A gold or platinum diamond ring is the most cherished possession of a lady who prizes it more than her life.
Especially when it’s your priceless diamond engagement ring or some vintage gold jewelry passed down through generations, you will not love seeing its shine fade with time.
Cleaning your gold and platinum jewelry with diamonds is therefore essential to remove dirt, oils, and residue from daily wear, maintaining its sparkle and brilliance.
However, while cleaning them, it’s important to take precautions to ensure the method is safe for both the platinum band and the diamond.
This guide will walk you through simple and effective steps to clean your platinum and gold jewelry with diamonds, ensuring it shines as beautifully as the day you got it.
Cleaning Gold Jewelry with Diamonds
A jewelry cleaning solution (precisely created to keep your gold safe) efficiently keeps your gold and diamond jewelry clean and in perfect shape.
Without using any commercial ingredients, you can maintain the shine of your jewelry with these cleaning agents by following the steps below…
- Take some lukewarm water in a bowl
- Add a couple of drops of dish detergent and ammonia to it and mix
- Dip a soft baby toothbrush in the solution and rub your jewelry with it
- Now put your jewelry in another bowl filled with lukewarm water to rinse gently
- Dry the cleaned jewelry with a paper towel or a soft cotton cloth
In case you do not have ammonia, you can use white vinegar and follow the same cleaning process. But be aware that gold is a soft metal and hence you should be gentle while brushing and drying.
Diamonds are the hardest known material, and most of them are safe to clean at home, provided you do them in the right way.
However, several sensitive gemstones are treated after extraction, which has an impact on how a particular stone should be cleaned.
Because of the varied characteristics of colored diamonds, we recommend you ask your jeweler about the safest home cleaning remedies for any jewelry that comes embedded/glued with pieces of stones other than diamonds.
What Can I Use to Polish Gold Jewelry?
If your gold bars, coins, or diamond jewelry seems to be tarnished, you can rub/wipe the tarnished part using your fingers or a cotton swab.
After a quick rinsing with clean water, dry it with a soft, lint-free cotton cloth. Finally, use a high-quality jeweler’s cloth to give it a new polished look.
Care that you do not use agents like baking soda, coke, or toothpaste as they are abrasive and can damage the gold polish.
How Can I Get Scratches Out Of My Gold Jewelry?
Minor gold scratches can be fixed at home by polishing them properly.
However, if your gold item or jewelry has large scratches, it’s not recommended to remove it yourself at home. Instead, take it to your jeweler and get them fixed professionally.
Most jewelers now have automatic machines for buffing that can easily fix these scratches in gold within minutes.
Precautions When Cleaning Gold Diamond Jewelry at Home
Depending on the percentage of other metals mixed with your gold jewelry, there may be a higher chance of tarnishing if you use low-quality cleaning agents. Hence, seeking prevention is better!
Do not use harsh chemicals to clean your jewelry
In general, avoid chlorine-based cleaners and steer clear of chlorinated water, whether it’s in swimming pools or hot tubs.
These chemical culprits can tarnish your jewelry’s shine, turning its golden glow into a dull disaster. Worse still, chlorine doesn’t just stop at surface damage—it can sneak into the metal alloys, causing cracks and even full-on structural betrayal.
Also, steer clear of soaps and detergents with mystery ingredients—your gold jewelry deserves better than a chemistry experiment.
Instead, play it safe with the classic blue Dawn dish soap. Trusted and gentle, it’s a go-to for cleaning gold without compromising its shine.
Before you hit the shower, give your gold and diamond jewelry a break
Soap, shampoos, conditioners, and body washes may pamper you, but they’re no friends to your gold and diamonds.
These products can leave behind a stubborn, dull film that steals the spotlight from your jewelry’s sparkle.
Hard water and chemical residues only add to the drama, making your precious pieces look tired and lackluster.
Save them the trouble—take off your bling before lathering up, and you’ll keep them gleaming like the showstoppers they are.
Can You Clean Gold Jewelry with Diamonds in an Ultrasonic Machine?
Using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for cleaning your diamond embedded gold or platinum jewelry is among the safest ways to maintain its shine and integrity.
Since both gold and diamonds are tough enough to handle sonic vibrations like pros, they are safe to clean in an ultrasonic cleaner machine.
However, always check the diamond settings to ensure they’re securely set in their prongs and not loose before diving into the cleaning process.
