Pearls and mild soap

[olmander]

It stands in all books: pearls should be cleaned in water with mild soap. But what is exactly the mild soap? The liquid soap with ph-5,5 I have in the bathroom is described as mild - but the list of its components on the bottle its quite impressive. Or should it be soap for babies? Or anything else?

After reading about all the precautions I am now so afraid to damage my pearls that I don't trust anything, even water from the tab which can contain chlorine... even when they say that the Dutch are so good in water purification...

Any advice?

 

[Caitlin]

Liquid castille soap like Dr Bronner's unscented. Any mild castille bar soap. Notice it is soap, not detergent, being spoken of.

Someone suggested Ivory Flakes. I mean to see what it is made of next time I go to the store. If soap, fine, it's a good idea.

Mild detergent as in shampoo would be second to soap.

Silk Warning:
In any case, when washing pearls strung with silk, follow all the precautions so the silk won't stretch. Even so, you may end up with stretched silk, because it it the very nature of silk to stretch. I think stretched silk looks bad. Gaps between the knots and the pearls- ick. That is why I like to say, if your pearls are dirty enough to be washed, they should be restrung as well.

In spite of what our esteemed Bernadette said once in a post- silk is highly absorbent of body oils and grime, far more than nylon or other man made materials. Just google "silk properties" -or "silk qualities" to get plenty of references from the manufacturers as to how highly absorbent it is. Google up on beading thread to see that nylon is absorbent-resistant.

I think we need a separate thread on the subject of silk, what it is, what it does and does not do and its innate properties. If someone else does not want to start it, I'll get around to it soon.
The Thread Thread

 

[olmander]

Thank you, Caitlin, I think I got the message. Will try to look for a simple bar soap or something like this and not to wash pearls without need to keep silk intact.

Olga

 

[Pearl Dreams]

A word of caution to people who have hard water (like the water from our well): soap combines with the minerals in hard water to produce a scummy substance.

The scum leaves a film on the shower door and sink and I'm sure it would leave a scum on pearls as well! (We had to stop using soap and switch to shower gels.)

If your water is hard, stick to the mild liquid shampoo rather than the soap flakes.

 

[Caitlin]

We have very hard water in Tucson. Plus we have chlorine. So I use bottled water.

 

[Serenity]

I've just started using Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby-mild Castile liquid soap and water filtered with a Brita filter to clean pearls. Seems to work fine.

Serenity

 

[Sueki]

I wash mine in a mild solution of either baby shampoo, or liquid "simple" which is a brand of pure soap over here.
And I use distilled water as we live in a hard water area. Good for the arteries, but bad for kettles, washing machines, etc.
I just heat the water very slightly in the microwave before use.

 

[Caitlin]

Quote:
I've just started using Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby-mild Castile liquid soap and water filtered with a Brita filter to clean pearls. Seems to work fine.


That sounds about perfect!

I am moving all the stuff about stretcing to the thread thread.