Traditionally diamond lovers had only one option; natural diamonds. Today technology has made the production of lab-grown diamonds possible, which have seen a significant increase in popularity, giving diamond lovers two options.
Lab-grown diamonds are considered inferior quality diamonds by many people, but the reality is that there isn’t much difference in any. Misinformed perceptions and insufficient information about them fuel this skepticism about their quality.
If you are considering buying diamonds but are unsure whether lab-grown diamonds are the right option, this guide offers five compelling reasons why they could be the better option.
There Is No Visible Difference in Quality
Diamonds are known for their hardness which ensures that they remain looking good for years. It’s easy to imagine that lab-grown diamonds will not be as hard as naturally occurring ones.
The truth is both diamonds have a hardness of 10 Mohs. If durability is your concern, both have the same level of durability, so you have nothing to worry about.
The other concern among most diamond buyers is clarity. Lab-grown diamonds are known to have slight brown or yellow hue due to the presence of trace elements resulting from the growing process.
On the bright side, the hue is not noticeable to the naked eye. It also takes a keen eye to notice it while using diamond grading tools, so clarity should not be a concern. Moreover, the market for loose diamonds continues to expand, as they offer versatility for custom jewelry designs and potential investment opportunities.
Traceable Origins
Diamonds have, in the past, been the cause of bloody conflicts in many parts of the world. While jewelers make big efforts to ensure that the raw diamonds they buy are traceable to origins that do not have a history of violence, criminals have ways of going around the safeguards to sell their diamonds to unsuspecting buyers.
Buying these diamonds may be indirectly fueling conflict and human suffering in those regions. The only way to know for sure that your diamonds have no relationship with violence is by buying lab-grown diamonds because you can trace their origin to a specific lab.
A Wide Range of Options
The color and hue of natural diamonds depend on the color of the rough stone from which it is cut. This gives jewelers little to no control over what color of jewels to produce. Growing diamonds in the lab allows the jeweler to create pieces that reflect exactly what the consumer wants in terms of color, hue, shape and size.
For example, rings created in a laboratory come in various shapes and colors because they can be tailored to personal preferences, making them the perfect gift for the person you love.
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Cost Friendliness
The only major difference between natural and lab-grown diamonds is the creation process. The conditions required to create natural diamonds exist approximately 150 to 200 km below the earth’s surface and can take hundreds to millions of years.
As a result, natural diamonds are very rare and hence expensive. On the other hand, the supply of lab-grown diamonds is limitless, making them significantly cheaper, with market prices being 30 to 50% lower than natural diamonds. The good thing is the quality of the diamonds is the same, and only the wearer knows whether the diamond is natural or lab-grown.
Environmental Friendliness
It can take moving up to 250 tons of earth to mine one carat of diamond. That’s the amount of diamond required to make a standard ring. Some rings and other jewels have more carats.
Now imagine the amount of ground moved to get to the diamonds and its impact on the environment. Sometimes it requires clearing tracts of land just so some people can exude luxury.
If you have a heart for the environment, which everyone should, you may not want to live knowing your enormous contribution to its destruction. With lab-grown diamonds, no earth is moved, and the production processes are sustainable and have the least environmental impact.
