How To Clean Pearls At Home, Proper Care Of Products With Them (beads, Rings, Etc.)

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Delicate pearls, pure gift of the seas: rules for the care of pearl jewelry

Pearls are the first stone used as jewelry since ancient times. Since then, little has changed: mother-of-pearl beads are loved and appreciated by women of all ages for their beauty and lively shine. But this capricious stone, like a person, gets sick, grows old and even dies. Therefore, proper care of it is very important.

Content

• 1 How to help pearls maintain their beauty and health

  • 1.1 Types and features of pearls - video
  • 1.2 Foes of the Stone
  • 1.3 How to pamper pearls
  • 1.4 How to store pearls

• 2 Reborn from the foam: cleaning pearls

  • 2.1 Soap bath for sissies
  • 2.2 How to properly clean pearls with salt
  • 2.3 Peeling pearls with starch
  • 2.4 Tips for the care of pearls - video
• 3 What can not be used to clean pearls

How to help pearls maintain their beauty and health

Born in the water element in a mollusk shell, pearls are 10% water. It is not for nothing that in some cultures it is considered alive. Like any living being, he is sensitive to the external environment and requires a careful attitude towards himself.

Types and features of pearls - video

Foes of stone

Ignorance of the characteristics of pearls can lead to discoloration, loss of luster, clouding, and sometimes death.

1. Vinegar and other acids. There is a legend that Cleopatra, at a feast with Mark Antony, dissolved a pearl in vinegar and drank a drink. History is silent about how this affected the health of the queen. But the fact that acid dissolves pearls is a fact. He is even afraid of her vapors. Remove jewelry prior to cooking or vinegar canning.
2. Any aggressive household chemicals are detrimental to pearls. Avoid contact with strong alkali, ammonia, peroxide, solvents, chlorine.
3. The soft surface of pearls is easy to scratch, so avoid contact with sharp objects in every possible way. Wearing a pearl necklace over coarse wool is not recommended. Even soft abrasives - soda, fine salt cannot be used for cleaning.
4. Pearls need moisture, but in moderation. Pearls swell and grow dull from its excess, mold may even appear. Be sure to take off jewelry before showering, bathing, especially before going to the bathhouse. Water combined with high temperature is harmful to pearls, and dry air makes them brittle and brownish.
5. Cosmetics - creams, lipsticks, perfumes, hairsprays - harm pearls. Wear jewelry last after applying makeup, hairspray and perfume or eau de toilette.
6. Delicate stones do not like to sunbathe, preferring a cool shade to the sun's rays.

Now it is impossible to buy pearls found by divers in the depths of the sea: their extraction has long been prohibited. The one sold in jewelry stores is grown on pearl farms. But this does not make the stone artificial, because a person only helps slightly by placing a grain of sand or a piece of mother-of-pearl in the shell.

How to pamper pearls

Pick up jewelry in your hands more often, sort out pearls, put on and walk. Pearls love contact with a person, saturated with his energy and skin moisture. From this they come to life, begin to shine.

Pearls need human contact

Pearls reveal all their beauty precisely upon contact with young skin, because with age, it loses moisture, which is so necessary for the stone. It is not for nothing that in the old days in Russia unmarried girls were allowed to wear only pearl jewelry as a symbol of purity and purity.

Young skin nourishes pearls with the necessary moisture

For very dry skin, opt for framed jewelry.

How to store pearls

1. A shared jewelry box is not a place for delicate mother-of-pearl beads. Store them separately. The proximity to other jewelry can lead to scratches.

2. A pouch or separate case lined with a soft cloth will do. But do not forget jewelry in them for a long time, the pearls will grow dull and cloudy.

   

   Store pearls in a separate case or pouch

3. Before storing, drip boiled water onto the upholstery of the case to keep the air inside slightly moist. Do not close the case tightly: pearls need to breathe.
4. It is not recommended to store the beads in a suspended state so as not to stretch the thread. If you wear your necklace frequently, it is worth changing it once a year.
5. Wipe down accessories with a damp cloth before storing. This will slightly moisturize them and remove sweat and sebum deposits.

Reborn from the foam: cleaning pearls

As with any jewelry, pearl jewelry needs regular cleaning. Make it a rule to remove jewelry and wipe them with a dry or damp, lint-free cloth.

Soap bath for sissy

If the pearls have become dull, yellowed and have a plaque on them, wash them with clean water. For stubborn dirt, you need a mild soap with a low alkali content, baby's will do. This method is safe for any kind of pearls: sea, river, artificial.

1. Dissolve the soap in water and beat until lather.

2. Apply it to pearls and massage with your fingers. Rings, earrings, pendants can be soaked in soapy water. Do not completely immerse the necklace in water. Often, beads are strung on a silk thread, which stretches and deteriorates from water.

   

   Beads should not be completely immersed in water.

3. Remove the remnants with a dry soft cloth and wipe the beads with a damp cloth, and rinse the rest of the jewelry in running water.

4. Place the clean accessories on a linen cloth, blot and dry.

   

   Let the washed pearl products dry on a napkin

Items with gold, silver frames require cleaning and metal. Gold and rhodium-plated silver does not darken, does not oxidize in air. It is enough to wash them with soapy water. Unroded has no protective coating, darkens and oxidizes from contact with the skin and requires careful cleaning.

It is enough to wash gold jewelry with pearls in soapy water

It is important to clean your jewelry so as not to damage the pearls.

How to properly clean pearls with salt

If the soap and foam bath does not help, use salt.

1. Place the jewelry in a white napkin and cover with fine salt. You can't rub, but you won't need it.
2. Tie the napkin into a tight knot.
3. Dip it in a bowl of cool water and rinse it until the salt dissolves.
4. Rinse the product with clean water and dry.

After such a procedure, the silver will be cleansed and shine, and the moist shimmer will return to the pearl, because it was born in salt water. Pamper sometimes sea pearls with salt baths, they will be grateful to you.

Silver jewelry with pearls is cleaned with salt

Peeling pearls with starch

Use potato starch to remove excess moisture, sebum, and impurities from pearls. Just sprinkle this substance on the stones, and then wipe them with a velvet cloth.

Starch is used to cleanse pearls from excess moisture and dirt.

If you are not satisfied with the result of home cleaning, it is better to take the jewelry to a jeweler. He will gently clean products, taking into account the characteristics of metal and pearls. You should not experiment on your own, even with professional jewelry cleaning products: the result can be disastrous.

Pearl Care Tips - Video

What can not be used to clean pearls

Everything that pearls fear cannot be used to cleanse it:

• acids;
• household chemicals;
• solvents;
• peroxide, ammonia, oils;
• any abrasives;
• ultrasonic bath.

Some sources advise using the acid's ability to dissolve the mother of pearl to restore the luster of the pearl. This method can destroy the jewelry irrevocably. Recommendations to clean pearls with olive oil are also doubtful. After all, fats are one of the elements that harm the mother of pearl.

Cleaning rules are the same for sea and river stones. But the artificial one requires a particularly careful attitude. After all, a layer of mother-of-pearl applied to a glass or plastic bead is much thinner than that of natural pearls. This means it is easier to damage it.

Love your pearls, treat them with care, like a capricious but helpless child. And he will answer you with a gentle radiance and will delight you for many years.