Transcript:
Men’s Rings – A Man’s Guide To Rings – Wedding Rings – Family Rings – How To Buy A Ring Hi! I’m Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style. Today I’m going to be giving you an introduction to rings. Now, in this video, I’m going to be covering four different types of rings. I’m going to be giving you some tips on how to go out there and purchase rings. First off, I’m going to deal with the issues, two issues in particular that are associated with rings here in the United States that you need to be aware of especially if you’re wearing a ring that is more than just a wedding ring. This is a sponsored video. My friends down at Houston, Texas at Proclamation Jewelry, they approached me awhile back. I went and checked out their website. I love their jewelry. Their jewelry is non-apologetic. It is in your face. It is amazing, strong, masculine jewelry. You should go check it out. I’m going to link to them down below. In addition, they help me put together a great article. In this article, I go into a lot more detail. I go into the history. I go into types of metals. I summarize again the four types of rings. I also summarize exactly how to go out there and purchase a ring, especially if you’re looking for something that goes beyond a wedding ring. Let me go ahead and jump right into this. The two things, the two barriers I think most men face, especially here in the United States, probably over in England and other parts of Europe as well, is that if you wear a ring and if it’s not a wedding ring, it can be viewed as feminine or it can be viewed as flashy. Here in the United States and in many other countries, that is not a good thing. Now, I have some friends who are Bulgarian. I’m married to a Ukrainian. I’ve spent some time in East Europe. Over there, wearing jewelry and really nice rings is totally fine, and you see many men wearing large pieces of jewelry. They don’t call it bling-bling. This shows what they’ve accomplished. It’s something they’re proud of. Many pieces have been passed on from generation to generation. In those cases, I think that you really have to have a bit of strength if you’re going to wear something beyond. You have to have confidence in yourself if you’re going to wear something beyond a wedding ring. Be aware that some people also in business environments are going to view them as too flashy, as you’re trying to show somebody up. Just kind of manage your settings. If you are in sales, if you are trying to influence others and they’re very conservative, you may want to be careful. You may want to pull it off simply because you don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. If you don’t have a chance to talk with the individual, he’s not going to know that you’re from perhaps Romania and this is a ring that’s been passed by three generations. He’s simply going to look at you as, “That guy looks really flashy and I don’t really know if it’s a fit for my company,” so just be aware that many people view them with those eyes. Let’s now talk about the four types of rings. FOUR TYPES OF RINGS 1. Cultural and Religious Rings Wedding rings, again, being the most popular. A lot of people actually ask, “Antonio, why do you wear your wedding ring on your right hand?” The reason was I was married over in Kiev, Ukraine in an Eastern Orthodox Church. Over there in that culture, you wear your wedding ring on your right hand. Here in the United States, you wear it on your left hand, so a little bit of a culture, but it’s something that’s understood. Everyone does it. Everyone goes with very simple bands. You don’t usually see wedding rings on men that are really loud. They’re usually gold or silver or a mix of the two, maybe titanium. 2. Affiliation Rings The most common examples are class rings or mason rings. These are rings that show that you are affiliated with a group. So if you graduated from the Naval Academy of Annapolis, you have a ring that you’re presented or you can purchase it, I’m not sure. I didn’t graduate from there, but I do know that in the Marine Corps, in the Navy, out in the fleet, you will see people occasionally wearing those rings. It’s not as common. It’s kind of looked down a bit nowadays, but it is something that you see out there. And I think that the men who graduated are oftentimes very proud and it’s something that I think they’re pulling them off just simply because they don’t want to make it look like they’re getting into somebody’s face. Now, other rings out there like a mason ring, you want to wear because you want to be able to identify other people who share that bond. If you’ve graduated from Texas A&M and you’re out living in East Texas or you’re traveling throughout Louisiana or Florida, you want to wear your ring because you want to be able to spot another Aggie. Those are little things which people are looking for. Most of the universities, I think if they don’t have a military affiliation, they don’t have a strong deal with rings. Even though I went to the University of Texas, I had a number of friends that went to A&M and when they got their ring, they would go dunk it. You guys can talk in the comments about what that means, but yeah, it was a lot of fun at the Dixie Chick and I’ve seen what happens there. Those are affiliation rings. 