Wool is naturally self-cleaning, the outer surfaces of the fibre pushing dirt down and off itself. It's naturally anti-bacterial and neutralises odours too... so after wearing, the best thing to do is to hang your wool to air.
Merino wool is a very soft, fine fabric so care must be taken when washing. We recommend hand washing as follows:
Use a detergent designed for wool which protects and replenishes wool's natural oils such as one of our liquid wool shampoos in our fabric care section here.
To hand-wash your Merino wool clothes, dilute your wool detergent in cool water, max 30C (lukewarm only, should feel coolish), in a bowl. For heavily-soiled areas, use a little gall soap on your woollens first, testing on an inconspicuous area first.
Add your woollens to the bowl, gently stirring and squeezing the detergent through. Rinse using water at the same temperature, otherwise your wool will be subjected to "shock" and might felt up. So lukewarm/coolish at 30C again.
Things not to do! Don't wring, soak, brush or rub vigorously as the wool fibres may be damaged and your garment felt up a little and shrink. Just squeeze the water through.
To dry, gently squeeze water out and wrap your wool clothes in a towel to remove the excess water. Air-dry naturally avoiding direct heat. So, hanging on a drying rack over the bath is good, or on a clothes horse. Mine often end up over the back of chairs or on the washing line in the shade (I haven't had a problem with the the heat of the English being too hot, yet, but direct sunlight is not good for wool).
Re-shape while still damp.
