Caring for Your Diamonds

Diamonds are supposed to be forever, but to ensure that you diamonds continue to sparkle and shine forever, it is important to take proper care of these durable but precious stones.

Protecting Your Diamonds

Do not store diamonds together. Diamonds are incredibly strong stones, but owners of diamond jewelry should be aware that diamonds can be scratched by other diamonds. For this reason, it is important to separate your diamond jewelry when storing it. You can place the pieces in individual cloth jewelry bags or in a jewelry box with separate compartments.

Avoid wearing your diamond jewelry while doing heavy work. Banging your diamond jewelry against objects while performing heavy work can cause the vulnerable points on a cut diamond to chip. In addition, exposure to chlorine bleach and other chemicals can cause pits to form in the diamond or the mounting to discolor.

Take your diamond jewelry to a professional jeweler periodically. The settings of a piece of diamond jewelry can loosen over time. For this reason, you should take your pieces to a professional jeweler every six months in order to check the diamond's mounting and settings.

Cleaning Your Diamonds

By wearing your diamond jewelry, lotions, soaps and even the skin's natural oils can create a film on the diamonds, decreasing the stones' brilliance. In order to keep your diamonds shining brightly, you should clean them periodically.

Two common methods to clean diamonds include taking your diamonds to a jeweler to have them professionally cleaned or to purchase jewelry cleaner. However, there are some home-made ways in which you can keep your diamond jewelry clean.

Mild Liquid Detergent: This cleaning method involves soaking the diamond jewelry in a small bowl of warm, sudsy water using a mild liquid detergent. While submerged in the suds, gently brush the diamonds with a soft toothbrush in order to dislodge any dirt from underneath the settings. After brushing the pieces, rinse them under warm running water - remember to use your sink stopper! Finally, pat the pieces dry with a soft, lint-free cloth.

Ammonia Solution: Another method utilizing common household products involves placing the diamond jewelry in a small bowl containing a solution consisting of a half-and-half mixture of ammonia and cold water. After soaking the pieces in the solution for 30 minutes, lift them out and gently tap around the front and back of the mountings using a small soft brush. Then, place the pieces back into the solution a second time. Finally, rinse the pieces and drain them on tissue paper.

Vodka Anyone? A rather unconventional method that can be used to clean your diamond jewelry is soaking the pieces in a glass of vodka. Just make sure to not partake of the vodka following the cleaning.

Diamonds that Require Special Care

Some diamonds might have been treated to enhance their appearance. Many are colored, tinted, coated, irradiated or heated. Some might have their inclusions removed with lasers or fractures filled with a glass-like substance. In many cases, the methods used to treat diamonds are not permanent and can be impacted by cleaning methods. If you believe that a diamond has been altered, your best bet is to have a jeweler you trust look at the stone to determine if it has been treated.