10 Things You Should Never Do While Wearing Your Engagement Ring

Before her marriage crumbled, Kim Kardashian admitted that she didn’t wear her massive $1 million, 20-carat engagement ring to the gym, which is smart because at that size and value it’s better to be safe than sorry. Which brings us to the topic of engagement ring care…

If you’re recently engaged or just never got the memo on when and where its safe to wear your ring, we’ve rounded them up here.

1. Put On Lotion:
Believe it or not, excessive build-up of heavy makeup, lotion, or creams can dull the stones in your ring. Also, note that hairspray can eat away at gold and dull the surface of diamonds and other stones.
2. Swim:
Swimming in cold water, like an ocean or lake, can cause your fingers to shrink allowing the ring to slip off (you will not find a ring lost in the ocean). The chlorine in some swimming pools can also cause damage to your ring – especially if its prolonged.
3. Clean The House:
Bleach and other household cleansers can damage settings and mountings; some cleaners can even change the color of your setting or the diamond itself. So, always wear protective gloves or remove your ring altogether.
4. Do The Dishes:
Harsh chemicals and dish soaps can discolor, dissolve, or otherwise damage the stone or metal bands.
5. Operate Heavy Machinery:
If you have a job that involves manual labor, like construction work, keep your ring at home in a safe place. This will help avoid breaks, splits, cracks, and looseness that are caused by bang-ups.
6. Play tennis:
If you have a tight grip, are left-handed and have diamonds all around your band, remove your ring before playing.
7. Gardening:
Always wear reinforced gloves while gardening to avoid the hidden rocks in dirt from chipping the diamond or knocking the setting loose– or remove it all together.
8. Sleep:
Depending on the shape and size of your ring, wear it to sleep at night can be a bad idea. If you have an over-sized stone with lots of edges, remove it before going to bed and avoid scratching you or your bed partner’s face in the night.
9: Lifting Weights:
While wearing your ring is probably OK for most cardio (sorry, Kim, you’re probably being paranoid) lifting weights and using weight machines creates a risk for dings and cracks in the stone.
10. Clean The Oven:
Oven cleaner Easy Off is a notoriously harsh product (it burns skin to the touch!) and the damage on wedding rings can be catastrophic. Don’t risk it with gloves – remove your ring completely.

If and when you remove your ring for any of the reasons below, we recommend stashing it in a safe place, like the ring box it came in (if you’re traveling), a jewelry box (if you’re at home), or on a ring holder, like this Vera Wang Duchesse Ring Holder ($45). Also, we cannot stress enough that you should insure your ring as soon as you receive it.
While some job counselors even suggest removing your ring for job interviews, which I find absurd, the only times you should really remove it is when the activity poses a threat to the diamond, setting or band. I wouldn’t remove it any other time than the ones listed below because you’re just increasing the likelihood of misplacing it.