picture you posted with germs is disgusting. Even though I'm not a compulsive hand washer, I wash many times and still can't count how many times I do it - after going to the bathroom, handling food, returning from the grocery store, etc. The picture makes me want to wash even more. Yuck! And she works in a hospital and doesn't clean her rings?! Gross! I probably wouldn't even where my rings in that environment unless I used gloves all the time.

 

[HopeDream]

1) Not all germs are harmful - less than 1% of bacteria are harmful to humans.
(Please do wash your hands well and with with soap, but not antibacterial soap which increases antibiotic resistance in bacteria - avoid triclosan - If you must kill everything on your hands use rubbing alcohol which doesn't allow bacterial resistance).

2) Clean your jewellery. Dirty jewellery is gross. People clean their glasses all the time, why is cleaning rings so different? I think we need to air som PSAs about clean jewellery.

 

[Sakuracherry]

Argh now I'm embarrassed I wear my wedding sets once a week or so, and never cleaned my new e-ring. My channel set wedding band is very dirty. Ok, time to order a steam cleaner for me!

 

[HopeDream]

Don't worry Sakuracherry! We've all had times where ring cleaning just wasn't a priority.

Just start with soaking your rings in a bowl of hotwater and dish soap for 15-20 minutes and then scrub them with a toothbrush and rinse with hot water.

Your rings will be sparkling in no time!

 

[Resonance.Of.Life]

Madelise: Ever watched Paula Deen cook? It grossed me out immensely to see her dig her hands with her huge rings into a pile of raw meat ! UGH. Made my stomach churn.

People do not typically have the same obsession for ring cleanliness that we have. My husband appreciates it since he knows I am taking care of something he sees as a tangible declaration of his love and our union (did I mention he's incredibly cheesy? but I love that!).

 

[distracts]

Oh my god, ditto all of this, so hard, omg! I've seen soooooooo many rings that might be beautiful under all the gunk, but who could really tell?

Whenever my close friends get engaged, I try to explain to them about Cleaning In The Pink Stuff Weekly. Because clean and sparkly is better! My jeweler has war stories of the rings he's seen. He regales me with them whenever I mention people with dirty rings, and it's so horrible and fascinating. He says often the dirt is so caked on you have to burn it off and you can smell burning flesh. EWWWWWWWWWWWW. He also has stories of people whose skin has grown over their rings because they never took them off. It's horrifying.

People do not typically have the same obsession for ring cleanliness that we have.

I don't get this at all. If you're spending $$$$$$$ on a piece of bling, why not make sure it still blings?

My second biggest pet peeve when it comes to ring cleanliness? That right after I clean mine, my fiance always, ALWAYS comes up and puts his greasy hands all over it! (They're not really greasy but hand oils, you know?) He says it's so sparkly and pretty he just wants to touch it! But then I have big fingerprints right on my sapphire! UGH! But I guess it's good that it's pretty and it's good that he likes and appreciates it still, but why can't he look and not touch?

 

[webdiva]

Ewwwwww! Burning flesh?

I'm totally with you here, I made my BFF soak hers in warm water for a few days since she didn't have Mr. Clean. It's been a week since I cleaned mine and I'm itching to do it again (mind you, I don't have mine on 24/7). I swear by the distilled water rinse, it's AWESOME!!!

 

[distracts]

I swear by the distilled water rinse, it's AWESOME!!!

I really need to try that.

 

[justginger]

I start getting the guilts if more than a day or two passes between cleans - I simply cannot fathom NEVER cleaning my diamonds! Why own a stone that's beauty comes from sparkling if it NEVER sparkles?!

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

I walked into the bank today and the teller exclaimed (loud so the whole bank could hear!) "oh my look at all of your diamonds! They are very sparkly, are they new?!" I told her no, and that I just clean them regularly. She looked at me like I was crazy!

I try to educate my friends on cleaning their rings if they will listen although I have never really thought about it from a hygiene perspective.

 

[ksinger]

I don't clean clean mine very often, but I do wash them with my usual handwashing at least once a day, and then I take them off and shake each one out individually so that there is no water under the stones (it's amazing how much water comes out of a wet ring when you give it a good shake) and then dry each individually. And when I come home, those rings are the first things off my hands. I NEVER clean or cook with them on, and so I hardly wear them around the house for that reason: too much chance I'm going to need to DO something.

But yeah, dirty rings? WHY?? Like others, I can understand NOT being obsessed with jewelry (if I strain my brain and squint really hard anyway) but grey gunked up rings? Yeah, super gross out.

 

[madelise]

I've always thought of the hygiene to it. I have a dog. I play with him. He's dirty. I walk him, and I clean up his poo. That's really dirty. I do that first thing after coming home, right before I eat. I sure as hell will not be touching my food with dog poo ring! I do a steam clean about once every few weeks, and I always wash my rings when I'm washing my hands… and dry it as well as I can to avoid water spots. That used to be about 10x a day, but I've been hanging the ring on my pendant lately, so maybe 2-5x a day?

