care of sheepskin?

[boatbaby]

I have a sheepskin I use for my 3 month old to sleep on sometimes and play on sometimes and... it's getting funky. How do I clean and care for it? Any tips appreciated!

[honeybunmom]

I have washed ours on the gentle (or handwash) cycle and let it air dry.  I do believe that was in accordance with the directions that were on it when we got it.

[boatbaby]

Thank you! Do you use Woolite or regular detergent or...? Mine came from a farmer, so no care instructions :)

I appreciate it!

[honeybunmom]

Woolite is actually not good at all for wool (from what I hear from the true yarnies, and afterall, they're mostly talking about wool).  I just used what I had.  Some HE compatible "free"-type liquid detergent.  I've washed it twice and it has been just fine.  Also, if it's just getting funky, since it's wool, have you tried just laying it out in the open air?  Or is it that it has it gotten a little baby burp juice, etc. on it, by this point and could use a real wash?  I do have actual wool wash, and if you want to go that route, I'd recomment Eucalan.  Good luck!

[TheSlingMama]

I'm a fan of Naturally Luxe wool wash bars. You just hand wash in a sink or tub, rinse, roll in a towel to get excess moisture out, and lay out to dry. Lol, it works well for our woolies!

[Altair]

I bought some wool wash (for Uggs) with the sheepskin from New Zealand when I got it-- and I just run it through a gentle cycle with a little soap and cold/warm water.  Then fluff it up a lot when I dry it.  Takes a long time to dry!

[trillium]

I actually like Dr Bronners or other Castile soaps for washing wool. I was using kookaburra but recently found out it isnt as natural as I thought it was!

I also like Sonett from Germany but it is expensive, so we go for the bronners or the Vt soap liquid sunshine.

[boatbaby]

so is putting it in the dryer a no-no? they DO take so long to dry, especially in winter.

thanks for all of the tips!

[frogautumn]

We use eucalan to wash our woolies and sheepskins...we fill the tub of the washing machine with warm or cold water (not hot), add the eucalan, then stop the machine. We then put the wool stuff in, do a hand wash to agitate any dirty spots, then let them sit for 30 mins. Next, turn the knob to the spin cycle to spin the water out. Hang dry. 

I would not recommend using the dryer.

[Altair]

I use the dryer on air fluff (no heat).  Just to get it looking nice and fluffy, then hang it over the top of a door for one day, then flip around and hang facing the opposite way for another day.  I could probably air fluff it completely dry, but I spent too much on it to mess with!