Factors Affecting Ring Size

ONE . TWO . THREE . FOUR . FIVE

The Factors Affecting Ring Size

The five factors affecting your ring size measurement: from the shape and composition of your finger to environment, activity and well being. We give you advice on how to measure your finger for rings with wide bands, rings for your little finger and if you are stacking your rings together. 

Nº 1. The Shape & Composition Of Your Finger

Everyones hand and bone structure is completely different, however there are two predominant finger shapes (tapered/knotted) that most hands are. You need to consider the overall shape of your finger and where the widest part of your finger is, as these elements will affect your finger size.

Is the shape of my finger “tapered”?

If your finger gets wider from the nail towards the base of your finger, where the ring sits, then your finger has a “tapered” shape. 

For those of us who have a “tapered” finger, we may often find that our rings: tend to slide down towards the knuckle, when it is colder or feel bit too tight, when it is hotter. 

This is why it is really important to measure your finger:

• During the day and not early in the morning.
• Not after you have exercised and not when it is too cold or too hot. As the size measured will be wrong.

When you are at your normal to average body temperature and are measuring the size of your finger, you will need to choose a size, that has a comfortable snug fit.

• When it is colder, the ring may still move down, but not too much to make you feel like you will lose the ring.
• When it is hotter, the ring may feel slightly more snug then usual, but not too much, to make you feel like it is strangling your finger. 

Is the shape of my finger “knotted”?

If your finger is widest at your knuckle, then your finger has a “knotted” shape. 

For those of us who have a “knotted” finger, we may often find that our rings: with a wiggle, snuggly move over the knuckle and sit at the base of our finger. The rings are looser and tend to move or swing around more. How much movement and swing, depends on:

• The size difference of our knuckle, compared to the base of our finger. Some of us have a slight difference, while others have a bigger difference and as such, our rings will experience a lot of movement.
• The style of the ring. If it is a top heavy ring, for instance, an engagement ring. Where the weight of the ring is not balanced but constrained towards the top, where the stones are. Then gravity will play its part and you may often find that your ring spins, and faces the back of your hand. 

We experience this a lot of with our customers who come in and want their rings made smaller. However, the ring can not be made smaller, then the size needed to go over your knuckle. In these instances, we will look at an alternative to sizing and offer the option to solder beads, to the bottom of the inside band of your ring.  

Nº 2. Environment, Activity & Well-Being

For an accurate measurement, it is important to not measure your fingers if they are smaller or bigger than normal. Make sure that you avoid measuring your fingers: 

• If your body temperature is colder or hotter than usual. 
• If the weather is freezing, as our hands will contract and our rings will feel looser. 
• If the weather is a lot warmer than normal and we experience heat waves, our fingers tend to swell and our rings may not even fit our fingers.
• Early in the mornings, as our fingers are bit puffy and a little swollen.  
• After you have been exercising or carrying out strenuous activities, such as lifting or holding heavy materials. 
• Drinking alcohol the night before or eating foods high in sodium, can make our fingers slightly swell. 

Keep in mind that it is completely normal for our bodies to fluctuate in weight. Sometimes this can also be down to number of other factors, such as:  

• If you are on a diet and you are loosing weight, you will begin to instantly see a difference in how loose your rings feel. Instead of resizing your rings frequently, it may be best to wait until you are at your ideal weight and then look at resizing your rings down once. 
• If you are on any steroid based medication or medication whereby, water retention is the common side effect. 
• If you are pregnant, you will be retaining more water than normal and your rings may start to feel too tight to wear. This does not mean that your rings need to be made bigger, as your fingers are not currently their true size. There are just days when you may feel as though it is more comfortable, to not wear your rings. Especially if you are stacking your rings on your finger and wearing your wedding band, engagement and eternity ring together, some ladies may find it more comfortable, to take off their engagement and eternity rings.

Nº 3. The Width Of The Band

The width of the band or shank of a ring, makes a huge difference. When being measured for the same finger, a ring that is 6mm wide needs to be larger in size, than a ring with a 2mm width.

• The wider the band, the more space the ring will take up on your finger and hence needs to be larger in size. 
• There is no set rule for how many sizes up, the ring should be, as it depends on the shape of your finger (tapered/knotted) and the design of the ring. 
• If you are buying a ring with a wider band, then you need to make sure, that you are using a wide ring gauge to measure your finger with. It is not accurate to use a thinner ring gauge and roughly guess the size.

Nº 4. The Little Finger Ring

If you are measuring your little finger, you are going to want to measure it for quite a snug fit. You are more likely to lose rings, being worn on this finger, as it does not have the advantage of being surrounded and cushioned by two fingers, only one. Being the last finger on your hand, and when you hands get cold, your ring will easily fall off. So when measuring your little fingers size, remember it needs to feel a bit more tighter, than the rings on your other fingers.

Nº 5. The The Ring Stacker

If you are stacking more than one ring on your finger, you are going to start to feel an uncomfortable tightness when stretching, clenching or closing your hand. We generally see this with women who stack their wedding, engagement and eternity rings on one finger. When all these stacked rings, have been made to the same size, that their finger was originally measured for, your fingers lack flexibility. Just like a really wide band, when we stack rings it takes up more space on our finger. You may find that you either need all the stacked rings, to be made to the same larger size (then your normal size), or for each to be a different size, to allow for a more comfortable fit and improve flexibility.