Make sure that the diamonds haven’t undergone treatments like fracture-filling, laser drilling, or similar enhancements. These treatments can be compromised by the ultrasonic vibrations, potentially causing damage or reducing the diamond’s integrity.
If you’re unsure about your jewelry’s condition or have a particularly delicate piece, it’s wise to skip the ultrasonic cleaner and consult a jeweler first.
How to use the machine?
- Place an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning device on a flat surface or a table near you.
- Open the top lid and fill the stainless steel tank with plain tap water. Add a proper jewelry cleaning solution if your jewelry is heavily soiled.
- Next, put your jewelry items directly in the tank or basket (included in the machine).
- Switch on the machine and in just two minutes you will see small bubbles produced which remove the dirt from the jewelry due to cavitation action.
Not only for gold, but you can use ultrasonic cleaning machines to clean any kind of jewelry, including platinum, sterling silver, copper, or any other.
Since this nifty tool uses innovative technology (without the use of any harsh chemicals) it blasts away even the most stubborn, hard-to-reach contaminants, restoring your jewelry’s brilliance in no time.
The greatest part of ultrasonic cleaning of your jewelry is that it’s an affordable investment for all, no matter whether you’re a DIYer or a professional jeweler.
With an ultrasonic cleaner, your gold and diamonds will sparkle like never before—without you lifting a finger.
Can lab-grown diamonds be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner?
Yes, if your jewelry includes lab-grown diamonds, it can generally be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner, just like mined ones.
However, it’s important to know when and how to use them safely.
The intense vibrations can loosen prongs or even cause small fractures to worsen. If your jewelry has a delicate or older setting, it’s best to skip the ultrasonic method altogether.
If your lab-grown or mined diamond has many inclusions, avoid ultrasonic cleaning altogether. Occasional cleaning is fine, but frequent exposure to the ultrasonic waves can put unnecessary stress on your jewelry.
Also, the vibrations can travel through those internal imperfections and potentially affect the stone’s structure.
In such cases, stick to gentle at-home cleaning methods (with warm water, mild soap, and a soft brush ) to keep your diamond looking brilliant and safe.
Tips for Caring for and Storing Your Gold and Diamond Jewelry at Home
Cleaning, caring for, and storing your jewelry piece (that is embedded with diamonds or gemstones like amber, sapphire, pearl, emerald, opal, jade, etc) requires enough precautions so that you do not get them damaged.
Here we suggest a few easy-to-follow steps that can help care your antique jewelry and wedding ring…
✅ Know when to take your ring on and off
The first and foremost step to caring for your precious engagement ring is to make sure that you do not lose it. For this reason, we recommend keeping a ring dish in your room, bathroom, and kitchen.
Should you need to take off your ring at any point of the day, you know where to put it and from where you will get it back.
For many new brides, it’s tempting to slip off their rings every time they wash their hands. Even when washing their hands in a restaurant, they tend to leave their rings there by mistake.
While you should try to resist the urge to take your ring off too often, it’s good to take it off in certain instances like when swimming, when at the beach, while performing any rigorous exercise, or while sporting.
The reason for this is your altered body temperature, due to which the size of your finger shrinks and can cause the ring to slip off automatically without you knowing.
✅ Examine the stones before cleaning
No matter what sort of jewelry (or quality of stone) you have, make sure that it is fit and perfect in its place before you try to clean it up.
Take a hairpin or a pair of tweezers to see whether you can move the stone in a ring around its way or setting.
Also, you need to make sure that there is no foil on the backside of the stones as the foil can damage and lose the stones when immersed in water or an ultrasonic solution.
If you are unsure about the jewelry type or the diamond you want to clean, it is best to avoid the diamond ring ultrasonic cleaner for a while and use other recommended methods or products.
✅ Avoid using any cosmetics directly on them
To make your engagement ring last longer, do not directly spray any type of perfume or deodorant on them. This may harm, damage, or discolor them, making them less valuable.
Care that you do not wear your diamond or platinum jewelry while doing household work such as washing, cleaning, etc. Even though they are durable, any rough touch can chip them easily.
You should also take precautions to keep your platinum jewelry away from exposure to direct sunlight or harsh chemicals. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight may affect the shine of the jewelry, and harsh chemicals can easily damage your jewelry if not cared for.
✅ Avoid using any harmful chemicals when cleaning
Well, this may seem basic, but many still forget about it when cleaning their expensive wedding diamond rings.