3. Family Rings Family crests, symbols that are passed on from generation to generation. Family rings can be very simple. Family rings can be pretty powerful. They can have a seal on them. Family rings are the third type. I’m not going to go into a lot of details here. Family rings are rarely seen in the United States. They’re more something I’ve seen over in Europe. 4. Artistic Rings This is the type of ring in which it has a special meaning to you, perhaps a few other people, but this is a ring that just has a special meaning and you wear it because of that significance. Artistic rings are often worn on other fingers. By the way, we’re going to have an entire video and article talking about the different fingers and the symbolism of that, so that’s coming up soon. So cultural rings, affiliation rings, family rings, and artistic rings, the four types of rings. Now, what to do when you’re going out there and you’re purchasing? Let’s say you’re looking to go out there and purchase your first ring beyond your wedding ring. This one’s pretty easy. Well, I guess you could use this checklist if you’re going to purchase your wedding ring as well. HOW TO BUY A RING 1. Select Style The first thing is you want to know what you want. If it’s a wedding ring, you may be stuck. Hopefully, you have a little bit of a say, but some guys, you want to maybe get something that matches or works with or that complements your bride. Try not to match, but complement. I think that’s a much better way to go. In any case, you need to know what you want, know what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a particular type of artistic ring, let’s say maybe you want something made out of wood or a special type of stone then you’re going to need to know where to go. There are many places that they’re going to just have a cluster of jewelers, so larger cities, New York, Chicago, and they’re actually going to have more jewelry areas. You go to those areas and you’re going to see a larger collection. You can also go online. Again, companies like Proclamation Jewelry, they make custom jewelry and pretty much anything you can imagine, they can build if you’re looking for that type of thing. You can also find ready-made pieces. Go to antique stores. Go check out some of these antique stores. You’d be surprised what you’ll find. I remember I found a ring and I was able to give this to someone that really it was very inexpensive, yet it had a very significant meaning because that ring had a story behind it. 2. Select Size Once you’ve determined the type, then you want to determine the size. You can go into any store and actually they can fit you and you can figure out your size. Your ring size will not change much over your lifetime unless you’d gain or lose significant weight. And if you do, don’t worry about it because you can take it into a jeweler and oftentimes, they can resize the ring and make it larger or make it smaller. 3. Determine Materials So this is going to go a lot into the last point, which is price. Now, I’m leaving price at the end because to me, price should be the last thing you think about, well, within reason, but price to me should be one of the last things you’ll look at because — well, I’ll talk about that at the end — but materials, I go into this in a lot more detail in the article down below. Gold, using semi-precious stones, you can use titanium, silver. There are a number of different materials that you can be using. And so, understand what your options are. If you’re cool or warm-toned, you may want to have that play into what material you choose. 4. Price Of course, price is going to play into this. You can’t ignore if a ring costs $25,000 and that’s about what you make in the entire year. There’s no way you’re probably going to be able to get that or afford that ring, but what I don’t want you to do is to go out there and think that by saving $100 or saving $200 and going with your second or third choice that that’s a smart decision. Save up and go for your first choice because like I said at the very beginning of this video, confidence is very important. You want to wear something that you feel confident wearing, that you really like, that every time you put it on, it makes you feel great. Last thing I’m going to say, gentlemen, I would love to hear from you down on the comments. I’d love to hear your opinion on the four different types of rings, on what type of rings you wear, and whether or not you even think a man should wear anything besides a wedding ring. All right, guys, I will see you in the next video. Go check out the article, a lot of great content there. Take care. Bye-bye.