Wool help, please.

[chase_mommy]

So, I finally bit the bullet and bought a wool cover. DD is almost 15 months old and we have been using cloth her whole life. However, I have zero wool experience. So I bought a little beetle Marino wool cover, a tube of Lanolin (which turned out to be Lansinoh, the same stuff I have sitting in a drawer from early breastfeeding days) and a little bar of Wool Wash Soap. I thought I was set, until I watched the 'how to lanolize' video. They said that I also needed Eucalan Woolwash. Unfortunately, I didn't see that when I was ordering. Do I need to order that stuff? Is there other wool wash that I can use, I do know that Wool Lite is a no no. I use soap nuts for her cloth diapers, can I use that on the wool? Is there anything particular I need to know about the wool? I know super hot water and drying are bad. I feel so stupid asking these questions, I guess I expected to get an idiots guide to wool with the cover but that didn't happen so here I am. Please help me.

[My3guys]

Wool is really easy. You can get a lot of good, detailed info on line so I will just give you the basics. You dont need the Eucalan Woolwash. A lot of people love it but other companies make good, natural wool wash as well. Sheepish Grins and Kookaburra are two examples.

You need to lanolize your wool. You can use the lansinoh for that if you want. Just follow the directions when as if it was solid lanolin. Remember, lanolizing and washing are separate things. Can be done consecutively but they are different activities.

Other wool care basics...no super hot or super cold water...room temperature is best. Lay flat to dry.

There is really nothing particular about the wool. As long as you lanolize it, it will be very, very waterproof. Lanolize again when you notice it no longer staying waterproof. Wash as needed. It is simple. Don't worry. You won't mess it up.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

CTK

[DeerMother]

Can't answer all your questions, so someone will have to fill in the gaps. If it did not come lanolized, you need to do that before wearing. Fill a basin w/ tepid water, add soaker. Use an old plastic bottle, put a dime - quarter size squirt of lanolin in, a little eucalan if you have it (it should be fine until you get some) and water, microwave for about 20 seconds. Shake, shake, shake. Remove soaker, add lanolin mixture, swush around, replace soaker. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, longer is fine. Get the bath towel you used yesterday, lay it flat on the kitchen counter. Empty basin, gently squeeze but don't wring extra water out of soaker. Put soaker on towel. Fold towel in half and then roll up to get even more water out. Lie flat to dry. I hang outside, but it will hold its shape better if it is flat. I d/n know I was supposed to use eucalan to lanolize at first, I was just using it to wash. I think it just acts as a carrier to help the lanolin and water mix.

Even more than super hot water, it is sudden temp changes and agitation that will cause it to felt. Hope that helps a little.

[heidirk]

here's what I did with my new one, as per many helpful suggestions from this forum. I got a Disana knit soaker.


I ran warmish water with just a touch of Ecover laundry detegent into a bucket. Submerge wool and swish. Instructions came with it said to repeat that, rinsing until the water wasn't brown anymore.

Then I squished a lot of the water out. Rolled it in a towel. I didn;t wait for it to dry, I lanolized it right away. I ran just a bit of very hot water into my empty bucket, and squeezed in about 1/2 inch of the lanolin. I swished it until it dissolved. I added a drop of the detergent, and the glops dissolved. Then I ran cooler water into it until it was just warm, and submerged the wool. I turned it inside out and pushed it back under. I was shocked to see the water turn clear! It had soaked up all the lanolin!

then I layed it to dry, which took about 2 days.

It works very nicely!


Now, I did felt mine a bit in the crotch area on purpose.

[Jojo F.]

Your wool wash soap bar = Eucalan wool wash (Eucalan is just a liquid "Brand"). You are good to go

You can use soap nuts on wool, they are gentle enough.

Wool is not as hard as everyone thinks. I wool

[chase_mommy]

Well, I went ahead and lanolized the wool using the soap nuts instead of the 'wool wash'. Now I am impatiently waiting for it to dry.

[MommaShark]

Ummmm - I think you need lanolin to lanolize - I don't think soap nuts have lanolin (they don't come from a sheep) - use the nipple lanolin to lanolize as previous posters said.
the lanolin is the oil from the sheep that makes the wool waterproof....the wool wash contains some lanolin and doesn't strip it when washing.

[chase_mommy]

Originally Posted by MommaShark

Ummmm - I think you need lanolin to lanolize - I don't think soap nuts have lanolin (they don't come from a sheep) - use the nipple lanolin to lanolize as previous posters said.
the lanolin is the oil from the sheep that makes the wool waterproof....the wool wash contains some lanolin and doesn't strip it when washing.

I did use the Lanolin. I just used the soap nuts to help dissolve and break up the Lanolin. In the directions I got it said for me to mix some wool wash with the lanolin and then lanolize, I just replaced the wool wash with the soap nuts.

[MommaShark]

Gotcha! Sorry!