People ask me this almost every week. Usually it's because something happened. A ring that used to sparkle looks dull. A diamond lost its fire. A client panicked after reading a Reddit thread about ultrasonic cleaners dissolving prongs. Then they ask me what I actually use at home.

Here's what I tell them.

A bowl of warm water. A drop of original Dawn dish soap — the blue one, not the fancy scented versions. A soft toothbrush with bristles that have seen better days. That's it. Soak the ring for ten or fifteen minutes, brush gently around the stone and underneath the setting where the gunk actually lives, rinse under clean water in a cup (never over an open drain — I don't care how careful you think you are, eventually someone loses a stone that way), and pat dry with a lint-free cloth. Done.

That's the whole protocol. It works on almost every clean diamond, sapphire, ruby, or solidly-set colored stone I see come through my Santa Monica studio.

The stones that hate this method

Opals. Pearls. Emeralds. Turquoise. Any softer, porous, or treated stone. If you have any of those, don't soak. A barely damp soft cloth is all they want. Emeralds specifically are almost always oiled — cedar oil is traditional — and a long soak in soapy water pulls that oil out and leaves you with a hazier stone than you started with. I've re-oiled a lot of emeralds for clients who didn't know this.

Those stones are porous in different ways, but the same logic applies. Water is fine in short bursts. Hot water, soap, ultrasonics, steam — not fine.

What you should not do, even though the internet said it's fine

Toothpaste is a common mistake. I'll be direct: it's abrasive. It dulls gold over time and can scratch softer stones. The fact that this hack has been circulating for thirty years doesn't make it a good one.

Avoid drugstore jewelry cleaner on anything with glued-in stones, coated pearls, or antique pieces with foil-backed settings. A surprising number of estate pieces are foil-backed. If you dunk one in cleaner you'll destroy the backing and the stone goes dim forever.

Now for the ultrasonic cleaner. This is the counterintuitive one I think everyone should know: don't use it on a ring you haven't had inspected recently. An ultrasonic will turn a loose prong into a lost stone. The vibration is violent. If the prong was already weakened — from wear, from catching on a sweater, from a tiny crack no one noticed — the ultrasonic is what finishes the job. I've had clients bring me rings with one empty seat after a quick clean at the sink. Every time, the prong had been compromised before the cleaning. The cleaning just made it obvious.

So if you want to ultrasonic at home, get the ring inspected first. I do that inspection for free for my own clients, and most independent jewelers will do it for a small fee if you didn't buy from them.

The question I get about solutions

People always ask if the little blue-and-red ammonia dip jars are okay. They're fine for a white diamond in a platinum setting that's not doing anything unusual. They're not fine for colored stones, plated jewelry, pearls, opals, or sterling silver (ammonia tarnishes silver fast). If you have a simple diamond solitaire in platinum and you want the dip, fine. For most of the other pieces in your box, skip it.

Honestly the Dawn method works better anyway. Ammonia makes things shiny by stripping them. Dawn works by lifting the film of lotion, sunscreen, and skin oil that's actually making your ring look tired.

How often to do any of this

Once a week is plenty for something you wear daily. If you work out, cook a lot, swim in chlorine, or apply sunscreen and lotion like I do, you might rinse and buff with the cloth two or three times a week and do the real soap-soak once. More than that and you're just wasting soap.

And for trips: Traveling With Fine Jewelry: What You Should and Shouldn't Do.

If you want me to look at your ring, check for loose prongs, or give it a proper professional cleaning — polishing wheel, steam, the works — that's something I include free for my clients and offer for a small fee to walk-ins. Send me a note here and I'll get back to you within a day or two with a time that works.