Washing woollen items

Caring for woollen items is not as difficult as you might think. With a simple regime, you can have clean woollies all the time.

Our members come to us with questions on how to wash a wide variety of woollen items. Some people have treasured handmade woollen cardigans passed down from generation to generation. Others have superwash Merino clothing.

Wool suitable detergents

Wool and silk require products with a neutral pH level, and free of proteolytic enzymes (proteases, sometimes listed as subtilisin). Avoid using powder detergent, powder laundry boosters or chlorine bleach on these items as the pH is too high.

The main component of wool is a protein called keratin. Proteases are included in household laundry detergents to remove protein-based stains such as blood and grass stains. Unfortunately, proteases do not distinguish between stains and protein fibres. Washing wool with a detergent containing proteases will degrade it.

There are specialist wool detergents, however, these do not usually have enough cleaning power to adequately clean.

I’ve used Martha’s and Softly before and honestly, they are basically fancy water.

~ Jes, New Zealand

There are many wool-safe detergents available. As a general rule, if enzymes are listed the detergent is not wool safe. If you are unsure, check the ingredients for enzymes.

The exception is liquid detergents that contain wool-safe enzymes. A popular example is Dirt Delicates liquid, which contains enzymes, but is free of protease/ subtilisin.

Washing wool

The type of yarn the woollen item is made from, and how it is made, determines how to care for it. Some products are made from superwash yarn. This means they are machine washable on an appropriate cycle.

Superwash yarns have either been chemically processed to remove the tiny scales from the fibre, or coated with an extremely fine layer of polymer plastic resin. Both methods smooth out the fibre and stop the tiny scales from sticking together. This treatment prevents the yarn from felting or shrinking when washed or agitated.

All wool needs low temperatures and gentle washing. Many front loaders include a specialist wool or delicates cycle. When in doubt, check the garment care tag.

Care tips for washing wool

• Do not include wool in hot cycles; the heat and agitation will shrink and felt the wool.
• Dry woollen items in the shade.
• Do not put woollen items in the clothes dryer.

Spot treating marks on woollen items

Spot treat wool with bar soap, wool-safe liquid detergent or liquid laundry booster (for example, Vanish gel). Do rub because this will stretch the wool. Never twist or wring wool.

Drying woollen items

To speed up drying time, especially with bulky woollen items, run a stand-alone spin cycle after the initial wash cycle. Spinning woollen items a second time wrings out more water, helping items dry quicker. Use a slower spin speed for the wash cycle and a higher spin speed for the stand-alone spin cycle.

Wool can handle high-speed spinning when there is no heat involved. It’s when you combine heat and agitation/high spin speed that you have a recipe for a woollen disaster.

Hand-washing woollen items

Not all wool yarn is machine-washable. More delicate items need to be hand-washed in warm water and dried lying flat.

If the item is sentimental and you are unsure how to wash it, handwashing is the safest option.

Materials Needed

• Wool-safe detergent
• Bar soap or Vanish gel (optional)
• Water
• A large bowl, bucket or laundry tub

Hand-wash process

Add a small amount of wool-suitable detergent to lukewarm water.

Immerse the items in water.

Use laundry soap or Vanish gel on spots that are soiled or to remove stains. If the item has any dirty spots, gently massage the stain. Do rub because this will stretch the wool.

Remove the items and gently squeeze out the water. Empty liquid.  Refill with lukewarm water and rinse the items.

Never twist or wring wool to remove water.

Dry flat and in the shade.

Sanitising wool

We have two methods for sanitising wool. The first is a stovetop sanitise (our preferred method), and the second is using benzalkonium chloride.