Most silk is ruined at home, and almost never by washing. It is ruined by heat, by the wrong detergent, and by being hung up wet.

The label usually says dry clean only. For a printed scarf or a silk blouse this is frequently over-caution, and the solvents used in dry cleaning dull silk over time more surely than careful hand washing does. The exceptions are real, and they are set out below.

What silk is, and why it behaves this way

Silk is a protein fibre, closer in chemistry to hair than to cotton. This single fact explains almost every rule that follows.

Protein denatures with heat. Hot water does not shrink silk the way it shrinks wool; it damages the fibre structure itself, and the damage shows as a permanent loss of lustre. Once silk goes dull it does not come back.

Protein is also attacked by alkali. Ordinary laundry detergent is alkaline, often strongly so, and it strips the sericin and natural oils that give silk its handle. The same applies to most bar soap.

Finally, silk loses a significant portion of its strength when wet, around twenty per cent. A fibre that is perfectly robust dry becomes fragile in water, which is why wringing is the single most destructive thing you can do to it.

Everything below follows from those three properties: keep it cool, keep it neutral, and never put weight on it while wet.

Hand washing, step by step

Fill a basin with cool water. Not warm, not lukewarm. Cool to the hand, around twenty degrees.

Add a small amount of a pH-neutral detergent, something made for wool or silk, or a plain unscented baby shampoo, which is close to neutral and widely available. A teaspoon is enough for a basin. Dissolve it fully before the silk goes in.

Submerge the garment and move it gently through the water with an open hand for no more than three minutes. Do not rub, do not twist, do not scrub at any point. Silk releases dirt readily because the fibre is smooth; agitation adds nothing and costs lustre.

Rinse twice in clean cool water until no slip remains. Detergent left in silk attracts dirt and dulls the surface within a few wears.

A large silk scarf can be washed this way perhaps four times a year without any visible change, which is more often than most people ever need to.

How often is its own question. Silk is naturally resistant to odour and releases dirt easily, so it needs washing far less than cotton. A scarf worn over outerwear may go a whole season between washes; a blouse worn against the skin will not. Airing overnight on a flat surface handles most of what washing would, and every wash avoided is lustre kept.

When to use a machine

A machine is acceptable for plain, undyed or colourfast silk with no structure. It is not acceptable for anything else.

If you use one, put the item in a mesh bag, select a dedicated silk or hand-wash cycle, set the temperature to thirty degrees or lower, and reduce the spin to the slowest the machine offers. A fast spin presses silk into tight folds under load, and those folds become permanent lines.

Do not machine wash anything with a lining, interfacing, shoulder structure or a printed border. Those elements shrink at different rates from the silk around them and the garment distorts in a way that cannot be corrected.

Do not machine wash dark dyed silk alongside anything pale. Silk dye is less fixed than cotton dye and runs further.

Where there is doubt, test a hidden corner with a damp white cloth. If colour transfers, the piece is hand wash or dry clean only. A narrow printed scarf is usually worth hand washing regardless, since it takes two minutes.

Drying without stretch

This is the stage where most damage happens, and it takes almost no effort to get right.

Lift the item out supporting its whole weight; never lift a wet silk garment by one corner or by the shoulders. Press water out between two hands, or lay it on a towel, roll the towel loosely and press. Never wring.

Dry flat, away from direct sun and away from any heat source. Sunlight breaks down the protein and fades dye at the same time, and a radiator does in an hour what years of wear would not.

Never hang silk to dry. Wet silk has lost a fifth of its strength and will stretch under its own weight, leaving a permanently longer, narrower shape through the shoulders or along one edge of a scarf.

Take it off the towel while still slightly damp if you intend to press it, since damp silk presses far better than dry silk.

Water quality matters more with silk than with any other fibre. Hard water leaves mineral deposits that sit on the surface and read as dullness, which is often mistaken for damage from washing itself. If your water is hard, a final rinse in filtered or previously boiled and cooled water makes a visible difference, and it costs nothing but a jug.

Pressing on the reverse

Press silk on the reverse side, always, with the iron on its lowest setting.

Pressing on the face of silk creates shine, and that shine is permanent. It is caused by the fibre surface being flattened, and no amount of steaming lifts it back out.

Use a pressing cloth if the iron has any uncertainty in it. A clean cotton handkerchief between iron and silk removes all risk at the cost of a slightly slower result.

Steam is better than pressure. Silk responds to moisture and warmth far more than to weight, so hold the iron just above the surface where possible and let the steam do the work.

Press while damp. Dry silk needs more heat to release a crease, and more heat is precisely what the fibre cannot take. A medium square pressed damp on the reverse will look exactly as it did new.

Storing scarves flat

Fold, do not hang. A scarf hung over a rail develops a line along the fold that becomes permanent within a season, and a silk blouse on a thin hanger develops points at the shoulder.

Fold loosely with as few folds as the drawer allows, and change where the folds fall each time the piece is put away. Acid-free tissue between the layers prevents hard creases and costs very little.

Store in a breathable cotton bag or a lined drawer, never in plastic. Silk is a protein and needs air; sealed in plastic it yellows and, in humid conditions, mildews.

Keep it dark. Light fades silk dye even through a drawer front left open, and the fading is uneven, which is worse than fading evenly.

Insects are a real risk because silk is protein. Cedar or lavender rather than mothballs, and store clean, since it is body oils and food residue that attract damage rather than the fibre itself. A silk shawl stored this way will outlast most of a wardrobe, and the ACCESSORIES collection is built on that assumption.

Perfume and deodorant deserve naming, because they cause more silk damage than any other everyday substance. Both are alcohol based, and alcohol strips the fibre and lifts dye on contact. Apply both well before dressing and let them dry completely. A scarf tied at the neck over fresh perfume will show a mark within a few wears that no washing removes.

Stains and what not to do

Act immediately and act gently. Silk releases most marks easily while they are wet and holds them almost permanently once they are dry.

Blot, never rub. Rubbing drives the stain between the fibres and abrades the surface at the same time, leaving a dull patch that is more visible than the original mark.

Cool water alone handles most fresh stains. For oil, a little neutral detergent worked in with a fingertip and rinsed thoroughly. For wine, cool water and patience, repeated.

What not to use, under any circumstances: bleach of any kind, oxygen bleach included, which destroys protein fibre outright. Vinegar and lemon juice, which are acidic enough to damage dye. Salt, which abrades. Hot water, which fixes the stain and dulls the silk in one step. And a hairdryer, which does both.

If a mark survives two gentle attempts, stop and take it to a specialist. A third attempt at home is what turns a small stain into a visible ring.

How to wear what you have looked after sits in the scarf tying guide, and the argument for buying this quality in the first place is made in the piece on fabric and finish.

Cool water, neutral detergent, flat to dry, pressed damp on the reverse, folded in the dark. Five rules, and silk lasts decades.