Using harsh chemicals (like bleach, chlorine, acetone, etc.) while cleaning your platinum diamond ring can leave them stained. And obviously, you will never love to look at the spotted meal on your ring once and for all.
We also recommend avoiding abrasive cleaners like toothpaste or powdered cleaners (on platinum and diamonds). While these may be readily available on the market and claim to sparkle your rings within seconds, it’s always better to avoid them.
✅ Get your platinum re-polished once a year
As with any other metal, platinum gets scratched and loses its luster with overtime usage. However, due to its dense structure, the good thing is that it does not lose any of its metal when it’s scratched. It just gets a slight gouge.
The main benefit of this is getting it buffed or re-polished (to get the original luster back) without worrying about losing weight or metal. If you want, you can also get your ring coated in rhodium to get a higher luster.
Whatever you choose to do with your diamond platinum ring, make sure you hire a professional service to avoid the risks.
✅ Handle your expensive jewelry with the utmost care
Although metals like platinum are very hard it is sometimes seen that rings made up of a thin layer can get damaged if not handled properly. It is thus recommended that you never press your ring and other jewel pieces too hard to avoid them breaking up from the joints.
When taking them off, it’s good to examine the prongs and the setting of the stones. For examining, hold your ring to your ear and shake it a bit. If you hear any sound, it’s time to tighten your ring.
Unless you have a classic setting (like a solitaire set in platinum), it’s best to take them to your jeweler to get a professional check at least once a year. This will make sure that your ring remains in tip-top condition all the time.
✅ Store your rings and antique jewelry in a secure place
Storing your antique diamond and gemstone jewelry in a secure, damp-free place is one essential tip that should be followed, especially when storing them for a long.
This will prevent exposure to any type of humidity that can cause damage to your vintage jewelry. This also helps in minimizing the risk of jewelry getting exposed to airborne pollutants.
It is best to use jewelry boxes with compartments for storing each type of jewelry based on their make, kind, and metals.
This will help you to store your gold, silver, gemstone, platinum, or any other type of jewelry separately. Not only will it prevent them from corroding, but it also helps you in getting easy access whenever needed.
Alternatively, you can opt for acid-free tissues or all-cotton jewelry bags for storing your different types of jewelry pieces. Avoid using bags made up of plastic, silk, or wool as this may cause damage.
Again – before you store them, make sure that you clear off all the salts, grime, or dirt from them. This will prevent the further attack of these harmful elements on your jewelry items’ surface when stored.
✅ Be cautious when resizing or upgrading your ring
With time and usage, you may need to resize your ring; nothing wrong with it. But be aware that there are certain factors (such as seasonal changes, traveling, the place you live, your body weight, etc.) that can affect the fitting of your ring. Keep all these factors into consideration before you get your ring to a jeweler for resizing.
When getting your ring resized, try to get it done in the afternoon after you have completed your exercise. Also, while getting the changes care that you get it done with a reliable jeweler and ensure that they do not distort the signature.
In case you are planning to upgrade your ring (to a larger piece of stone), make sure it’s a large piece that makes a difference.
Remember, the carat is simply the weight of the diamond and not the size. With that said, a larger carat does not necessarily mean a larger size. So, when making an upgrade (for size, color, or clarity), make sure that the change is noticeable and worth the money you invest.
✅ Purchase insurance for your expensive engagement ring
Last but not least, get your ring insured through a good reliable agency. Most jewelers recommend getting your engagement ring insured as soon as it leaves the store.
And believe me, getting good insurance is not as tough or expensive as it used to be.
Most of the time, your homeowner’s insurance can add your ring to your existing policy by getting a valuation from your jeweler. The premium may depend on the characteristics of the ring and the valuation that comes from your jeweler.
The conclusion
By using basic ingredients like mild dish soap, warm water, and a soft cloth or brush, you can safely remove dirt and grime without damaging the gold or diamonds.
You can also use ultrasonic cleaner if you wish but it’s important to avoid harsh chemicals and abrasive materials that could cause wear and tear.
Though the method suggested above is the most efficient way to clean your gold jewelry with diamonds at home, visiting your jeweler for a thorough and professional cleaning should not be avoided.
Your jeweler knows the right procedure depending on the specific kind of diamond and metal your jewelry is made of, and they also keep a check on your item for all types of flaws and damages.
We, therefore, suggest organizing at least a semi-annual visit to your local jeweler for the cleaning of your jewelry to ensure it stays in optimal condition.