Puppi Fitted Merino Wool Covers

Interestingly, in the Middle East people were already using wool diaper covers thousands of years ago. Wool covers are the most breathable of all covers available on the market. Structurally, wool fibers consist of tiny tubes filled with air, which provide a kind of micro ventilation. Even on the hottest days wool will keep baby  comfortable by keeping proper skin temperature and supporting natural thermoregulation. Those millions of tiny pouches additionally absorb moisture and ventilate it outward in the form of steam. In winter those pouches isolate skin from heat loss as they are filled with air. This way in summer baby’s skin doesn’t get overheated and in winter is protected against cold. It is for this reason that around here we call wool fibers “intelligent”. 

Wool fiber structure allows them to absorb an amount of liquid over 1/3 heavier than its own weight. This means that when the insert is soaked to its maximum capacity, excess fluid won’t leak out, but will be absorbed by the wool fibers and kept away from baby’s skin. Yet still, the wool cover won’t leak easily! Because the lanolin in wool fibers (lanolin is the natural sheep fat), wool has greater leak resistance than PUL. This is because Puppi wool covers are sewn with two layers of wool fabric. The internal layer absorbs the moisture while the external one stays dry. This makes Puppi covers indispensable in situations when you can’t change diapers so often--at night, during long excursions or while travelling!

Another extraordinary wool property is its resistance to gross odors and bacteria. Lanolin in the fibers breaks down urine into salt and water, which is easy to evaporate. This makes wool covers very hygienic and is one reason you needn't wash them as often as PUL or fleece covers. Care is the same as for wool clothes--after use simply hang to air out. Since wool absorbs moisture, the internal layer of the cover will be a little damp after use, but when hung out, it dries very quickly and is ready to use again in around half an hour.

Of course if the cover becomes soiled around the edges it needs to be washed, but this can quickly be done by hand with a little wool soap in the sink, then the cover is ready to use as soon as it's dry!

Wool also has antistatic properties, thanks to which it repels dust & grime. If your baby is learning to crawl, you don’t need to worry that your wool cover will accumulate all the flotsam and jetsam that might be floating about!...

And what about scratching? Puppi wool covers are sewn with wool from Merino sheep, which have the most thin and delicate fleece. One fiber of Merino wool can be 13 to 24 microns, which makes it from 1/3 up to even 1/10 the thickness of a human hair. It’s thin like a spider web! However, the thinner the fiber, the higher the price. It’s interesting that the finest Merino fibers are so expensive they are stored in safes! Thickness of fiber also influences the fabric softness. As Merino wool fibers are the most delicate ones, they are best to use in products designed for children. They don’t scratch at all! They are very soft and pleasant to touch.

At first the necessity of treating wool the special way might be frightening, however both washing wool and making lanolin treatment is very simple and doesn’t require special skills. Basics of wool covers care can be concluded in three short steps:

    - If the wool cover is just a little bit damp, the only thing you need to do is to hang it to dry.
    - If the cover is very wet, you need to rinse it in clean water, gently squeeze out and hang it to dry.
    - If the cover is soiled you need to wash it in lukewarm water with one tablespoon of wool detergent like Eucalan, rinse it in clean water, gently squeeze out and hang to dry.

Easy, right? This is the manual for everyday wool cover care.

Wool fibers have a very similar chemical construction to human hair, so just like our hair they need delicate cleaning. For that reason you should hand wash your wool covers in lukewarm water (about 85 degrees). Wool is extremely sensitive to soap and soapsuds, which are alkaline. That is why for washing wool you should use only detergents specially designed for wool, like Eucalan.

To prevent wool felting, you shouldn’t ever wring out or excessively rub your covers. You can delicately squeeze the water out with your hands or with a towel and then dry in the open air or in a well-ventilated room. You shouldn’t ever dry wool on the heater or in the dryer.

The easiest way to wash wool covers is to do it in a bowl of water or the sink at a temperature of about 85 degrees (you can check it with the thermometer you use to check your baby’s bath water temperature) with wool detergent (check the necessary amount on the detergent package). If the wool cover is very dirty, we recommend you rinse it with a strong water jet like your hand shower or diaper sprayer. Very often rinsing like that right after changing the diaper might replace washing the cover, as all dirt will be rinsed away. However, if after rinsing, your wool cover still needs washing, you can leave it for 20-30 minutes to soak and then gently rub the dirty place with your fingers or with a nail brush.

It’s essential to follow above mentioned advice if you want to prevent your wool covers from felting. Moreover, water used to wash and rinse the cover should have similar temperature, as wool doesn’t tolerate rapid changes of water temperature and might get a "thermal shock". The shorter time you wash wool, the better.

Thanks to its chemical and physical properties, wool doesn’t need to be washed very often. If it doesn’t get soiled, it’s enough to wash it every second week. The scaly structure of wool fibers makes them repel dirt and neutralize odors. Moreover, lanolin contained in the fibers doesn’t let bacteria grow. However, this process leads to volatilization of lanoline out of wool fibers, therefore lanoline treatment from time to time is necessary.

Depending on the intensity of use, after some time (2-3 months) the wool cover will not “hold” the moisture quite as well. This means that the lanolin required for wool's special advantages (no leaks and awesome antibacterial properties) needs to be replenished. The easiest way is to use ready-to-use lanolin treatment, which is readily available in Europe but still not easy to find in other parts of the world. But don't worry -- it's easy to make your own.

Homemade lanolin treatment:

Prepare:

    -  a small jar
    - 1.5 cups boiling water
    - 1 teaspoon of wool soap or soap flakes
    - 1 teaspoonful of lanolin
    - Bowl of lukewarm water

Pour boiling water in the jar and dissolve the soap. Then add lanolin and stir until its totally dissolved. The result should be a uniform, milky liquid without pieces of lanolin. This solution we add to the bowl of lukewarm water and stir. Voila! Your homemade treatment is ready--you can soak your wool covers in it.

We recommend you lanolize separately light and dark colors wool covers, as well as colors very different from one another to prevent dye transfer. When lanolizing wool shorties, first turn them inside out. Wool covers and shorties sewn with recycled wool can be soaked in the lanolin treatment for a whole night and covers made of woolen fabric should be soaked no longer than 5-6 hours. It’s important not to exceed this time as it might cause shrinking of the wool cover.

After soaking the wool cover in the lanolin solution, rinse it in clean water. Don’t forget that water for rinsing should have same temperature as the lanolin solution from which we just removed the wool cover. Rinsing gets rid of the soap from the cover. Soap might make moisture soak in the wool and cause leaking. After drying, the cover might seem slightly sticky. This is normal and will be gone after 1-2 uses.