How to take care of your pearls
Wearing
Natural or cultured freshwater pearls are delicate organic gems that are made of the natural product called calcium carbonate.?
Your 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 probably wears without a second thought. ?You've guessed it already - the most harmful products to a pearl are of perfumes, hair sprays, cosmetics and facial creams.
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 most important way to prevent damage to your pearls is by following the golden rule of putting your pearl jewellery 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 pearl necklace?or earrings will actually sit and avoid touching your pearl jewellery when you have just applied hand cream. If you need to reapply hair spray at some time, slip the pearl jewelleries off for a moment and put them well out of the damage zone.
Likewise make pearls 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 pearl jewelleries 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.?
Storage
The velvet box that comes with all products of Carla Pearls is the best place to store your pearls. Velvet lined boxes with separate compartments are also safe to use as are chamois leather pouches. Your pearl jewellery 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 jewellery 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 pearl jewellery 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 your pearl jewellery in a very dry room, nor in a safe deposit box. Pearls appreciate a little moisture so 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 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
A good piece of pearl necklace or bracelet 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 from rubbing too much against each other.?
Newer alternatives of knot between every two pearls on a necklace or bracelet are spaced pearls on wires held in place by gimps. Such a piece of pearl jewellery 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 pearl jewelleries and you will continue to wear them year after year.
