What to use for eco-friendly wool washing
What do you use for wool washing?
I have been puzzled lately by the question if I can wash my wool garments with the same soap I wash my hair. I started washing my hair with soap about 4 months ago and it is going well so far, so I have no desire to buy a shampoo in a plastic bottle anymore. But I still bought some bottles for my wool, because I love wool and wanted to take a good care of it. When I compared the stuff I use for washing myself and for washing wool, I realized that something is wrong.
It is not the best variant so far, but I don't throw things away until I use them completely, so I still use my razor and will use it until it will be completely worn out. The same with creams, I use a little so they last.
Another situation with wool washing. I have a lot of bottles.
Is it really necessary for a good care of wool to buy these plastic bottles of wool liquids?
My hair feels better without shampoo and all these chemicals in them. Is the wool worse than my hair?
I decided to check everything written so far about ingredients for washing wool.
Clara Parkes in her book The Knitter's book of Wool writes:
Let's check what we have in these special wool soap liquids. I checked 4 bottles I have and some others online. The majority of them have anionic surfactants and non-ionic surfactants, some of them contain soap and some have extracts for more natural content.
The
ecotoxicological properties of the anionic and non-ionic surfactants
typically used in cleaning products are in a comparable range. It
means that some are more toxic and some are less. But really check
and understand it we must go to the chemical laboratory. You can find
more information about these surfactants. I have read and it is
difficult to choose what to write here to not sound boring. My own
conclusion it that, first, it is not so harmful itself, but the
chemicals used for conservation and preservation are not so healthy
for you. Surfactants are less gentle and harmless than neutral pH
natural soap in bars, for sure. They may be toxic for lungs. Second, it is more expensive and it is produced
only in liquid form, which requires plastic bottles, which makes them
more expensive and ecologically unfriendly. Why do we still buy these
expensive wool washing liquids with these surfactants when we can use
soap to wash our wool garments? Because it is a money-making
industry, I guess, and because the producers want us to buy their
products and it is a secret to tell us that soap is also okay. Even
better, may be! at least, for our health. Otherwise to say, they will loose money!
I
have decided to find the appropriate soap for washing wool. Who joins
me, continue reading.
In the book In Sheep's Clothing by Nola Fournier and Jane Fournier is written that "wool is an animal protein (keratin) fiber. The outer sheath, the cuticle, makes up about 10 percent of the fiber, and the inner portion , the cortex, about 90 percent.
What is the best for washing protein fiber? The same as for washing hair. Why? The same chemical composition.
The
overall chemical composition
of hair is 45
% carbon, 28
% oxygen, 15
% nitrogen, 7
% hydrogen and 5
% sulphur.
The hair shaft is essentially composed of keratin.
The
overall chemical
composition of
wool is 50.5% carbon, 22% oxygen, 16.5% nitrogen, 6.8% hydrogen, 3.7% sulphur and 0.5% ash.
So, wool is essentially a keratin, too.
As
you can see the chemical components are almost the same, except ash.
So, what we need for a good care of these components of wool is not
very different for a good care of human hair. But, wool contains
lanolin from sheep skin before treatments, and it helps it to
stay lustrous and
water-resistant. so it would be more logical to find soap soap with
lanolin.
I
have found baby
soap with
necessary ingredients: animal
fats, oils, colouring, lanolin, glycerin, aroma. There
are 10 bars and the price is $6 (in Russia). I think it is very
simple soap, which everyone can find in their own town. I am going to
test this soap for my wool washing.