Palladium and me! question on durability of everyday use.
June 16, 2013 6:15 AM   Subscribe

What should I watch out for when wearing a palladium ring and is it practical for me to wear my ring and not damage it when I keep it on during all my activities during a routine day?

I was proposed to. Yay. I now have a very pretty ring made of palladium. I am the type of person who wants to wear my rings and never take them off. So through showers even and every day use.

Are there certain things that I should avoid to prevent damage or discoloration from everyday use?

I find so many mixed reviews and contradictory information online. So thanks Metafilter for your help!

Examples of everyday use: wearing it while swimming(beyond risk of falling off), while showering, while eating, maybe ocean water contact, shampoo, conditioner ect.
posted by Jaelma24 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I wear my palladium wedding ring all day every day. It's been 2.5 years and it's still fine. It is softer than some metals and so there are small scratches, but along the lines of any white gold wedding band and nothing crazy or weird. It actually looks better after a year or so when all the small lines even out (which my friends with gold bands agree on) but if you want a perfectly smooth flat shiny surface then you need a different type of metal anyway. I only have small stones but they're as well set and snug as the day it was made.

Personally I take mine off for swimming because my knuckles are the same size as the rest of my fingers so there's a chance of it falling off. But otherwise it doesn't need to be treated weirdly, assuming it's made from a decent alloy and by a good jeweller (which goes for any ring really). It never even occurred to me to not wear mine regularly, that's what an engagement ring/wedding band is supposed to be built for.
posted by shelleycat at 7:03 AM on June 16, 2013


One issue is wearing it adjacent to a ring of a different metal or a different alloy which can cause relatively rapid wear.
posted by BenPens at 8:12 AM on June 16, 2013


Best answer: This is for any ring:

1) Showering/Swimming. I have never had an issue with this, but it's because my ring is the right size.

A ring should take a little bit of a tug to get over your knuckle, but not be too tight once it's over your knuckle and on your finger. You should have to wiggle it a little bit for it to slide over your knuckle to get it off.

If your ring comes off too easily you need to get it resized. This is all so that when you do swim, or it's cold out, your ring doesn't come off when you pull gloves off your hand or whatever.

2) Conditioner: Lotions and conditioners can make your wring slippery. Basically you just don't want to get your ring caught in your hair in the shower or on a towel and then slide off. This has never happened to me though. I have heard that sometimes lotions and sprays and cleaners can change the color. However is yours 95% palladium? This says it should't tarnish.

3) It doesn't say, does yours have stones of any kind? You may need to clean one with stones more often and if stones stick up, they may get caught easier.

4) Accept the wear and tear. Rings are a symbol of your love, and usually people wear the same one for a really long time. It's going to get scratched and dinged and might change color, but that's just what it will do. Unless you never wear it, you can't change that.

If you don't want a worn ring, either don't wear it all the time or plan on getting replacement rings down the line, which is also fine. (Or a different metal. My engagement ring is white gold, but my wedding band is titanium and it's not really scratched at all, but looks like white gold!)
posted by Crystalinne at 12:21 PM on June 16, 2013


Best answer: I've got a plain-style palladium ring that's been worn 24/7 for the past 6 years without incident. It's been worn in the water, through contact with chemicals, for weeding, for scrabbling in rocks/sand, through six years' worth of showers and shampooings and conditionings, and so forth. At this point it is a bit scuffed, but still bright (and looks as though a good buffing would shine it up nicely). No color change that I've noticed, either on the ring itself or on my finger. Palladium is awesome.
posted by Bardolph at 12:52 PM on June 16, 2013


Our (new) wedding rings are palladium. We wear them every day, take them off to shower but not to wash hands. They wear well so far, a few scratches but nothing serious. Definitely no color change.
posted by biscotti at 2:54 PM on June 16, 2013


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