lanolizing and washing wool with Dr Bronner's

[littlegreenlady]

Ok so this has been asked, but reading the old threads just left me more confused.

Is it or is it not ok to wash and lanolize wool covers with Dr Bronner's or Sal Suds?

I have a new wool cover, that I would really like to start using.

I've never used wool before.

I do not have any special wool soap.

I do not use baby soap so I don't have any of that either.

We use Dr Bronner or Sal Suds for washing dishes, clothes etc.

So I don't have any other soap and don't want to go out and buy something if I don't have to.

I will however if using what I have is not a good idea.

I would like the wool to last for many many years :)

[snanna]

Though I'm sure it had no impact on the longevity of the soakers I tried to wash/lanolize with Dr. Bronner's, it certainly didn't work very well. Usually I use Eucalan, but had run out. The Dr. Bronner's didn't emulsify the lanolin at all well, and resulted in sticky, kind of squeaky wool, if that makes sense. Kind of like my experiments washing my hair with Dr. Bronner's. When I eventually washed them with Eucalan again, they were good as new. Of course, ymmv.

It occurs to me that I have washed/lanolized soakers using actual shampoo, the kind I use on my hair, and it has worked well. It's a pretty simple shampoo with no fancy ingredients or "cones" (silicone derivatives, which cause buildup). 

[hoping42]

I wash my wool diaper covers with either dr Bronners (baby formula) or ecover delicate wash that I use to wash my PUL covers but then I relanolize with eucalan that is the important part keeping the cover lanolized you can get at a diaper shop or at a yarn/knitting shop

[colorclash]

I'm no sure if your question has been answered, so I'm going to add my two cents.

I've never tried to wash my wool w dr. bronner's but since its just pure soap, I'm thinking it would work in getting them clean.  You would still need to lanolize the wool after you washed it using lanolin.  I think some of the wool washes like eucalan is a combo of soap and lanolin, so that's why you would only need to do one process if that is what you are washing with.  

If you don't want to get a special wool wash, you would still need the lanolin to lanolize.  I use a bit of lasinoh lanolin to lanolize my diapers (haha say that three times fast).  Here are instructions: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/lanolize.htm

hope that helps!

[littlegreenlady]

So I'm probably going to get a bar soap with lanolin for washing.

I should have been more specific when I referred to using Dr. Bronners for lanolizing.

The instructions say to put a drop of wool soap in with the lanolin (I am using lasinoh) and water and shake well.

Then pour over wool that is in a tub of water.

I was hoping to use what I had for this step, but borrowed some shampoo in the end.

So next time I'll need to figure out how to use the bar soap for that part (shave a bit off maybe)

Thank you for the input

[snanna]

Yeah, maybe I wasn't clear-- the Eucalan doesn't lanolize the soaker on its own, it just does a much better job of emulsifying the lanolin than Dr. Bronner's did. I'm interested to hear if bar soap works. I have a bar of "lanolizing" soap sold a few years ago by some diaper purveyor, and while it may have lanolin in it, it didn't have enough to impart the water-resistant properties that I expect from a lanolized soaker. Sigh. I remain a plastic-bottle-of-Eucalan addict. On the other hand, I'm on my second bottle in six years of wool-soakering, so not tooooo bad.

[littlegreenlady]

Snanna are you saying that using the bar soap to wash didn't help keep them lanolized longer? I was reading that because they usually have more lanolin than the Eucalan the wool doesn't need to be lanolized as often. If that isn't the case I may just get a bottle of Eucalan, cause it seems easier to use it being liquid and all :) Or was the bar of soap you used supposed to lanolize all on it's own and didn't really work out that way? OH and seriously six years of using wool and only 2 bottles seems pretty great, what size bottles do you get?

[snanna]

It's 16.9oz (500ml). Yeah, that and a tube of lansinoh, it's really all you need. The bar was supposed to wash and extend the time between lanolizings. It was $8 or something, and for what? Lanolizing isn't hard, and it's easier to just wash and lanolize every time (though I do spot-wash with a washcloth and a little soap if just a little poop leaks and it's still pretty water-resistant and not stinky). Hth!