How to Care for Lauhala Earrings

July 17, 2026

Close-up of hands weaving strips of hala leaf into a lauhala bracelet in Hawaiʻi

Good lauhala jewelry care begins with understanding what you are actually wearing. A pair of lauhala earrings is not metal, resin, or plastic — it is a leaf. Strips of lau hala, the leaf of the hala tree (Pandanus tectorius), are cleaned, softened, stripped of thorns, rolled into kūkaʻa, and then woven by hand into something small enough to hang from your ear. That plant origin is exactly what makes lauhala warm, light, and alive on the skin. It is also why lauhala asks for slightly different care than the rest of your jewelry box.

The good news: lauhala is tougher than it looks. Hawaiians wove hala into mats, sails, and sleeping moena that lasted generations of daily use. With a little attention, a pair of woven earrings will easily outlast the trends. Here is how we care for ours in our studio in Kailua-Kona.

Understand what lauhala responds to

Nearly every rule of lauhala care traces back to one thing: moisture. Hala leaf is a natural fiber that absorbs and releases water. Too much water and the weave can swell, loosen, spot, or mildew. Too little — bone-dry, sun-baked, air-conditioned dryness for months on end — and the fiber can grow brittle and crack at the folds.

What lauhala wants is the middle: dry to the touch, but not parched. Think of it the way you would think of a fine lauhala hat or a leather belt rather than a gold hoop. Your goal is not to seal it away, but to keep it in its comfortable range.

The everyday rules

Last on, first off. Put your earrings on after sunscreen, lotion, perfume, and hairspray, and take them off before you take those things off. Oils and alcohols are what dull and darken a weave over time.
Keep them out of the ocean and the pool. This is the big one. Salt water stiffens the fiber as it dries, and chlorine will lighten and weaken it. If you are heading in the water, the earrings stay on the towel.
Shower and swim without them. Steam counts too — a long hot shower is a humid room, and a weave left damp is a weave that can spot.
Do not soak, ever. No jewelry-cleaning solution, no ultrasonic cleaner, no dish soap bath. Those are made for metal and stone, not for leaf.

How to clean lauhala earrings

Most lauhala never needs more than dusting. When it does, keep it gentle and keep it brief:

Wipe the surface with a dry, soft cloth, following the direction of the weave rather than scrubbing across it.
For a stubborn smudge, barely dampen a corner of the cloth with clean water — damp, not wet — wipe the spot once, then dry it immediately with the dry part of the cloth.
Use a soft, dry toothbrush or a makeup brush to lift dust out of tight weave and from around a pearl, shell, or wire wrap.
Let the earrings air-dry flat, away from direct sun, before putting them away.

Skip alcohol wipes, vinegar, oil soaps, and furniture polish. They may look like they help for a day and then leave the fiber darker and drier than they found it.

If they get wet anyway

It happens. A rain squall on the way to the car, a wave you did not see coming. Do not panic and do not rush the drying — heat is what does the real damage.

Blot the earrings gently with a soft towel, reshape any part of the weave that has shifted while the fiber is still slightly pliable, and lay them flat somewhere shaded with moving air. Give them a full day. Never use a hair dryer, an oven, a car dashboard, or direct midday sun to speed things up. Fast heat is what makes lauhala crack.

If salt water was involved, wipe once with a barely-damp cloth first to lift the salt, then dry as above.

How to store them

Store lauhala loose and breathing, not sealed and squeezed. A small cloth pouch, a lined jewelry tray, or an open dish all work well. What you want to avoid is a zipped plastic bag, which traps humidity against the fiber and invites mildew, and the bottom of a crowded jewelry box, where the weave gets crushed under heavier pieces.

A drawer in the bedroom is better than a hook in the bathroom. Bathrooms are the most humid room in most homes, and lauhala parked there tends to age faster than lauhala anywhere else.

The metal parts matter too

Woven earrings almost always pair the lauhala with something else — surgical steel posts, gold or silver wire, a freshwater pearl, a shell. Those components have their own needs, and they are usually the reason a piece needs attention.

Wipe the ear wires with a soft dry cloth after wear to keep them clean against your skin. If a wrap loosens, ease it back with your fingers rather than pliers, which can nick both the wire and the weave. And check the join between weave and finding once in a while — that seam is the piece's hardest-working point.

Expect a little change — that is not damage

Lauhala mellows. A fresh weave that starts pale gold will deepen slightly toward honey over a year or two of wear, and that patina is a feature, not a flaw. Traditional weavers have always known this: the most treasured lauhala pieces in Hawaiian families are the old ones, softened and darkened by hands.

What is not normal is dark spotting (moisture), a chalky white bloom (mildew), or a fiber that snaps rather than bends (too dry, usually from heat or sun). Catch those early and they are almost always avoidable next time by changing where the piece lives.

Cared for this way, handwoven lauhala earrings become the sort of thing you reach for every day for years — which, for a pair of leaves gathered on a Kona shoreline, is a pretty remarkable second life. If you are still choosing your first pair, our lauhala jewelry collection is a good place to start.

Bring the islands home: Explore our Lauhala Jewelry — original designs from our Native Hawaiian–owned studio in Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi. Here are a few of the newest additions:

Puka Shell Purple — Purple puka shells gathered in Kailua-Kona, hand-set with a pink pearl wrapped in gold.

Puka Shell Pink — Pink puka shells from our own shoreline, finished with a gold-wrapped pearl.

ʻOpihi ʻAwa Rings — Tiny hand-selected ʻopihi ʻawa shells, each one a different color, on a one-size ring.

Pele & Kamapuaʻa Bangle — Lauhala-wrapped bangle inspired by the fiery legend of Pele and Kamapuaʻa.

Lokelani Bangle — A pink pearl wrapped in lauhala gathered on the Kailua-Kona oceanside, named for the lokelani rose.

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