# Lanolin removal...



## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

How do you know if you've gotten all the lanolin out of a fleece?

I washed mine, but it feels like there's still some in it, but maybe not. 
I don't really know how to tell if it's lanolin I'm feeling or just normal clean wool... 

I've boiled Cheviot and it didn't felt, but it had a fake feel to it, like pillow floss. Boiled Babydoll during color dyeing, didn't felt, and it feels pretty much the same as my hot water washed Babydoll. So maybe I did get most or all of the lanolin, idk...

Help....


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## Rosepath (Feb 18, 2011)

Not sure why it feels like it does, but to remove all the lanolin wash the fleece in Hot water and Dawn dish soap, then rinse in same temp water. If there's a lot of lanolin it can take a couple of wash/rinse sessions. Are you wanting the lanolin removed so it won't interfere with the dye?
When dyeing wool, whether it's roving, yarn, or fabric, I just usually simmer it and don't let it get to the boil stage. But each fiber person has their own methods. Good luck with your fleeces, what are you going to make? (everyone loves inspiration


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

I washed the fleeces, just a soak for dirt, then with Dawn dish soap and last with Unicorn Clean soap. But I still feel lanolin in it. 
Could my water just not be hot enough?

I've already made rolags out of the fleeces and some of it I dyed. IDK what I'll do with it now though, lol. I've made needle felt sheep & a needle felted painting.


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## Wind in Her Hair (Jul 18, 2002)

Your water needs to 160ºF-180ºF to melt lanolin from fine wools and then you must rinse the wool and remove it from the water lest the lanolin redeposit on the wool as the water cools.


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## Rosepath (Feb 18, 2011)

Well, whether the lanolin is all gone or not, those are beautiful rolags, spinning, dyeing and felting! Congrats on what you've made with it.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

The only thing I can add is that if the fleece, after washing and drying feels sticky, you didn't get all the lanolin out. I usually wash my fleeces more than once in dawn. Then rinse.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

The hot soak as Wind in her Hair suggested I found with some pretty heavy lanolin fleeces....always did the best with hot rinses carefully and I didn't let the water cool either. I dyed both well washed and some with a bit of lanolin and was happy both ways. Your felted sheep are precious and yarn simply lovely! What a great job!


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## Sharon Schirard (May 5, 2018)

I was Taught by a Lady how to clean Fiber without losing the Lanolin you just brush it with your brushes, and it will clean out the Fiber that way you have the Great Lanolin to make it easy to us .. just get a old sheet and sit outside or in the room that it's easy to clean the floor because some of the dirt does get to the floor .. if you don't use a sheet to cover yourself with the dirt from the Fiber get's all over you.... but at the End you get really great cleaned out Fiber even if your hands needs a good cleaning ***


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## Sharon Schirard (May 5, 2018)

I was Taught by a Lady how to clean Fiber without losing the Lanolin you just brush it with your brushes, and it will clean out the Fiber that way you have the Great Lanolin to make it easy to us .. just get a old sheet and sit outside or in the room that it's easy to clean the floor because some of the dirt does get to the floor .. if you don't use a sheet to cover yourself with the dirt from the Fiber get's all over you.... but at the End you get really great cleaned out Fiber even if your hands needs a good cleaning ***


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## fibrefarmer (Apr 24, 2018)

I wash a lot of fleece on the farm and tried lots of different methods. Here's what I find works for me.

Hot enough water. I like to get the water hot enough so that my hand hurts if I keep it in the water for more than five seconds. Really hurts. I don't think this is hot enough to scour, but it might be. I don't have a thermometer at my washing station.

If possible, don't let the water cool too much before changing it. If it cools, then the lanolin can resolidify and doesn't rinse away. I like to make each rinse a little bit hotter than the last. Usually, two or three rinses does the trick.

Hot water is important, but it's not the most important factor for me. The cleaning agent is.

The job of the cleaning agent is to lift the lanolin from the fibre and suspend it in the water. Most of the different detergents, dish soaps, soaps, and other cleaning agents tend to leave residue on the fibre or fail to lift the lanolin at all. I know most people say dish detergent like Sunlight works wonders, but this has given me some of the worst results (and the plants didn't like the grey water). On the farm, I use Orvus paste because it's ridiculously cheap, biodegradable, and the plants love the grey water. 

Water quality can also leave the wool feeling tacky. If the water is a bit hard, and even if it isn't, a generous splash of vinegar in the final rinse water helps return the natural PH of the wool and encourages any leftover oil to rinse away.


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