Wool

Cloth Diapers

Cloth Diaper Rashes

Cloth diapers should not be causing chronic rashes.

What is Wool?

Wool is a natural fiber used in many different cloth diapering applications including diaper covers, diaper absorbency, and liners. Wool is both an incredible  absorber and incredible cover. 

Wool treatment does vary, chat with your brand directly for consideration of care and laundering.

5 Things You Need to Know about Wool

  1. Humane or Not? Might as well start with the elephant in the room, and consider the humane implications of sheering wool and using it. This is really a you decision based on your own feelings, ethics and values. I’m just going to toss this point in here to ensure that you consider and think about the sheering of wool. While many big organizations like to look a the big farm, keep in mind there are smaller farms with dedicated responsibility to the Fair Treatment of Animals. Some wool makers to out of their way to ensure that wool sourced is responsible, while others will not. Ask, check out their websites and more. 

  2. Different types of wool products: wool comes in many shapes and forms. There are pull on covers, snap on covers, shorts, pants, interlock, knit, and more. There’s wool blends, and 100% wool. There’s high end wool, and recycled wool. If you think of a wool and it gives you the itchy’s that most likely because the wool you’ve experienced is a synthetic or a synthetic blend. Pure wool, and even spandex wool blends, are not itchy. They are smooth and enjoyable to the touch. The amount of types of wool products is endless and each different product has it’s own care guides. Connect with the brand or retailer for how to care for your wool. 

  3. Caring for wool is not hard: arguably the process of hand washing wool takes less time than the work put into washing diapers in a washing machine. It’s a simple process that’s harder to mess up than many suggest. There is SUPERWASH wool, and other styles of knit and felted wool designed for machine washability. Again, check with your brand to see if it can withstand gentle washing in the washing machine, because it’s not all hand wash only. 

  4. Keeps you Warm & Cool  – because of the breathability of wool and it’s natural insulating qualities, wool is able to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Arguably there are different weights of wool to meet these different needs. This is because of its capacity to absorb and react to different humidities. Wool can easily absorb 30% of it’s weight in moisture without feeling damp or moist. This can also suggest a stay dry experience.
  5. It’s really the lanolin that you need – wool is antibacterial when it still has lingering lanolin in, but overtime lanolin begins to fade. Lanolin is also what makes wool water resistant. Wool for diaper covers needs to be regularly treated with lanolin.

http://www.sheepusa.org/Resources_Materials_FastFacts