# ACK! Washing question



## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

I just read that I am not supposed to use Dawn dishwashing liquid to wash wool fiber! This is where the ACK comes in, because before I read this, I read somewhere to use Dawn, actually I use the Aldi generic but it's the same thing. I am washing Babydoll wool if that matters. Unfortunetly, the website that said not to use Dawn, didn't say what to use so here I am again. O.k. everyone, what should I use? It also said no conditioners and I used to use white vinegar in the last rinse so I guess that's out too. I guess I've been doing it wrong, luckily I don't have a lot of time and so I have only been able to wash a little bit so far and now I don't want to wash anymore until I'm sure that I'm not going to ruin the fleeces.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Huh?

Why not?

Any dishwashing detergent is fine ... don't leave it to soak for days and days, because too harsh of a detergent will damage the fibre. However, if you have a greasy fleece, dish soap is the best thing for it. In fact, when we showed sheep, we'd bath them with Sunlight dish soap, they came out nice and sparkly white! 

Seriously, it is very hard to actually *damage* fleece. You can felt it - changing from hot to cold and agitating the wool while it is wet - but other than that, you can leave it in plain water for days and days (which is a good thing actually, a cold soak prior to washing gets out a lot of the dirt and gunk, then you only need to do one or two hot washes, saving on energy and labour). Vinegar in the rinse is good if you want to make sure you get all the soap out, especially if you used a lot of soap - soap is basic, vinegar is acidic, so the vinegar neutralizes the basic action of the soap. I don't usually bother with the vinegar rinse, I get the wool clean enough to spin and do another good wash with soap and lots of rinsing after it is spun. 

I had (until just a few months ago) a lovely Babydoll Southdown ram, so I've lots of experience with this wool. It is quite compacted so a cold soak for a day or two will be a good thing, if you can swing it. It's not usually super greasy, but it will be pretty dirty and grimy so dish soap will be a good thing to use.

On alpaca or llama, which have no grease, or a really lightly lanolined fleece like Icelandic, you can also try cheap shampoo, but that probably won't be enough scouring power on a Southdown fleece.

Don't panic. You're fine. Southdown wool is almost impossible to felt, too (I know, I tried!) so really, you have the perfect fleece to practice on. Don't use laundry soap (it's too basic), don't leave it soaking in anything but plain water for more than a day or two, and don't panic if it doesn't come out completely white on the first wash. 

Soap away!


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## SvenskaFlicka (Nov 2, 2011)

Oh, and vinegar is fine for wool too. Just don't soak for days and days.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Ahhh, I get it now. Didn't know they had "harshified" regular old dish soap. 

You want something that cuts grease - which regular actual *soap* does - isn't too harshly basic - which home made lye soap could be if it were not well cured, for example, and regular laundry detergent is, definitely - and hot, hot water for the lanolin. Don't think hot water alone is enough to get most of the fleeces I've seen clean, though, you're gonna need *some* soap.

Mind you, I hardly use any - maybe a tablespoon full in an entire bathtub full of hot water. 

Sunlight dish detergent - the Canadian kind anyway - seems to work very well without causing any troubles. Works on live sheep, and on dishes, and on wool.  A vinegar rinse will undo any excess soap if you are worried, too.

ETA Did some research. The "biological detergents" - i.e. enzymes - seem to be the problem. Not sure how you tell from the label if it has enzymes in it ... but here is an article that talks a bit about laundry detergents that are bad for wool & silk (protein fibres).


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

WIHH -what nice explanation about dish soap. 

At the FF last year, I asked at several booths what they do to clean their fleeces....what the first one did the 2nd one would never do....alas.

I think you should decide to do according to the fleece. It isn't like you use a gallon of Dawn. Or vinegar. I experiented around so I could say "I use......." My finns don't have much lanolin so I don't need dish soap. I use shampoo. It works just fine. But when I did use Dawn....it worked too. It did make the fleece a bit more dry feeling but I didn't see any breakage. I'd test a lock or two of the fleece to see what it needs. When I was washing some merino, I thought about using ajax.....not really... but you get the idea.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

To throw a bigger monkey wrench into the mix, detergents can be different from state to state, not just country to country. Not all states restrict phosphates so they may have a different formulation than say, MN does with it love and care of it's water ways and aquifers. I have used Dawn for years, then I started using "show paste" which is the same as Orvus paste which is just pretty much pure sodium lauryl sulfate, and now I use the Orvus and I'll also use shampoo if it isn't a super greasy fleece.

But as Frazzle and Callie have said it isn't like you are using huge gobbing amounts, or soaking it for days and days. Honestly, I think you are fine. I think your fleeces are fine. Try a test, now that you have those already washed, with the next one try using something different and then see what you think of the finished fibers. Vinegar is a good rinse to get residue off and to soften the fibers a bit. Also I'd steer away from soaps since they tend to be pretty alkaline and protein fibers loves things more on the acid side not so much the base side of things. And yea, yea way back before detergents came into being people used soap to clean fibers. But I doubt they were really terribly concerned with the harshness of their fibers the way we are in today's world. Either that or they worked everything in the grease. I honestly don't know.


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## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

That's the thing, I did wash a bit of an older ewes wool with Aldi's generic Dawn and forgot to use white vinegar in the rinse but it turned out fine. But, big But, I haven't gotten to the point where I'm actually using the fleece yet and I'm still trying to find the "right" way to begin this whole process. I was going to just send my fleeces out to be professionally washed but most of the mills seem to prefer to only process the fleeces and not actually wash them-they seem to expect the fleeces to be "ready to go" when you bring them in and only give them a wash if they aren't clean enough. I never did anything with last year's fleeces and now I'm getting ready to shear again and I'm getting a bit swamped with everything else so time is a big factor...energy is another <g>. I think I'll just to sell a few of my fleeces raw so that I can get a handle on this and not feel so overwhelmed when I look at this huge pile of fleeces. Thank you everyone, I'm glad I asked because it turned out to be a nice discussion.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Well you can always do this way to wash them. It is sort of the no care method, if you have the room and the time I'd go this way. or at least try it on a few and see what I think. Here's the thread, I'd read it all and ask questions. http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/fi...ed-suint-method-wool-cleaning-experiment.html


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## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

Uh...I don't think I'm that brave! The stink, the stink...even the dogs avoided that area for goodness sakes! I'm a coward-there I admitted it to everyone! One of my many fears are that one or more of our six dogs would love the smell and roll in it and I don't have the time to bath all six dogs or the stomach to endure the smell of them during the bath. It does sound very interesting though, thank you so much for the input.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I use Orvus paste left over from our horse show days. It's works really well. I always rinse with a glug of white vinegar to drop the pH of the fleece back down to normal.

I've used the Dawn dish detergent on occasion too for a first washing of a really nasty fleece. It turned out fine, but I wasn't letting the fleece soak for a very long time either.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Yeah I have one that spent too long in the vat. It is pretty dry! Carding oil is still used by the mills, so it is a good idea. I suppose a spritz bottle with hair conditioner might help too?


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

frazzlehead said:


> Yeah I have one that spent too long in the vat. It is pretty dry! Carding oil is still used by the mills, so it is a good idea. I suppose a spritz bottle with hair conditioner might help too?


I've added just a dab of fabric softener or Suave hair conditioner (1/2 TBSP in a large wash load) to the final rinse and it really seems to help....and smell good.


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