Merino treated with lanolin

[Eric Noble]

Has anyone treated their merino wool with lanolin? I am specifically thinking of the wool clothing from Smartwool or Ibex but any machine washable variety will do. What were the positive effects? What were the negative effects? Did it have any effect on the appearance of the fabric?

Sheep’s wool has a lot of lanolin and is fairly water resistant, and probably does not wick well. Is wicking over rated? Do sheep sweat like we do? I am thinking that a lanolin treated Smartwool Zip-T, for example, could strike a better balance between wicking and water resistance than an untreated one.

I just did a Google site search for lanolin on the Ibex and Smartwool sites and found nothing of note.

[Eric Noble]

Sheep do sweat like we do. The wool that is sheared from the sheep (felt) needs to be washed to remove sweat, and what ever else found its way in there. There is then a process that removes much of the lanolin from the wool. Machine washable wool is treated further still. Then, because it is so easily washed I tend to treat it like the rest of my clothing, and wash it with detergent. This leads me to believe that adding lanolin back would be a good thing. I found numerous references to treating merino wool used with diapers with lanolin, but none from clothing manufacturers like Smartwool, Ibex or Icebreaker.

[Vick Hines]

I have some oiled wool, cable knit sweaters, and they are great… too warm, really, unless used for extended time outdoors. Oiled wool is not waterproof – just the next thing to it. And it really is warm when wet.

The lanolin is never removed from this type of wool. The newly sheared wool is cold-soaked without detergent to dissolve the salt and much of the acids that make sheep smell and then it is washed with a mild soap to get the rest of the sheep stink out. What remains is the lanolin smell. The oil will stay in for many washings with Woolite and can be restored if that is ever necessary. This is a messy process best done by dissolving the lanolin in a light, volatile petroleum solvent to dillute it significantly and letting the garment dry thoroughly outside.

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