pop quiz were you aware the ancient egyptians believed the ring finger had a vein that ran through it all the way to the heart this belief carried on for over a thousand years and is the reason that wedding rings are worn on that finger and did you know that english monarchs were a special coronation ring that showed that they were spiritually wed to their country [Music] so let's start things off with the most common metals you're going to see rings made from first up on the list we have yellow gold there are other variations of gold i'll talk about in a few minutes but yellow is going to be the natural color of gold and the one that's most prominently used in the jewelry industry now we can debate all day why is gold still valuable today in fact if you guys want to jump down there in the comments and get out of control i would love it but let's talk about the malleability the functionality and simply when it comes to a usability perspective gold is great for metals because of what it can do it can be adjusted it can be shaped and it's something that historically we recognize very easily in summary gold is here to stay when it comes to rings and is a great choice if you're looking to just get started with men's drawer you want to pick up a wedding ring you want to pick up a signet ring you want to get a class ring gold is a great option now what is rose gold you're going to hear this term used out there this is going to be a reddish gold and it gets this because it has copper basically thrown in and mixed with the gold so this is not going to be a 24 karat gold but the amount of copper is going to basically increase the hardness and it's going to affect the color you'll also see sometimes with this silver and other metals put in to adjust the color but yes this is going to be redder in color and i think it's actually a great look now what is white gold is it actually gold yes it is it's a gold alloy so that means there are other metals inserted basically we've got palladium very common to see this and we're going to have a coat of rhodium going over it it's going to give it that nice silver look in the last 20 30 years white gold has become very popular especially with men they want the silver look but they don't want silver they want something that's a little bit higher end hence the white gold but white gold for a lot of guys they just feel the silver works better with their cool tones now gents really quick all the rings in today's video are brought to you by today's sponsor manly bands so gents if you're in the market for a ring if you're getting married if you just simply want to add some style to your hand you want to check out what manly bands have what i love about these guys they've got all these unique materials in fact check this out they've got diamonds they've got wood they've got deer antler friggin dinosaur bones meteorite yeah guys meteorites from space and of course they've got the usual suspects when it comes to metals like titanium tungsten and gold now throughout this video you're seeing a lot of styles but let me show you my favorites the ones i had sent to me the ones i inspected and i absolutely love first up we've got the ceo this is made from tungsten it's 14 karat gold plated it's got a brushed center beveled edges it is just a beautiful scratch resistant just great looking simple ring next up we've got the rockstar this one right here made from tungsten it has a black plated sleeve with sides eight millimeters wide it's got that domed design with a brushed finish it's just a beautifully very comfortable ring next up we've got the baller this one right here just straight black tungsten i love the overall design the simplicity it's just a good looking ring oh and their comfort fit design makes these rings incredibly comfortable next up we've got one i didn't expect to like as much as i do and it's called the journeyman so this one's really unique it's got an inlay of genuine turquoise deer antler and koa wood it's 18 karat gold plated and it looks amazing next up i've got the champion this one is using black zirconium with a one millimeter inlay of 14 karat solid rose gold it's got this really cool flat design with a laser finish next up i've got the wild card this one here is in black zirconium and it's got a five millimeter inlay of authentic coral and rock polished finish and i love how they pay attention to all the small details that beveled finish to me just completes the look another thing i love about manly bands they're ring sizers these guys are designed to make it no hassle easy for you so you go onto their website and you get the ring sizer and they make it so easy to find out exactly the size that you need i also like how they give you all these different ways to buy so if you want something that's just right there on the website you like the look of it you're ready to go you want your ring in a matter of days boom they've got you covered but if you want something a little bit more let's say made to order you want your initials you want special messages you want to make a small adjustment on the ring they've got you covered there and if you want something 100 custom well they've got that as well they've also got fast free shipping a one-year warranty and 30 days return or exchange policy gents i'm linking to manly bands down in the description of today's video with the best deal you're going to find out there on the web the next ring material i want to talk about is tungsten and guys love tungsten why because it's so hard it's so tough now there are some drawbacks to this it is brittle it's very difficult to rework to recut so this is something once the basically the ring is formed you're pretty much not going to resize this thing that being said this is going to be one of the hardest metals you can get out there and it's also relatively affordable so that's another good thing another thing is you can get it in a variety of colors you can add different properties to it different alloys and all of a sudden when you add those different metals you get different colors and this is a thing that people really like about this that you're able to get something it's going to maintain its shape isn't going to need a lot of polishing it's going to be resistant to scratching and overall it's just going to be a great ring material next up we've got arguably the most luxurious metal out there platinum now a lot of people don't really go for platinum because it looks just like silver so why would you pay the premium and it's going to be a lot more expensive than silver really it's because you're going to know when you put on a platinum ring you're going to feel the difference between silver weighs almost twice as much that material right there that element is much denser so this is something when you put it on you're going to know but for most people they're going to think oh maybe it's white gold most likely it's silver you'll know it's platinum but otherwise the properties it's going to look just like silver but a lot of people just really like platinum and if it's your thing go for it now if you're talking about platinum you're also going to hear about palladium and this one