After the wedding is over, the thank you cards have all been sent, and the real-life of love and purpose sets in, your wedding ring is likely to subtly begin to take on its role of being always in your sight, but out of mind.
It becomes this lovely part of your everyday life, there on your finger and as predictable and comfortable as your favorite TV show or slippers. But daily life can be very hard on your wedding ring, and the last thing you want is to damage or lose a stone or watch your band transform itself into a color you don’t recognize!
So how do you protect your wedding ring from damage?
We get it, it's gorgeous, it's comfortable, and you have just gotten accustomed to wearing it every day, and that’s wonderful! But there are many circumstances where wearing your wedding ring can cause it more harm than the good it’s doing to see it on your hand.
Getting into the habit now, of taking your wedding ring off and placing it in a safe place is one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to help protect your wedding ring from being damaged, lost, or destroyed.
Being banged, twisted, squeezed, or pinched can deform your wedding ring, dent it, scratch it, or bend it. Even the mundane event of getting your hair tangled in the prongs if you have a stone setting, can weaken the prongs enough to eventually lead to stone loss! And beyond stone loss, putting your ring in a situation where it can get lost and possibly never found again is a heartbreak we’d like to help you avoid if at all possible.
Here are some specific times you want to ensure your ring is off your finger.
If you are going to be working in the garden, in the house, on the car, or lifting weights, playing sports, etc, then it’s best to take your wedding ring off, and here’s why.
Besides being physically damaged or slipping off your hand, swimming, putting lotion on, and applying makeup or other beauty products can all really hammer away at your wedding ring in ways you might not anticipate now. And when you start thinking about cleaning products and other chemicals, it gets really scary for your wedding ring!
There are chemicals all around us all of the time, and while some situations cannot be avoided, if we get into the habit NOW of protecting your wedding ring from chemicals, taking it off will become second nature. Makeup, soaps, oils, lotions, abrasives, sprays, perfumes, cleaning products, paint, stains, varnishes, glues, and a hundred thousands of other things can all interact with and degrade not only your band, but your settings too. So keep a ring dish by the sink, and remember to take it off before exposing or applying anything to your hands that will dull its luster, shine, and ability to stand the test of time.
You go to the doctor for regular checkups and probably take your car in for regular maintenance, too. There are a dozen things that you probably do every day to help prevent problems and keep your household in good working order, so when’s the last time you took your wedding ring in?
Bringing your wedding ring in for a checkup at regular intervals can help address any issues before they become bigger ones, and keep it shiny and gleaming too. An experienced, professional jeweler will be able to partner with you not only to extend the beauty and durability of your wedding ring but educate you regarding proper jewelry cleaning and maintenance as well. They will also be able to counsel you on how often you should bring your wedding ring in, and show you what to look for in the event damage or some other failure starts to occur.
Even the most careful wearers may experience a situation where their wedding ring is damaged or lost. And as heartbreaking as this is, it’s just one of those things that occasionally occurs. So what can you do to protect yourself against the worst-case scenario? Consider insuring your wedding ring! While an insurance policy may not bring back a ring that has been lost (or even stolen), it can lessen the financial burden of replacing it. And an insurance policy may also help you to repair a damaged ring or replace a missing or chipped stone.
As passionate as we are about jewelry and love stories, Grogan Jewelers is not only dedicated to helping you find or create the perfect wedding ring, but to protecting it as well. So if you are planning to purchase, or even if you’ve already tied the knot and want to ensure your wedding ring is with you for the life of your love, and beyond!
But if some damage has already occurred, we want to partner with you to repair it, and bring it back to as good as new! Learn more about our jewelry repair services here!