[ORRando] Cleaning wool garments

[Susan Otcenas]

The subject of cleaning wool jerseys came up on the SIR email list.  I
wrote this response.   Thought my ORRando friends might find the info
useful as well.  :-)

Susan

***********************************************
Susan Otcenas
Team Estrogen, Inc.
www.TeamEstrogen.com
877-310-4592
***********************************************
Follow our TE fan page on Facebook!
Look for "teamestrogen.com"
***********************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Otcenas 
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 3:38 PM
To: seattlerando at googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [SIR] ivory snow or alternative

The key thing to remember when washing wool is that it is the natural
oils in wool (ie. The lanolin) that give wool so many of it's wonderful
properties.  You do not want to use anything that will strip away the
lanolins from the garment.

Most detergents contain harsh surfactants, the primary purpose of which
is, you guessed it, stripping away grease and oils from our garments.
Which is great when you want to clean bike grease off your Showers Pass
Jacket, and absolutely terrible when you want to clean your wool
jerseys.  There's a pretty good explanation of how laundry detergents
work here:  http://home.howstuffworks.com/laundry-detergent1.htm

The Woolmark Company has a certification process for (amongst other
things) soaps that are safe to use on wool.  You can see the mark to
look for here: http://www.woolmark.com/

They also  have a pretty handy "How to care for your Merino Wool
Sweater" guide here:
http://www.woolmark.com/content/publicationPDFs/Introduction_to%20_Carin
g_for_your_wool_Sweater.pdf  If you scan down to pages 14-15, there's a
guide for how to remove all sorts of dirt and stains from wool garments.
What jumps out at me pretty quickly is that plain old white vinegar,
diluted in water, is pretty good at removing most stains and dirt.
Rinse well so as not to smell like salad dressing.

A castile soap (olive oil based), well diluted in water, is a good
gentle choice for washing wool garments.  Another good choice is baby
shampoo (without conditioners or other additives).  If it's gentle
enough to use on human baby hair, it's gentle enough for your wool
garment as well.  With either, just dilute it in warm water, soak the
jersey for 10 minutes, then rinse with fresh water until all the soap is
washed out.

Don't wring your wool jerseys.   After gently squeezing out the excess
water, lay it out on a clean towel, then roll the towel up into a tube,
gently pressing on it as you go to press the water out of the jersey.
You'll likely need 2-3 towels to get it mostly dry.  Lay it flat on a
fresh towel, and allow to air dry.

I hope this helps!

Susan


***********************************************
Susan Otcenas
Team Estrogen, Inc.
www.TeamEstrogen.com
877-310-4592
***********************************************
Follow our TE fan page on Facebook!
Look for "teamestrogen.com"
***********************************************