How do you clean and look after diamonds?

[Bluebell79]

My diamonds have lost their sparkle, I wear them all the time and don't take them off so there's probably a build up of soap, sun cream etc, I have a sonic cleaner and have tried cleaning them with a toothbrush but it's not made much difference, the platinum looks scratched and I think needs a good polish with a machine. Wonder how much a jeweler might charge to clean a ring, necklace and stud earrings? Do other people take off their jewellry when bathing, cleaning, applying hand cream etc?

My hous

Blast! My housekeeper arranges their cleaning

you used a toothbrush? Wasn't that quite scratchy? I presume you meant an old one people no longer use!

bumping to mark place in case of any good suggestions. I've been wearing my engagement ring for over a decade and never had it cleaned (actually I never take it off my finger either) Its pretty manky. Actually it won't come off unless I lose a couple of stone so I can't do much until then anyway LOL

I use a sonic toothbrush with a smidge of washing up liquid. Everything comes up shiny!

Could you take your jewellery back to the shop you bought it from? The shop my engagement ring is from will happily clean it for free any time I've gone pass and asked.

And I always take my rings off before applying any sort of cream.

I know this will seem like a complete waste of good liquor ....drop the ring into a glass of gin overnight. Works a treat!

I soak mine in a cup of hot soapy water for a few minutes and then use an old toothbrush to clean. The soaking softens the build up of grime.

I soak mine in shampoo (cuts any oil) then brush with a medium firm (small) paintbrush, so can get in behind. Then rinse well in hot water and dry with a lint free cloth. Mine are in yellow gold, apart from the actual settings, though platinum is harder and shouldn't scratch as much. Won't be much at the jewellers for a polish.

Diamonds are rock hard, a toothbrush is fine I do my earrings with a toothbrush and with a bit of washing up liquid.
Make sure you get all around the setting (that's where all the shampoo/conditioner etc gets stuck). But check the setting after to make sure it's secure!

Gin here too!

I only ever take my diamond rings off when I am making bread or pastry, they get cleaned once a week with an old toothbrush and some soap. A toothbrush will not scratch diamonds as pretty much only another diamond can do that due to hardness scale (diamonds rate at scale 10, chalk is 1 etc).

Ps diamonds also stay dry so only setting needs to be dried

I'm another one who uses an old electric toothbrush and liquid soap followed by a good rinse. Brings them up a treat!

If you have any very fine interdental brushes, they are good for poking under and through the mountings but go gently. Then soak in an egg cup of gin!

I use a toothbrush and detergent, too. And I wipe the earring posts with antiseptic wipes, too.

And, looking at my engagement ring, I might just do that now - it's filthy.

Soak them with a couple of denture cleaning tablets for 10mins, brings them up a treat and gets rid of any yuck in the crevices of the settings too. I do this with all my rings.

On a random aside, also works for cleaning bristle hairbrushes too - I discovered this the other day and am pleased! Takes longer to clean than rings though, you need to give it a couple of hours and use 3-4 tablets.

Brilliant things denture tablets, and cheap as chips!

I use baby wipes

May use denture tablets by stealingborrowing a few from my dad.

Great tips. But, I'm not sure you can scratch diamonds, thought they were unscratchable, and unbreakable.

As a few have said, the answer, as it is to everything, is gin.
I knew someone who used to clean hers in liquid flash, they sparkled.
One of those jewellry cloths will get the metal nice and shiny.

Waitrose does a cleaner and I finish mine off with a glasses cleaning cloth. Once in a blue moon I send it to the jeweller and they're happy to clean it.

Yup!- seems a waste -- but Gin does mine each time.!

Hagerty jewel clean

They are up breakable, but they really don't like going anywhere near bleach or similar. As I once discovered to my detriment makes them go cloudy.

So I always take them off when I do the cleaning now, or any painty/oily jobs.

The only thing that will clean diamonds properly is an ultrasonic bath. It shoogles the minute pieces of dirt off the stone and gives a sparkle like no other.

Your platinum or white gold rings may be looking dull-even after polishing- as they might need rhodium plated.

Most white metal jewellery is rhodium plated when you buy it new. Rhodium is from the same family as platinum but has a High shine. It's alloyed onto the metal to give more lustre.

Normal charge tends to be about £15-£20. If you go back to the store you purchased it in they will often do it for free.

I've got a pot of jewellery cleaning fluid that I bought from Home Bargains. It's got a little rack that you lift out, place your jewellery on and then lower into the liquid. I leave it overnight, rinse it under clean water in the morning and it always comes up lovely and shiny :) I think it was about 99p!

Windowlene overnight....as recommended by a jeweller