Care
The Oushak is the decorator rug of the North Shore and the Hamptons, and its two best qualities, soft wool and soft color, are also its two vulnerabilities. Here is how to look after one.
Oushak wool is long, lustrous and loosely spun, which is what gives the rug its hand. Loose fibers lock together when they are agitated wet and dried compressed, so a hot floor cleaning turns a walkway into felt. The fix is a cold, low‑agitation wash, a centrifuge, and drying with the pile brushed in one direction.
Most modern Oushaks (many woven in India, Pakistan or Afghanistan in the Oushak style) are tea‑washed or overdyed to mute the colors, and the tint is not fast. Warm water blotches it. It is tested in several places and stabilized in a cold wash; the grey of soil comes out and the muted palette stays.
New Oushaks shed for six months to a year. It is not caused by cleaning and it is not stopped by cleaning; dusting removes the fibers that are already loose, and the shedding ends on its own.
Every one to two years in a living room, every year in a house with dogs or in the Hamptons. A room‑size Oushak holds six to eight pounds of dry soil in its open pile, and the ivory areas show urine at once. The Roslyn and Old Westbury and Hamptons pages describe the pickups.
Drop‑offs welcome any day; call ahead and you can watch the dye test.
No; matting is fibers locked together. A cold wash, centrifuge and directional drying separate them again.
The tea wash is tested and stabilized so it stays. The rug looks cleaner and softer, not brighter.
Most modern ones are woven in India, Pakistan or Afghanistan in the Oushak style. It does not change the cleaning.