Pearl Care
Pearls will last for generations when they’re looked after properly, here are our three simple pearl care do’s and don’ts to help you do just that…
The Do's
- Wear regularly, your natural oils in the skin absorb into the pearl, maintaining lustre.
- Restring when knots are stretched – every one to three years depending on pearl size and frequency of wear.
- Wipe the pearls gently after wearing with a soft cloth – to remove dirt, perfume or make-up.
The Don'ts
- Scratch your pearls, always try and store pearls somewhere soft.
- Knock or bash your pearls as this can damage both pearls and settings. If a pearl comes off regularly it’s likely that the inside is soft, and may need to be swapped.
- Let pearls get into contact with chemicals – particularly perfume, hairspray and cleaning products.
When Wearing Pearls
Pearls are surprisingly absorbent and need to maintain a certain level of moisture in order to retain their bright colour and lustre. One of the best ways to do this is simply to wear them. They absorb natural oils from the skin, which tops up their moisture levels. Otherwise they turn a dull, yellowy-brown and lose their lustre.
There are also a number of chemicals that pearls are susceptible to when worn. The biggest offenders are:
- Perfume and hairspray these both contain relatively powerful solvents that dissolve nacre.
- Cleaning products we recommend strongly against wearing pearls whilst using a household cleaning product.
- Beauty products the best thing to do is apply your make-up and perfume, wait a couple of minutes and then put your pearls on.
- Swimming in chlorinated water with pearls isn’t recommended as chlorine can turn them green and reduce lustre.
- Hand sanitisers when washing your hands and using hand sanitisers we recommend you take your rings and bracelets off.
Pearls are soft, living gems and regular contact with soap, water and hand sanitiser (alcohol-based and alcohol-free) will irreversibly damage the nacre and lustre of the pearl. Diamonds, rubies, and sapphires should retain their integrity and brilliance despite the use of hand sanitisers, but the metal on your rings and bracelets may not. Repeated exposure to cleaning agents or hand sanitisers can make the finish on white gold, rhodium and gold plated silver and sterling silver wear faster. Other gemstones may be softer stones and cannot withstand the same cleaning process as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.
Rule of thumb, remove all rings and bracelets when washing or sanitising your hands, wait until the cool feeling has finished, your skin is dry and then put on the jewellery. Our guarantee does not cover damage caused by hand sanitiser. And finally, be cautious when wearing pearl rings. We glue our pearls onto a relatively thick metal post, but a sharp blow or simply wearing gloves over the pearl can break the post or knock the pearl off.
Storing Pearls
We thoroughly recommend that pearls are kept in a soft cloth, such as the Jersey Pearl pouches, to prevent scratches. Jewellery boxes contain a lot of sharp edges that can damage your pearls.
Cleaning Pearls
We think this is a matter of choice. We have successfully used warm water for years, however some prefer to purchase special cleaning cloths.
Restringing Pearls
Our strings are individually knotted using two strands of silk thread. The knots prevent the pearls from rubbing together and make sure that only one pearl would be lost if the strand breaks. The advantage of silk is that the knots relax as they’re warmed when worn giving a nice supple string, and then re-tighten naturally when they’re put away. However, depending on how often they’re worn and the size of the pearls the knots will eventually stretch and/or become discoloured. Fortunately, pearls can be restrung relatively affordably.
Your first restring for strings and bracelets strung on silk is free. All you need is your receipt. You pay for postage to us and for the return postage to you. Terms and conditions apply, contact us on +44 (0)1534 862 137 or contact us online here.
Care of Silver, Gold Plated Silver and Brass
Silver tarnish is a normal process associated with that metal. We use rhodium plating to prevent tarnishing. To maximise the life of the rhodium, we recommend not to polish or clean jewellery until the tarnish appears. We further recommend not to swim or bathe in silver jewellery and avoid using perfumes and body lotions while wearing the piece. Brass will also tarnish over time and we recommend you follow the same recommendations as for silver and avoid wearing in water all together.
Tarnished jewellery from Jersey Pearl can be returned to any Jersey Pearl store for a complimentary clean with a silver polish cloth, which is currently available to buy at £5 here.
The Pearl Workshop
Whether from Jersey Pearl or not, our pearl workshop provides a broad range of repair, maintenance and design services.
To find out more about our Pearl Workshop, please give us a call on +44 (0)1983 741 800 or or contact us online here.
The Pearl Workshop
Whether from Jersey Pearl or not, our pearl workshop provides a broad range of repair, maintenance and design services.
To find out more about our Pearl Workshop, please give us a call on +44 (0)1983 741 800 or or contact us online here.