How to look after wooden earrings

Most of our earrings are made of wood. That single fact explains almost everything about how they behave: why a large pair weighs nothing on the ear, why the colours are matte rather than glassy, and why the care is not the same as for metal or resin.

None of what follows is complicated. It is mostly about keeping three things away.

Water is the one that matters

Wood absorbs. A splash will not destroy a pair, but repeated soaking will eventually lift a finish or swell a joint, and no amount of drying puts that back.

So: take them off before a shower, before a swim, and before the washing-up if you are the kind of person who does the washing-up in jewellery. If a pair does get wet, do not use a hairdryer or a radiator. Blot with a soft dry cloth and leave them flat, at room temperature, away from direct heat. Forced drying is what cracks wood, not the water itself.

Perfume and hairspray, in that order

Alcohol-based sprays are harder on a painted or lacquered surface than water is. The rule is simply one of sequence: perfume first, hair second, earrings last. Give the spray a minute to settle before you put them on.

The same goes for suncream, which is greasy and tends to sit on a matte finish rather than sink in.

Sun and heat fade colour

Saturated colour is the whole point of these pieces, and prolonged direct sunlight is what takes it away. A pair left on a windowsill through a summer will not look like the pair you bought.

The same applies to a car dashboard, and to the top of a radiator, where dry heat does the fading and the shrinking at once.

Store them flat, and apart

Wood scratches more easily than metal. A drawer where twelve pairs slide against each other will dull the finish over a year in a way that is hard to notice day to day and obvious in a photograph.

Flat, in a box or a pouch, ideally not touching each other. A bathroom cabinet is the one place to avoid entirely: it is the wettest, warmest room in most homes.

Cleaning, when you need to

A soft dry cloth is almost always enough. If something needs more, use a cloth barely damp with water and dry immediately.

What not to use: alcohol, acetone, household surface cleaner, jewellery dip, ultrasonic cleaners. All of those are designed for hard non-porous materials and all of them will attack a finish on wood.

The metal parts

Hooks and hoops are metal and can be wiped with a dry soft cloth. If a hook loses a little brightness over time, that is normal contact wear rather than damage.

If something does go wrong

We are a small studio and the pieces are made by hand, which means they can usually be looked at rather than written off. Write to contact@islistudio.com with a photograph.

More on how the pieces are made is in our story, and the full range is in earrings. If you are buying a first pair, this may help.