How to Get Tangles Out of Necklaces

Bead necklaces can be particularly tricky to detangle, as they can get caught on the cord and the beads.

It seems like a harmless move at the time: You remove a necklace from your neck and toss it in your jewelry drawer. And then you repeat the move, again and again with other pieces. But before you know it, you’re faced with a necklace heap that looks hopelessly fatal. But don’t despair. With a few slick moves (literally), some time and patience, you can untangle that necklace jumble.

Things You'll Need

• Safety pins
• Tweezers
• Baby oil
• Cotton ball

Instructions

1. Lay the heap on a flat surface and try to segregate the clasps so that you can clearly see the ends of the necklaces.

2. Focus on the biggest, roundest part of the tangled mess. Insert a pin in various places of the knot to find a segment that you can safely loosen and detangle. Be careful not to tug too hard, or you risk breaking some of the chains.

3. Work one strand or segment at a time in your search for a “breakthrough” that will allow you to slowly detangle the pieces from one another. Hold one end with your hand and another with a pair of tweezers until you find a spot that will unwind, open up and allow you to “deknot” a section. One open section eventually leads to another, so don’t give up; you will find it.

4. Apply a dab of baby oil if the tangled heap is particularly stubborn. The oil will lubricate the chains and hopefully dislodge one segment from another as you work on them with the pin or tweezers.

5. Break a link or two with the tweezers to remove a particularly hopeless knot, then rejoin the links. You may have to resort to this method if you’re trying to detangle a very fine, delicate chain.

6. 

   Hang your necklaces to prevent future tangles from developing.

   Separate your necklaces in the future by hanging them up. If you’re limited for space and must store your necklaces in a drawer, wrap the chains around pipe cleaners to keep them from becoming tangled.

Tips & Warnings

• Even if you’re not a crafter, there are myriad creative ways to keep your necklaces detangled. Get a corkboard, for example, and hang your necklaces from pushpins. Or make your own jewelry tree by getting a small tabletop tree (or plant) from a craft store, wrapping a ribbon around the base, and hanging your necklaces from the branches.

References

• FrugalVillage.com: Slick Ways to Use Baby Oil
• PowerfullyYouWomensNetwork: Tied up in Knots?