A proper ring should slide onto your finger fairly smoothly but resist just slightly when you take it off. If you feel like the ring is difficult to remove or is too easily sliding up and down your finger, you may want to get your ring resized by a jeweler.

Before you head to the jeweler’s, wear your ring for a few days to see how it feels over time. Your fingers will swell and shrink throughout the day and based upon the weather, so you may find it fits perfectly in the morning and too tightly at night.

Resizing a ring is usually very inexpensive, between $50 – $100, far less than the cost of a too-big ring that falls off your finger. Some jewelers may even offer free resizing, particularly for engagement rings purchased through them.

Here are your different options to making your ring larger or smaller for the perfect fit.

Is It Better to Have a Ring Too Small or Too Big?
If you’re in between sizes or shopping for a loved one and don’t know their ring size, opt for the larger size. It’s easier for a large ring to be resized smaller than a small ring to be made bigger.

Resizing a Ring to Make It Larger
You may have heard of jeweler’s stretching a ring’s band to make it larger. However, we strongly advise against this method as it tends to distort the shape of the ring and weaken its overall structural integrity.

The most common means to enlarge the ring size is to add metal to increase the band’s circumference. In this process, the jeweler will snip the ring’s band (or shank) and insert a small piece of metal between the two cut ends to expand the ring’s size. The ends are soldered to this new piece of added metal. Then the whole ring is smoothed and polished for a perfect finish.

Resizing a Ring to Make It Smaller
Similarly, to make your ring smaller, a jeweler will snip the ring’s shank and cut out a small piece from the band. After this part of the band is removed, the two ends are then soldered back together. The jeweler will then clean the ring for a smooth and brilliant finish.

Rings That Cannot Be Resized
Unfortunately, not every ring can be resized. Particularly thin bands, eternity bands, or bands set with delicate and inset stones cannot be resized through either aforementioned resizing method.

However, if your ring is too big and cannot be properly resized, you can try a ring guard. A ring guard is a rubber of plastic tube that wraps around your ring’s shank to effectively make it smaller and sits on the underside of your finger where it will be fairly inconspicuous.

Ring guards or plastic resizers are not considered a long term solution to fixing your ring size problem. We suggest discussing your options with your jeweler to safely modify your ring for a better fit.

The smartest way to ensure your ring fits is to know your ring size before you buy. To determine a comfortable and appropriate ring size, check out our ring sizing guide here!

 

Main image courtesy of CHANEL.

The Cartier Love Ring is one of the most popular rings in the world: its sweet and moving backstory coupled with its sleek, ultra-wearable design make it a veritable fan favorite. However, many of those who want to pick up a piece for themselves can often get confused by Cartier’s ring sizing system, which is quite different from that of other jewelry companies. We’re here to answer your questions and help you find your correctly sized Cartier Love Ring.

Why is Cartier’s sizing system so different from everybody else’s?
Cartier’s sizing system for rings follows that of France, the maison’s home country, as well as Austria, Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. This system is the simplest, as it is based on the circumference of your finger in millimeters. In fact, this system follows the recommendations for ring sizing by the International Standardization Organization. Cartier’s sizing system is ideal in its simplicity and ease of use.

Can I use a ring I already own to find my Cartier ring size?
Of course! Cartier’s website actually has a full document, accessible through this link, that you can use to find your Cartier ring size in several different ways. One of the first ways to do so is to print out the document, making sure everything is exactly to scale as they say to do in the instructions, and find the circle that perfectly aligns to the inner circumference of your ring. The circle that fits will indicate what size you are.

I know my U.S. ring size. How can I find out what that translates to in Cartier’s sizing system?
The simplest way to convert your U.S. ring size to Cartier’s ring size is to use the chart that they supply in their sizing guide document, which we linked to above. The chart goes from U.S. size 3 to U.S. size 13 and ¼.

If you feel like doing a little math, you can also use this equation to find your Cartier size using your U.S. size: Cartier Size = (2.55 x U.S. Size) + 36.5. If the answer is a decimal, round up to the next whole number.

If you’re interested in finding your U.S. ring size, we’ve put together this chart to help you measure your fingers correctly or use rings you already have to find your size!