- Welcome to the next video in our series
on Merino wool for travel,
where we're going to be talking about some ways
to care for your Merino wool,
both on the road and at home.
We'll talk about some specific soaps that you can use
to keep your Merino wool clean, fresh and durable.
And we'll discuss how to protect your Merino wool
from bugs, pests and the elements in general.
Let's jump in.
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So you just spent a lot of money on Merino wool
and now it's time to protect your investment.
Just a quick disclaimer,
this guide works for most Merino wool garments.
Make sure to check the tag on your individual garments
to make sure that it works for you.
It's always better to follow an individual brand's
care instructions because they've created it
and they know the ways to keep your Merino wool
lasting the longest.
Across the board we've found that you can wear
a Merino wool T-shirt about 10 to 20 times between a wash,
and underwear five to 10 times between washes.
Of course, this is going to be up to you
and your general judgment around cleanliness.
I know some people will want to wash it
after every single wear
and others may go a lot longer than that.
But we found that that's the general kind of average
in the middle and it's safe.
And as a quick 'pro tip', between wears
make sure to aerate your merino wool garments;
it's a great way to freshen up your clothing
without needing to wash it.
So onto the washing:
when you are traveling with Merino wool,
it's very easy just to wash it in your sink.
If you are in a country where you don't speak the language,
it can be a pain trying to go the laundromat or somewhere,
and trying to communicate with somebody
and explain to somebody to wash your clothing on delicate
and not put it into a heated dryer.
Definitely never put Merino wool clothing
into a heated dryer.
It'll get all fuzzy and bad and it's just not good.
So how to wash.
Step one, start by turning your garment inside-out.
It helps maintain a fresh and clean look on the outside.
Step two, fill up a sink with warm to lukewarm water.
It can be a little bit warmer than cold
but you don't want it to be hot.
Fill it up with your soap of choice.
Make sure it's a pH-neutral soap around seven
and we'll get into specific soaps in a second.
Step three is to let the garment soak for about 15 minutes.
You don't have to get in there and scrub and scrape
unless you have some specific stains or gunk
sticking to the garment itself.
Step four, pull the garment out of the sink
and lightly wring it out.
You don't need to crank on it, 'cause remember,
Merino wool is a delicate fabric.
But just get rid of some of that excess water.
And then when you're done with that,
you do want to lay this flat to dry.
So we recommend not putting it on a hanger.
It's going to get all weirdly shaped
and it's going to be heavy from the water
and it's not the best for it.
So if you can, lay this flat to dry,
that's definitely preferred to line drying
or hanging it on clothing hanger to dry.
As a quick 'pro tip',
you can roll that Merino wool clothing article
inside of a towel,
whether it's from your hotel or Airbnb
or wherever you're staying,
or a microfiber towel that you are carrying with you
as you're traveling.
Transfer some of that moisture to the towel,
and then that Merino wool garment is going to dry a lot faster
when you do lay it flat.
When you're washing your Merino wool,
it is all about the suds and there are
many different kinds of soaps that you can choose from.
So first we'll take a look at some multi-purpose soaps.
So a Lush shampoo bar or Dr. Bronner's are both very great
multi-purpose soaps that you can use on your body,
your hair, you can even use them
for dishes and laundry in a pinch.
So a lot of these multi-purpose soaps are great
to travel with 'cause they're versatile and multi-use.
There are a bunch of different specialized soaps
specifically-designed for Merino wool,
and generally these are going to be the best to use
to care for your garments.
Again, that pH-neutral, everyday, multi-purpose soap
is going to be good when you're on the road.
But maybe if you're really into
taking care of your Merino wool,
you might want to take some of this
on the road with you as well,
or you can just use it at home
when you return from your trip
depending on how long you're going to be traveling.
So the three products we took a look at here are -
Granger's Merino Wool Wash. And this is gonna have
somewhat of a cedar-y smell, which again,
that cedar is kind of anti-pest, anti-moth,
which we're going to get into in a second.
But there's a benefit to that, it keeps those critters away.
And then we've also got some Kookaburra Wash,
which is in this travel-sized container,
perfect for travel, it's two ounces,
you can carry that on if you do want to.
And there's also Eucalan, which is lavender in scent
but they do have a bunch of different scents
that go with it.
All the soaps here are made specifically for Merino wool
so that's going to allow you to get the most mileage
out of your garments if you do use these specialized soaps.
If you don't have any of this soap with you on the road
and you do want to wash your garments,
it's okay, just look for pH-neutral soaps.
So something like dish soap for instance,
has a pH of around seven
and that's basically the same as water,
it's a gentle soap, it's going to be gentle on your clothing.
Just to show you the other side of that,
bleach, for instance, has an 11 to 13 pH level,
so that's going to be way too rough on your garments;
definitely don't use that for Merino wool.
Try to stay somewhere a little bit more neutral,
around that seven pH level.
If you prefer a powdered or traditional liquid laundry soap,
you can use that on Merino wool garments.
It's not the best for it,
but just make sure it's fully dissolved before you end up
putting your Merino wool garments into the water.
It's a little less gentle
than some of these other specific products for Merino wool
that we just mentioned.
And as a quick 'pro tip',
if you do have a stain on your Merino wool garment,
try to use some eucalyptus oil, a little bit at a time,
to kind of gently rub it out;
it can really help with stains.
Bugs and pests love chomping away at Merino wool
and they can get in there
and create a bunch of different little holes in your wool
and make it degrade a lot faster and harder to wear.
Luckily, there's a couple of preventative measures
that you can take to help with bugs and pests
for Merino wool.
If you're storing wool clothing for long periods of time,
make sure to use a sealable plastic bag
that will help keep the bugs out.
Another good strategy is the use of cedar chips.
Not only do they smell nice,
but they also keep the pests away. So for instance,
you can have a packing cube
with a bunch of Merino wool clothing inside of it
and a cedar chip or two to help keep those pests out.
And bonus, it keeps your clothing
and your pack smelling fresh.
This also works the same for lavender oil as well.
And lastly if you think you've already been invaded by bugs,
take your Merino wool,
put it in a sealable plastic bag
and then pop it into the freezer for 24 to 48 hours.
And hopefully that can kind of freeze everything
and help everything become back to normal.
Thanks for taking a look at this video within
our Merino wool guide for travel.
If you do like what you see here,
be sure to head over to packhacker.com
for more of it and make sure to get on our newsletter
to never miss an update.
Thanks for taking a look.
We'll see you in the next one.
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