Washing Wool Diaper Covers the Easy Way

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For some reason, wool diaper covers can seem a little scary. I know that it took me two years to finally try wool because it seemed like it was so complicated; especially the washing. But let me tell you, after I bit the bullet and finally tried it, I was hooked! I kicked myself for not trying it sooner. It’s really not hard to care for or hard to wash at all! I’m going to show you just how easy it can be.

Before I go any further, hand washing is the preferred method for washing wool. While this worked fine for me, it may not work for everyone so proceed with caution. I assume zero responsibility if damage occurs.

Okay, with that said, I decided to throw caution to the wind and with a sweaty brow and some heart palpitations, I put my wool in the washer. I’m a rebel so why not?

Washing wool diaper covers the easy way

• I used the hand wash setting with cool water. If you don’t have a cool setting, I would choose cold instead. Do not wash on warm or hot unless you want a wool cover that is two sizes smaller than it was.
• Once there was a decent amount of water in the drum, I added some wool wash soap shavings. (I grate the soap bar with a cheese grater and leave the shavings in a bag in my laundry room. Sometimes I will also rub the cover with my wool wash bar after the covers are wet in the machine and this works great, too.
• Set the washer to a low spin.
• Lay your wool covers flat to dry. A nice bonus to this method is that they air dry really quickly after being in the spin cycle!

Note: Liquid wool wash typically contains lanolin. This is a great option, but probably not so great for your washing machine. I use liquid wool wash for hand washing in the sink only.

Guess what? My wool didn’t fall apart, get all pilly, or shrink to the size of a doll diaper. It came out perfectly fine. While I don’t and won’t wash my wool like this every time, for the occasional nasty mess? Why not?

But what if your wool gets messy? The other morning Dub’s fitted didn’t hold everything in and the last thing I wanted to do was hand wash a wool cover with poo on it. So I didn’t. I sprayed it off with my diaper sprayer and put it in the washing machine like normal.

Have you tried washing wool in the washer? What was your experience?

Update 6/2/14: I still wash my wool in the washer and it’s still perfectly fine. In fact, I never hand wash it anymore.