The beauty of a diamond is seriously compromised if the pavilion area has a layer of oil or dirt on it. With proper care and cleaning your diamond can look like new for a lifetime. Diamonds are organic in nature so other organic substances “stick” to them. Oils of all kinds-hand lotion, cold cream, hair spray, cooking vapors, auto exhaust and oil based paints to name a few-will adhere to a diamond.

Cleaning

The first step to keeping your diamonds clean is to avoid as much as possible exposure to the things that make them dirty. Secondly, a cleaning routine should be established.

The secret to cleaning diamonds is twofold:

1. An ammonia based detergent to “cut” the oil and grease
2. A fine bristle (children’s) toothbrush for scrubbing

Have a bottle of sudsy ammonia and toothbrush set aside just for this purpose. Wet the jewelry article and brush in the detergent and then dab and brush, getting at all possible surfaces. A hot water rinse in a drain covered sink finishes the job. To really do the job, dry the item(s) with a hair dryer so as not to leave water marks on the freshly cleaned surfaces. Clean your diamond(s) like this at one or two week intervals.

Maintaining Your Jewelry

Periodically inspect your jewelry for wear, loose stones and damage. Wear points are not just prong tips but shank bottoms and contact points when two or more rings are worn on the same finger. Loose stones will “rattle.” Bent, prongs lose their symmetry and won’t look right in relationship to their fellows.

Check prong tips with magnification (10 power). The Zeiss loupe is excellent for this purpose. Frequently people will look down and see metal covering over the diamond from the prong and think all is well. In actuality the prongs wear thinner and must be viewed from the side with magnification.