Care Of Pearl
Pearls Are Organic Substances
Pearls, including freshwater pearls are delicate organic gems that are made of the natural product called calcium carbonate. This product is drawn from the lake or river by the mussel that the pearl lives inside.
To keep pearls looking their very best you need just a little knowledge on how to care for them correctly.
Your freshwater pearls were once living and growing so you will need to make sure that as with all living things they stay out of harm. The products that harm pearls most, are the very things that the woman who loves pearls jewelry probably wears without a second thought. You've guessed it already - the most harmful product to a pearl jewelry is the application of perfume, hair spray, cosmetics and face creams when the owner is actually wearing the pearls.
These grooming products and other household chemicals, if sprayed near pearls, can build up on the pearl and damage the lustre. The nacre can become marked, dull, pitted and generally lose that marvellous luminous lustre that defines a pearl.
The First Golden Rule of Pearl Care
The most important way to prevent damage to your pearls jewelry is by following the golden rule of putting your pearls on as the last thing you do when finishing your grooming. Put the pearls on after you have applied make up, perfume and hair sprays, never before. Don't spray your perfume on the neck area where the pearls will actually sit and avoid touching your pearls when you have just applied hand cream. If you need to reapply hair spray at some time, slip the pearls off for a moment and put them well out of the damage zone.
Likewise make pearl jewelry sets the first thing you remove after a night out, before you wipe your face and neck with cleansers or facial wipes or night creams. As you remove your pearls wipe them with a soft damp cloth. Buff them occasionally with a silk cloth to enhance their shine and lustre. Try not to fling them in a jumble on the dressing table, but discipline yourself to put them back in their original container.
More Rules of Pearl Care
Storage
Pearls Plus sells the majority of its pearls with a Chinese silk jewellery pouch and this is the best way to store your pearls. Velvet lined boxes with separate compartments are also safe to use as are chamois leather pouches. Your pearls may arrive protected by bubble wrap, but you should never store the pearls in any plastic material long term.
If you throw pearls into a jewel box full of other tangled jewellery your pearls will soon lose their lustrous sparkle, the surface will become scratched, wires will become bent and clasps scratched.
Never put your pearls jewelry on top of a fireplace, television set or a radiator as the heat will discolour them, often turning them brown overnight. For the same reason avoid steam cleaning them.
Store strung pearls flat as they won't stretch so quickly as when hung.
Don't store pearls in a very dry room, nor in a safe deposit box. Pearls appreciate a little moisture so wearing them regularly is important.
For the majority of women the best place to keep your pearls is on your neck! Wearing your pearls gives them the chance to breathe and a clean skin produces natural oils that pearls love. Body warmth and the expression of this fine natural body oil through the skin keeps the pearls looking good.
Whilst some women can improve the look of pearls there are unfortunately a few other women who may have a more acid balanced skin type and such acid skins can sometimes cause pearls to lose their lustre. However by regularly wiping the pearls after use, you can slow the process down enormously. This is very important as body perspiration is acidic and can eat away at the nacre, likewise the alcohol content of perfume can suck out the moisture from a pearl leaving it brittle.
Cleaning
Jewellers can clean your pearls for you or you can buy a special pearl jewellery cleaning solution.
Don't clean pearls jewelry using any of the jewellery cleaners made especially for gold or silver on the market. Such products usually contain an ammonia base. Also don't use the ultrasonic cleaning sets as the vibrations can make the pearls rub against each other and cause scuffing.
If the pearls are old and the lustre is dulling wipe them with a soft damp cloth that has been dipped in a very gentle natural soap solution, next wipe them with a detergent free damp cloth and then allow them to dry flat on kitchen paper. After the pearls have dried, a cloth with a fine smear of olive oil wiped over them will help restore some lustre.
Stringing
Good pearls will last longer if they are restrung every year if you wear them every day, or every two years for less frequent wear. They should only be restrung with pure silk thread or special nylon necklace cord. Other yarns like cotton break and deteriorate more easily.
Every string is best knotted between each pearl. The knot not only helps keep control of your pearls should they break, but also helps stop the pearls rubbing too much against each other.
Some people do not like the look of a knotted string and newer alternatives are spaced pearls on wires held in place by gimps. Such necklaces have a fresh modern look and appear to float on the neck, but must always be stored as flat as possible to prevent the polymer coated wire from getting bent and crooked.
Look after your pearls and you will continue to wear them year after year. |
