How To Clean Your Wedding Bands

A wedding band is not like a gym membership: you can’t just get one and immediately forget about it. After months or even years on your big greasy finger, your wedding band is bound to get scuffed, dirty, and in need of a good polishing. But when the time comes to slip it off and give it a makeover, don’t haul yourself all the way over to the jeweler—go DIY with these simple steps:

Pick a location.

This is simple: Couch good, drain bad. While this process does require soap and water, cleaning rings over the kitchen sink is bad for about ten million reasons, the main one being you’re so much more likely to let it slip and fall down there into the abyss. Sit on the couch with a cup of water and the coffee table in front of you. That way, when it slips out of your hand, it’ll fall somewhere safe.

Assemble your materials.

1.     Water
2.     Soap
3.     Toothbrush
4.     Cotton Cloth
5.     Rings

Get wet.

Wash the rings lightly in water that’s slightly above room temperature. This should help remove any large clumps of dirt or gunk that’s built up in the ridges of the ring.

Drop the soap.

Let a droplet of soap fall on the bristles of the toothbrush. (Obviously, this shouldn’t be your normal toothbrush. Just use a new one.) Gently scrub the ring in small circles to clean any excess dirt and grime off the band. If your wedding band has stones or other non-metal features, scrub everything that’s exposed. Be sure to clean the inside of the ring, as it touches your finger the most. Rinse off the soap with lukewarm water.

Shine on, shine off.

To polish the rings, wipe them down with a cotton cloth—the microfiber ones used on eyeglasses will do well. Go in small circles to reveal a shine like the rings are brand new.

Keep ‘em sharp.

We’ve already warned you about the importance of removing your ring when doing things like washing dishes, but it’s a good idea to remove them anytime you’re going to be around harsh chemicals because these things can damage the luster of the ring. To keep them freshly polished and looking like new, remove them for a good cleaning about once a month.