What does hand sanitizer do to your rings?

by Juliet Rotenberg March 30, 2020

Now that coronavirus is here, we're all (hopefully) washing our hands as often as possible. But how do hand soap and sanitizer affect your favorite rings? We don't want to stop wearing them, we need the sparkle right now! So we asked Elizabeth Doyle to share her advice on how to care for your rings while you care for your health. Watch the video for her hands-on tips and tricks!

Doyle & Doyle vintage and antique rings, set with emeralds, opals, and diamonds.

First, it’s important to know which gemstones your ring has. Hand sanitizer and hand soap often contain alcohol, which can damage gemstones. If your ring is set with an organic gemstone, like opals, pearls, or coral, take it off before using hand sanitizer. It can damage and dry out these stones. You also shouldn’t let sanitizer touch your ring if it has a porous stone like turquoise, which can get discolored. We all love emeralds, but bear in mind that they need extra TLC. Emeralds naturally have inclusions and small cracks that may be treated with oil. Hand sanitizer can dry out the oil, causing your emeralds to fade in color and clarity.

Doyle & Doyle vintage cushion cut diamond solitaire engagement ring.

Since we're all sanitizing and cleansing A LOT, you may not want to constantly take off your rings. Think about switching them up to ones that won’t be harmed by soap and sanitizer. Rings with hardy gemstones, like diamonds, sapphires, or rubies, are totally fine. Keep on with your classic diamond solitaire! Try a textural wide band, like this two tone gold and diamond band, or play with your band collection to create fun stacks. We particularly love the combo of this scatter set diamond band, simple gold band with a single diamond, a diamond eternity band, and our entwined diamond band. Mix your styles and metals, you'll find a stack that looks great with every outfit (even your WFH sweatpants).

So now your hands are clean and sanitary, but they're probably also really dry, meaning that you've been moisturizing like crazy. Like hand soap, most rings don't love being subjected to a lot of hand lotion. In fact, we recommend taking off your rings before you apply it. But if you forget (and we all do, no shame here), it’s really important to clean your rings frequently. This not only keeps your ring clean and sparkly, but it'll help you avoid getting a rash on your finger. We'll delve into ring cleaning 101 on our next video blog post - stay tuned!

Juliet Rotenberg

Author

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