Silk Hermes scarf and water

[Fabienne]

Question: I have an Hermes silk scarf, and the note from the manufacturer says to keep it away from water. Does anyone have experience with this? Would a few raindrops or a drizzle damage the hand-painted design?

Thank you,

Fabienne

 

[Luc-Emmanuel]

Water stains silk.
Printed silk will run.

So yes, it's better to keep a silk scarf out of water, just like a tie. Even a few drops of water (messy handwashing, rain...) are likely to leave stains.
Drycleaning will take care of this though.

!luc

 

[LARon]

A few drops of rain may not have a lasting effect, but I would definitely cover up (tie and scarf/pochette) if a sprinkling becomes a torrential downpour.

 

[Earthmover]

I'm assuming Hermes scarves have enough quality that mere water will not make the dyes run (if this happens, you'll be able to tell since it will come off on your neck. Ick). Therefore, the only problem will be what's called "water stains" on silk, where you can see a ring on the outer edges of where the water used to be after evaporation. this is usually a combination of impurities and trace amounts of dye loss/redistribution. Usually in lighter-coloured and well-made scarves, this won't show even with a decent amount of water.

Anyway, by some strange reason you get water stains and it bothers you highly, just soak the scarf in cold water (distilled if you're very intense about these things; no detergent necessary), shake it up gently for a little bit (minimize dye loss) and drip dry on a flat surface. Steam it gently without touching the scarf to get wrinkles out.

edit: Luc-Emmanuel, to be precise, water stains do not come out during the drycleaning process. The drycleaner would have to notice the stain (this is why it's good to point out any stains you want to remove) and use a steamgun to wet the area with wet/hot steam and remove impurities that caused the water stain. Pre-spotting is necessary for some stains, especially on fragile objects like silk scarves.

 

[Fabienne]

Thank you for the tips. I must say I'm a bit confused that a scarf one would naturally wear straight against one's neck and face would have to be dry-cleaned. I don't wear make-up on my skin (only eyes and sometimes lipstick), but what of women who do?

This scarf is a deep orange color with a fushia flowers design. It's beautiful, but I'm apprehensive about wearing it. At least, with a tie, the silk is protected by the shirt. But not from slinging spaghetti.

 

[dervilfal]

Women do have to get their scarves dry cleaned/laundered depending on the fabric. It doesn't matter how high quality a womans make-up is - it will rub off on fabrics that it comes in contact with for any 'extended' (more than a few seconds) period of time.