How To Find Your Ring Size

Ring bands come in different widths. Some are narrow, and some are wide.  

Narrow width bands (sometimes called "Standard Width") are thin and are usually about 2mm wide. However, they can be skinnier (minimal), around 1mm wide, or wider (chunkier) and about 5mm wide. Any band in this width range is considered "Standard Width."

If a band is 6mm wide or wider, though, it is considered a Wide Width ring band. And Wide Width ring bands fit differently than Standard Width ring bands. They fit much more tightly.  

For example, say my favorite ring is a minimal garnet ring. It is a tiny stone sitting atop a thin, lightweight, single ring band. Before I purchased it in my favorite jewelry shop in town, the professional jeweler sized my right ring finger and told me it was a size 8. So that is the size I purchased. A size 8 standard width single ring band. And that's what I know my ring band size to be. An 8.

Then, online, I see a ring in size 8, and I order it. It arrives, and I notice right away, when I pull it out of its little black bag, that the band looks different. It's wide and chunky and unlike my little garnet ring. I slip it onto my right ring finger, where I wear my little garnet ring, and my new chunky ring won't budge past my knuckle. My heart sinks, and I am very disappointed.

This is because a Wide Width ring band (6mm wide or wider) fits more tightly than a narrow band. And in this case, I would have needed to have ordered a ring in a larger size.

Generally, for most fingers, a ring band ordered in a half size larger will fit. So in the example above, I should have ordered an 8.5. In theory, had I ordered the 8.5, the chunkier band would have fit my size 8 finger.

This general rule, though, does not work in the following scenarios:

• A person buys a ring in a specific size but isn't actually sized by a professional. The tag on the ring said it was a size 7, but it actually wasn't. The person then believes they are a size 7 but isn't truly that size because the merchant mismarked it (this happens a lot).
• A person has skinner fingers than their knuckles. Or their knuckles are significantly larger than the size of their fingers. This is entirely normal for a specific group of folks.

To avoid purchasing a ring in the wrong size, do the following:

• Look up a professional jeweler near you
• Go to the jewelry shop in person
• Ask the jeweler to measure your fingers for their Standard Widths and Wide Widths
• Take note of all sizes and stick them safely away

There are two other ways to find your ring size, but they are not guaranteed to be accurate:

1. Purchase a the same finger guage set I use. You may it purchase it here.  Or if you purchase from a reliable source, like Rio Grande jewelry suppliers, your size will, most likely, be correct. If you purchase from a non-reliable source, like a random merchant in a large online marketplace, the sizers are often poorly made and may be incorrect.
2. The last way to find your Wide Width ring band size is to add half of a size to your Standard Width ring size. This is the most unreliable way to find your Wide Width ring band size, and I do not recommend it. As I mentioned above, our rings are often not actually the sizes we think they are, or our fingers are shaped in such a way that this general rule won't work.

So, if you love to wear rings, narrow and wide, and want them to fit just right, you must be aware of the actual sizes of each of your fingers. So, find your proper size, order confidently in the Pacific Crest Silver web shop, and when you pull that shiny adornment from its little black bag, it will slip perfectly onto your finger, and you'll smile.