Caring for your Hair Accessories & Jewellery

To preserve their beauty, our hair accessories & jewellery do need to be properly cared for, so we have put together a few tips and tricks to help you ensure that your piece continues to look beautiful.

 

Wearing Your Hair Accessories & Jewellery

  • Apply all make-up, creams, lotions, perfume and hair spray before you put on your jewellery, as direct contact with oils and chemicals present in cosmetics can cause tarnishing, damage plating and damage naturally soft gemstones such as Freshwater Pearls.
  • Remove all hair accessories & jewellery before sleeping or any physical activity such as the gym as this will prevent perspiration from tarnishing the jewellery or hair accessories, and also prevent any accidental damage.
  • Never wear your jewellery whilst bathing in a swimming pool, spa or sea. Saltwater, the chemicals & elements present in swimming pools and natural springs, can cause tarnishing.

 

Storing Your Hair Accessories & Jewellery

  • We recommend that your hair accessories & jewellery should ideally be stored in the original box, but your piece can also be safely stored where it will be kept at a constant room temperature, away from direct contact with sunlight, heat or humidity sources.
  • Your hair accessories & jewellery can be stored safely in a soft cloth pouch or jewellery case. Always store pieces separately to prevent scratching. See below for advice on caring for your Freshwater Pearls.
  • We do not recommend the use of a gold or silver 'dip solution' to clean jewellery as the chemical cleaning process removes a minuscule amount of metal and will damage plated and pearl jewellery.
  • The best non invasive method to clean jewellery is to use warm soapy water and a very soft toothbrush. Remove the excess water by laying the jewellery on a kitchen towel and buff with a soft dry cloth or silver cleaning cloth.

 

Caring for Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater Pearls are a delicate natural semi precious stone. As pearls are porous, they are more delicate than most other semi precious stones and must be looked after very carefully to preserve their lustre. Because pearls are porous they can absorb trace amounts of the daily oils and chemicals that they regularly come into contact with, which over a period of time can dull the lustre and even cause pitting of the pearls.

  • Apply all make-up, creams, lotions, perfume and hair spray before you put on your pearls. Try not to touch your pearls immediately after applying hand cream, never spray perfume directly onto your neck whilst wearing your pearls, and finally remove your pearls before beginning your nightly skincare routine.
  • When you take off your pearls, lightly rub them over with a soft dry cloth before you put them away. This prevents any perspiration, oils or chemicals from daily skincare regimes from being absorbed and prolongs the life of the pearls lustre.
  • Only store your pearls in their original box or necklace case. Make sure the pearls cannot rub against other pieces of jewellery while in storage as they can become scratched. Never store pearls in a plastic bag or sealed box as they can sweat and deteriorate, nor should pearls come into contact with extreme heat sources such as radiators or prolonged direct sunlight as the heat can cause discolouration, cracking and splitting. Pearls need a degree of moisture to retain their lustre, but hate too much humidity and extremes of temperature.
  • When cleaning pearls, the best method is to use warm soapy water. Lay the pearls flat to dry off the excess water on a piece of kitchen towel then buff with a soft cloth. Ensure the pearls are thoroughly dry before wearing or the string could stretch. Never have pearls ultrasonically cleaned, or use gold or silver jewellery cleaners or dips, as these can damage the lustre.