right here is a lot harder than platinum and used to actually be a lot less expensive but its price has shot up over time and now you'll see in some circles actually can cost even more and that's why i'm not really going to recommend it i mean it's a good material and if you can find it out there on a great deal go for it but you'll see platinum used out there it's just going to be harder it's going to look just like platinum but in my opinion it's not as valuable next up let's talk about titanium in my opinion one of the better materials out there for rings so why titanium is going to be hard not as hard as tungsten but a lot harder than gold and what's great about this is how lightweight it is not going to be for everybody some people really want a heavy ring but for a lot of people just want something functional they want it lightweight then titanium is going to be where it's at next up we've got damascus steel if you're familiar with weapons you'll probably know about damascus steel it's been around a long time used in weapons you don't see it used in jewelry too much nowadays but there are some companies still making it so check out this screen right here i love the look of it what i also like about it it's going to be harder than gold it's going to be harder than silver it's going to be harder than a lot of the other materials that we're going to see out there and because of that it makes a great ring another great thing is also relatively affordable you can also get a really nice luster on this and it's durable so if you're looking for a unique material check out damascus steel now what about carbon fiber rings so many of these are not metal some of them use metal properties but the point here is this is actually using a fiber design basically you've got long strands they're interwoven and so we get a lot of great things first up lightweight this is going to be in many cases lighter than titanium on the other hand it's going to be incredibly tough very hard very durable now there are a lot of advantages to carbon fiber first up it looks cool next up it's relatively inexpensive and it's made from materials that can actually be found relatively easily one of the bad things about carbon fiber is there's not much change up in different styles different options out there next up let's talk about silicone rings now a lot of guys i i would ever get a silicone ring because you're an active guy or maybe a mechanic you work around equipment that could grab your ring and really damage your hand so silicone rings have a purpose now they are going to be relatively expensive because hey it's a polymer this is going to include silicone with i think mixed with oxygen hydrogen and other elements point being is this is something that's easy to manufacture and i think is a great option for an active man that wants a ring that's going to be forgiving and could get caught on something now i know in today's video gents i didn't cover silver copper zamack wood meteorite guys guess what in the article down in the description of today's video i go into a lot more detail those support articles over at my website realmenrealstyle.com that's where i really get deep into the material these videos i do a quick overview so if you want more information again go down into the description of today's video and go check out that support article now let's talk about the various types of rings out there and really rings are all about function so we think about the wedding ring probably the most common ring most of us are familiar with we see this on both men and women but whenever you enter the contract of marriage whether it be through the church whether it be through uh you know just your society point being is it is a contract that's initially why weddings were out there why people got married because they were combining two families love didn't really have much to do with it nowadays though it is something that's been romanticized it's become more love although there are many countries where arranged marriages are still very common point being is the ring symbolizes that you're in a contract with that other individual and that you've made a commitment now you're also going to see engagement rings not very common with men but very common with women and that's basically a symbol that the courtship has started and that you know there's eventually a point which you're gonna you the families are gonna come together now let's talk about affiliation rings these i think are really interesting and you're gonna see class rings out there very common maybe you went to texas a m or you went to the citadel you graduated from the university of southern california and you wanted to get a ring to symbolize hey i graduated and i'm part of this fraternity and that's what really it's about it's about symbolizing to others that you're part of the club anyone that has been to texas a m knows that they love their rings because it's a really big thing between aggies and it's something that you know it's i get it fraternal orders if you guys are masons you know about the mason ring and i kind of alluded to this but you're also going to see out there cygnet rings these are oftentimes worn on the pinky or the smaller fingers and they basically have a crust on them this crest can be used for a signature it can be used for identification purposes but basically cygnet rings show affiliation another type of affiliation ring is going to be a family ring and again this is going to be within a smaller group that you're symbolizing hey this is something that's been passed on from family to family and this meant a lot more going back because certain families wielded a lot of power and actually having that ring it could be used as a signature in fact if you know your papal history the pope for over 500 years wore a ring various popes and they would actually always sign a document with that ring now you're also going to see art and design rings and these are worn often times simply because somebody wants to have fun they want to add a bit of style they want to add a bit of character to their hands you know musicians they bring in these rings because they know that hey when you're playing the guitar people are paying attention to your fingers they see the rings with the skulls you know it fits with the message they want to send and that's really what this is about it's about sending a message to other people that you've got a bit of style that you're into this and people pick up on it now what about stones in men's rings you're not going to see stones as commonly used as you do in the women's side but diamonds by far are going to be the most common stone that we see in men's rings and this makes a lot of sense they've been marketed very hard by the diamond industry they are considered to be very valuable they're universally recognized as basically the go-to gems now what about ring fingers and the meaning behind it well gents i've got you covered with this video right here where i take each finger and i break out the meaning of wearing a ring on it i go into the history i go into the details yeah you want to watch this video go check it out guys click right here
