How to Maintain Pearls

Maintenance Method during Wearing:

Pearls are soft, with hardness lower than the dust in the air; during wearing pearls, you should exercise extra care to avoid contact or friction with hard object and even apparel fabric of hard texture, thus it’s improper to wear clothes of coarse cloth while wearing pearl jewelry for fear of friction or scratch of pearls. This is why pearls and silk clothing are perfect match.
Besides, pearls are vulnerable to acid, alkaline and dehydration, so pearls should not be exposed to sunshine or high temperature; in addition, pearls should not be exposed to cosmetics such as acetic acid, alcohol, perfume, face powder, hair oil and the like, as well as various strong acids, to prevent fading or discoloring of pearls due to erosion by harmful substance.

Maintenance Method during Collection:

Pearls should be cleaned regularly. During cleaning, first bleach with soap water, following by rinsing with clean water. When pearls necklace is not worn, put it in jewelry box under-laid with soft and clean cloth or silk, and do not store pearls necklace in plastic bag or plastic box as possible to avoid loss of sheen due to dehydration.

Method for Renewing the Luster of Pearls:

Perhaps aunties have wore or stored pearls jewelry for decades, and the pearls may be faded to faint yellow. For pearls of yellowish surface, soak them in 1%-5% solution of diluted hydrochloric acid or hydrogen peroxide for a while. Immediately take out pearls until the shell is resolved, rinse with clean water and dry with cloth, then the pearls will sheen again. However, extra care should be exercised not to soak the pearls in solution of diluted hydrochloric acid for too long to prevent damage. For darkened, matt or seriously smeared pearls jewelry, soak in 10% salt water, then clean with 3% solution of diluted hydrochloric acid, and then bleach with clean water to renew the luster.