How endlessly frustrating is it to unpack on vacation and find your necklaces masquerading in a tight, tangled mass? Or to clean out your purse (like, the one time a year you actually do that) and find a beloved necklace you thought you had lost, only to see that it's hopelessly tangled in a knot? The worst. There are much better options for DIY statement necklaces than accidentally making one giant tangled one that roughly spells out, "GUUUH". Figuring out how to how to untangle a necklace is actually pretty easy with this simple method, as shown by YouTube life hack extraordinaire CrazyRussianHacker.
What's your typical reaction when discovering a tragically tangled piece of jewelry you had previously planned to wear? Do you tackle the tangle? Do you throw it back in the box to hopefully, mysteriously untangle itself? Do you toss it in a donation pile? The trash? I spent a stint working at a jewelry boutique so those last actions were not actually an option (since, you know, I wanted to keep my job or whatever). We frequently ran in to impressively tight balls in the chains shipped to the store. It was always an exercise in patience and zen, softly pulling different strands to see how it would fare. It was a puzzle, and one I often very much regretted having to solve. One time, though, we got a necklace all four employees attempted to detangle but it seemed totally useless. I sat at the counter for hours inspecting it, convinced it was an unfortunate life metaphor. Eventually—and I kid you not—some random, truly wonderful blessing-type of patron approached the counter and solved the puzzle in about 20 minutes. It was a real miracle.
Maybe she was related to CrazyRussianHacker? Possibly. Although he took a different approach than this smart customer, his method seems a bit more foolproof (or at least less focused on also maintaining a small talk conversation with me). Here's what's necessary to detangle, according to CrazyRussianHacker:
A tiny screwdriver
That's...seriously it, at least, as far as physical tools are concerned. And in the more abstract sense, you'll still need:
Patience
Possibly the most vital tool of the bunch. NEVER attempt to untangle a necklace if on a time crunch or just before lunch. It won't end well, I promise.
Good light
Apparently between ages 41 and 60, most of us will have to start using reading glasses because that's life and our bodies start rotting almost immediately, LOL. Basically what I'm advising is to try not to expedite the age at which you will also need glasses by damaging them in an unlit area attempting this experiment.
Enjoy the sagacious advice of CrazyRussianHacker as he tames a mass of tangled gold chain below:
Images: LisaNorwood/Flickr; YouTube; Giphy (2)