Skin GROWING OVER a ring? That is disgusting, how on earth??! Wouldn't there have to be a blister or wound or something that makes the skin decide to grow? Ew.

and burning flesh. Whatt?!



and I have the same sentiments! WHY, oh why on earth, would anyone buy thousands of dollars worth of sparkle to make it look like a cheap gum ball machine ring? X___X



So.. how does someone go about making a PSA about this?

 

[Circe]

There was a Jezebel post from a jeweler a year or so ago that delved into some of the horror stories. She said once somebody brought a ring in and a seed had sprouted in the gallery. Now, THAT is dirt-y, when there is enough soil to support a plant.

I genuinely think most people put their e-rings on and just don't think of them again. They're serious when they say things like "My wedding ring is a part of me." And they figure that since, hey, a shower keeps them clean, it should keep their jewelry clean too, right?

 

[rosetta]

oh my god. so gross.

i once tried to clean my mum's ring in the ultrasound. it was so dirty that the U/S didn't touch it. i had to scrub it quite hard

 

[JaneSmith]

I get a bit grossed out when someone writes that they take off their rings to wash their hands. I know it helps the diamond stay shiny, but please, if you just went to the loo with your rings on, wash them too!


From the article:
"Poo, it's getting everywhere. Faecal bacteria are present on 26% of hands in the UK, 14% of banknotes and 10% of credit cards, according to new research carried out by hygiene experts from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). It has been published to promote the UN's Global Handwashing Day."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19834975

 

[OneFifty]

Yuck. I don't really get it either. Other than the ick factor, I love the way my ring sparkles when it is clean.

 

[ame]

Oh my god, ditto all of this, so hard, omg! I've seen soooooooo many rings that might be beautiful under all the gunk, but who could really tell?

Whenever my close friends get engaged, I try to explain to them about Cleaning In The Pink Stuff Weekly. Because clean and sparkly is better! My jeweler has war stories of the rings he's seen. He regales me with them whenever I mention people with dirty rings, and it's so horrible and fascinating. He says often the dirt is so caked on you have to burn it off and you can smell burning flesh. EWWWWWWWWWWWW. He also has stories of people whose skin has grown over their rings because they never took them off. It's horrifying.

People do not typically have the same obsession for ring cleanliness that we have.

I don't get this at all. If you're spending $$$$$$$ on a piece of bling, why not make sure it still blings?

My second biggest pet peeve when it comes to ring cleanliness? That right after I clean mine, my fiance always, ALWAYS comes up and puts his greasy hands all over it! (They're not really greasy but hand oils, you know?) He says it's so sparkly and pretty he just wants to touch it! But then I have big fingerprints right on my sapphire! UGH! But I guess it's good that it's pretty and it's good that he likes and appreciates it still, but why can't he look and not touch?

SRSLY. Drives. Me. INSANE. DH makes it a game to get his gross finger on the table. He also thinks it's fun to try to hit my rings with forks, knives and on the rare occasion he wears his ring, his ring. One of these times he's gonna actually hit it and then he's gonna have to replace the stone and deal with me when I am that angry at him.

I often buy my favorite ring cleaner for my friends who don't clean theirs often enough. lol It makes me absolutely nuts. Then I get snide comments about how crazy mine is, or how mine sparkles so much more. Well yours would too probably if you cleaned it or did gunk it up with lotion.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

You'd be surprsed...it just isn't rings, but neckchains and bracelets and watches...I worked at the bench for a year in my Dads shop...I won't even go there....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Autumnovember]

I've always thought of the hygiene to it. I have a dog. I play with him. He's dirty. I walk him, and I clean up his poo. That's really dirty. I do that first thing after coming home, right before I eat. I sure as hell will not be touching my food with dog poo ring! I do a steam clean about once every few weeks, and I always wash my rings when I'm washing my hands… and dry it as well as I can to avoid water spots. That used to be about 10x a day, but I've been hanging the ring on my pendant lately, so maybe 2-5x a day?

Skin GROWING OVER a ring? That is disgusting, how on earth??! Wouldn't there have to be a blister or wound or something that makes the skin decide to grow? Ew.

and burning flesh. Whatt?!



and I have the same sentiments! WHY, oh why on earth, would anyone buy thousands of dollars worth of sparkle to make it look like a cheap gum ball machine ring? X___X



So.. how does someone go about making a PSA about this?

I had about 10 of my girl friends over one night when one mentioned how sparkly my ring was and I jumped at the opportunity to clean all of their rings! I showed them how happy their rings can be if you just clean it. They were all SHOCKED at how sparkly their rings were after a short bath in jewelry cleaner. Guess which person had the dirtiest ring? The nurse.

