Can you wash cashmere?

CLEANING: Pashmina products are very durable with proper care. Both pure pashmina and silk pashmina retain its beauty and warmth for many years and will become softer with age. It is meant to last. Because of its delicateness, cashmere needs to be taken proper care of, so that it always stays in perfect condition. You would want to avoid frequent washing of cashmere and pashmina silk shawls. If you must wash them, hand-washing in cool water is best. Alternatively you can air your pashmina. If you own a pashmina scarf, washing it properly will help it keep its shape and softness. Pashmina can’t withstand a cleaning in the washing machine, so you’ll need to wash your scarf by hand. If you have Pasmina woven with silk , professional dry cleaning is the best way to launder a silk pashmina shawl, you can still care for the shawl at home if you are careful.

  1. HAND WASHING: : Wash it by hand in cold water. Add a small amount of baby shampoo or hand-washing detergent or liquid wool-laundering detergent to a bucket of cold water and mix it thoroughly. Soak it in soapy water for a little while, and then swish it around while gently rubbing soiled areas. Then rinse it through two or three times until there’s no more soap left. As you rinse and then finish washing, you never want to wring our Pashmina. The fabric is sensitive to pressure, and rough handling, especially while wet will cause deformities in the Cashmere weaves. Roll the shawl in a towel and squeeze the towel gently, but don’t twist it or wring it. Lay it flat to dry on a towel or cloth in a place out of the sun

2. DRYING: To Dry, spread it out on a drying rack, but make sure it’s evenly spread across the rack, rather than simply hung, because hanging while wet stretches the fabric.; Another option if you don’t have a rack is just to get a dry towel, lay it flat and let dry on the towel.

3.IRONING: Now, your Pashmina is clean! But you’ll probably notice a great deal of unsightly wrinkles populating your Pashminas surface. This is perfectly normal. To iron the pashmina, always use piece of cloth between the shawl and the iron and iron on low heat. Alternatively you can also just hang it up, unbunched, and let the wrinkles fall out. For a crisper, more elegant look, you might want a) Prepare the area around your ironing board with a clean bedsheet. b) Pre-warm your steam iron to a moderate heat. c) Lay out your pashmina on the ironing board and cover it with a thin cloth: you want to avoid direct contact between the pashmina cloth and the iron. Again, a clean bedsheet will do the trick. d) Iron the shawl from one fringed end to the other. Move the iron up and down, not left and right. Use the steamer liberally.

4. STORAGE Always store your pashmina in a ziplock cotton bag to keep moths away. Ahhhh, how wonderful it is to now have a delightfully clean Pashmina again! For safe keeping, make sure you store your Pashmina in a way that doesn’t bunch it up. Fold it neatly and either place it on a hanger of keep it on a shelf. Store cashmere and pashmina silk shawls in watertight containers in a place where they won’t be exposed to the sun. If you keep your shawl in a drawer or closet be sure to protect it from moths, which like to eat natural fibers. Mothballs leave an unpleasant smell, so consider making a sachet with dried mint, rosemary, lavender, thyme and cloves. This will repel moths and give your shawl a sweet, natural scent. Pashmina products should be stored in a dry, cool, and away from sunlight.

Pashmina Care

DON’Ts

  • Get velcro anywhere near your Pashmina. It’ll rough up the fabric.

  • Put your Pashmina in the washing machine. This is a cardinal rule of caring for your Pashmina. Refer to the directions on the above to see how to wash your shawl by hand.

  • Rub the shawl vigorously. When you are hand washing your shawl, just gently swish the shawl around. The fiber is somewhat delicate and needs as little friction as possible.

  • Pull the fibres when they snag; gently stretch the affected area so the thread will fall back in place.

  • Wash it in warm / hot water. This could cause shrinking. Only use lukewarm (more on the cool end) water

  • Iron it directly (Look at cleaning step 3).

  • Wrap it up or fold it carelessly when you put it away. This could cause unsightly wrinkles. Preferably hang your Pashmina somewhere with as little folds as possible.

  • Let it get bleached out in perpetually radiant sunlight. Store it away from direct sunlight.

Liability: Common sense for hand-cleaning is the golden rule and if mishaps happen, we must insist that we will not be able to take no responsibility for any consequences and replace the item.