Should we wash our woolen clothes? We reckon with Marie-Thérèse Chopin. Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
The wool will have natural antibacterial properties that would make washing the car unnecessary. We take into account Marie-Thérèse Chopin, coordinator of the association Atelier Laines d’Europe.
When autumn comes, warm clothes come out of the closet. Among the most preferred pieces we find woolen knitwear. An animal fiber, often made from sheep’s hair, that may have self-cleaning properties. This is lanolin, a fatty substance obtained by cleaning and refining the natural substance found in wool. It contains antibacterial agents that prevent the spread of bacteria on the mesh. So woolen sweaters will always stay clean. Really? To answer this question, several criteria must be taken into account, as Marie-Thérèse Choupin, coordinator of the Atelier Laines d’Europe association, explains.
Lanolin is becoming increasingly rare
“Sheep have glands that secrete sweat and fat. The fatty layer that surrounds the wool fiber is lanolin, it is a protection for the animal,” explains Marie-Thérèse Schoupin. And continue. “However, before it reaches the sweater, the material goes through a factory and does not escape the washing stage, which will remove all the lanolin. In the large factories where lanolin is extracted, it gives a product that is refined and there is no more lanolin. Therefore, we understand that buying a woolen sweater in a supermarket or boutique therefore ensures the complete absence of the virtuous layer of fat. The same goes for clothes found in thrift stores, which mostly come from big brands and are already assembled. To find this antibacterial agent in our woolen clothes, Marie-Thérèse recommends “going to the artisans who take the wool and spin everything by hand.” In summary, wool clothing is not self-cleaning because it lacks lanolin after passing through the mill.
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Last year’s recipe
This does not mean that you should wash your woolen clothes often. Indeed, the material has another merit: strong absorption capacity. If the expert confirms that we can put our woolen clothes in the machine as much as we want, then he confirms that we can also refer to the previous methods of washing them. “Wool has the ability to absorb moisture that synthetic clothing does not. Then we put our wool on the porch. The moisture of the night was absorbed by the material. The heat of the early morning sun dried the clothes and removed all the dust. Wool breathes.’ This will work even better if the material chosen is of good quality.
Source: Le Figaro
