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Before purchasing your next piece of fine jewelry, whether in person or online, it’s best to be sure it will fit, instead of murmuring a quick prayer that you guessed correctly. This is especially true for rings. Luckily, there are a few reliable ways to measure ring size, most of which take only a few minutes. US ring sizes range from three to 14; typically, men’s ring sizes are larger than women’s, which usually range between sizes five and seven. This can vary based on height and weight. When measuring your ring finger, it’s important to take into consideration the activities you’ve been doing—exercise, for example, can cause fingers to swell—as well as the time of day. Our fingers shrink and swell over the course of an average day, so timing will affect the accuracy of your measurement.
Finding the perfect ring can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack, so don’t make the process harder than it needs to be. Here’s how to find the best fit with ease.
Get String (or Something Like It)
If you don’t have a skein of string in your junk drawer, or thread from a sewing kit, feel free to grab some dental floss or a narrow strip of paper. Whatever you’ve got handy, cut a lengthy piece of it and wrap it around the base of the finger you intended to buy a ring for. Find the spot where the string (or thread, or floss) meets itself and mark it with a pen. Then lay the string flat against a ruler or tape measure and round the length to the nearest millimeter. Use this number to while looking at a ring size chart to determine your size. Most sizing charts are in millimeters, so it’s best to stick with that unit, especially for international ring sizes.
Use a Tape Measure
Similar to the steps above, take a measuring tape to the base of your finger and wrap it around until it overlaps. Mark this overlapping point and find the measurement in millimeters, then compare your finger size to those on a size guide.