My e-ring goes no where near work....*shudder* just thinking about it.

 

[star sparkle]

Ugh, it's gross. My SIL, her sister, and mother are some of the worst offenders. I can actually visually see, from a normal conversational distance, black gunk caked around the prongs of her mom's ering.

Also cracked me up one time after I first got engaged and they were all oohing and aahing over my ring. My SIL said "It's so shiny and sparkly!" and her sister said "Yeah, I love how they look when they're new! So sparkly!" In my head I was like "uhh, well my ring is actually a vintage piece so it's pretty old, and it's so shiny and sparkly because I actually clean it."

I've casually mentioned to them in the past that they should clean their rings, and they won't. My SIL especially, she absolutely refuses to take her rings off. It's like something terrible is going to happen to her if her rings are off for a few minutes?

Whatever.

 

[Alexiszoe]

Someone dear to me has a lovely 3 carat OEC and but I don't think she takes it off or has had it cleaned or checked in a while. I am guessing her lovely diamond probably has a few chips, and I don't quite know how to say in a polite manner that she should have it checked and cleaned regularly! ( I am terrified for her that one day her diamond will have a crack or a chip that becomes a crack over time and that's the end of it!)

 

[Enerchi]

I agree with the majority here - why do people NOT clean their rings??? EEEEEEEWWWWW!!! When I got my ollo clip for my iPhone, a friend asked me to take pics of her rings - sure, happy to do that for her and I emailed them to her... But when I looked, all I could see was this gross "pond scum" layer of ickiness on the diamonds and it just looked disgusting! Same with my SIL - she was up to visit and I cleaned her rings for her --- I think they went from 0 - 100 in a nanosecond, once the 20+ years of grime were finally washed away!!

I'm all in agreement about the PSA to clean your rings - if not to sparkle, at least to be hygienic!!

 

[woofmama]

My rings go into the jewelry cleaner every day while I shower, then a quick scrub & rinse and out the door I go. I'm petting dogs all day so I frequently wash my hands and typically leave my rings on. I just received my Jewel Jet which I had ordered from Amazon.
Can't wait to try it!

 

[audball]

People are gross. I don't know why people spend money on jewelry and don't keep it clean. I clean my sister's ring every time I see her. She cooks and everything with them on. I'm fairly certain they stay on for showers and sleeping and everything. Changing diapers? Yep. Bleh.

Some people really are so not thinking about it that I can even sort of get them not caring/thinking about the invisible germs all over their jewelry. But what about the visible gunk? Residue? Lotion? Dirt? Lint!?

I can't tell you how crazy it makes me when I see fuzzy lint sticking out of the prongs and such of other people's rings.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Ugh, it's gross. My SIL, her sister, and mother are some of the worst offenders. I can actually visually see, from a normal conversational distance, black gunk caked around the prongs of her mom's ering.

Also cracked me up one time after I first got engaged and they were all oohing and aahing over my ring. My SIL said "It's so shiny and sparkly!" and her sister said "Yeah, I love how they look when they're new! So sparkly!" In my head I was like "uhh, well my ring is actually a vintage piece so it's pretty old, and it's so shiny and sparkly because I actually clean it."

I've casually mentioned to them in the past that they should clean their rings, and they won't. My SIL especially, she absolutely refuses to take her rings off. It's like something terrible is going to happen to her if her rings are off for a few minutes?

Whatever.

She doesn't even need to take her ring off to clean it. Just scrub it w/a baby toothbrush while washing her hands. Maybe get her a little ring cleaning kit for Christmas!

 

[audball]

She doesn't even need to take her ring off to clean it. Just scrub it w/a baby toothbrush while washing her hands. Maybe get her a little ring cleaning kit for Christmas!

Good idea!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

She doesn't even need to take her ring off to clean it. Just scrub it w/a baby toothbrush while washing her hands. Maybe get her a little ring cleaning kit for Christmas!

Good idea!

Yeah, actually would make good gifts for all the ladies in the family! One gal in mine has a fabulous old cut stone...she keeps it clean, though... lol

 

[star sparkle]

She doesn't even need to take her ring off to clean it. Just scrub it w/a baby toothbrush while washing her hands. Maybe get her a little ring cleaning kit for Christmas!

Oh, how I wish that would work. I know that if I got that for her/them I'd get a strange look and then it'd be thrown in the back of some drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day again.

 

[audball]

She doesn't even need to take her ring off to clean it. Just scrub it w/a baby toothbrush while washing her hands. Maybe get her a little ring cleaning kit for Christmas!

Oh, how I wish that would work. I know that if I got that for her/them I'd get a strange look and then it'd be thrown in the back of some drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day again.

Yeah...I think any non PSer would find it to be a strange gift. Too bad