Merino Wool Laundry Question

[imscotty]

So, I've stocked up on Icebreaker Merino Wool clothing (which I love) and it has been great on my weekend hikes. But now I'm wondering what people do on long distance hikes when they wash these items in town? The Merino Wool says 'Air Dry Only' I don't want to pack them still damp. Do you wear them till they dry? Hang them outside your pack and hope for sun? Just put them in the dryer and shrink them? What do you do?

Scott

[Don H]

I always washed and dried my Smartwool mid-weight shirt with everything else.

[Coffee]

I wash my Smartwool shirts and socks in a cold water cycle and dry on permanent press (low heat) setting. Cold water is fine since the Smartwool doesn't retain much odor to begin with.

[Hill Ape]

on a zero, first thing, in a sink, with some bronners, hung dry on a line

[Zippy Morocco]

I washed and dried. Thinner wool doesn't shrink as much as a thick wool sweater does. Patagonia merino blend doesn't seem to shrink At all. I would use low heat.

[colorado_rob]

I wash normally and dry for about 5-7 minutes only to get the drying started, then air dry the rest of the way, which doesn't take too long. I think any "shrinkage" occurs during the later stages of machine drying.

[Grasshopper2011]

I washed and dried my smartwool. My underwear I would wear a little damp if I needed to because my body heat would dry it. If I wasn't going to wear it, I dried it completely.

One thing to consider when drying in a single load situation.. if your hiking pants have Velcro on the pockets, make sure they are Velcro'd shut as much as possible because the hook part will grab on to wool. My hiking pants had a larger "hook" patch than the "loop" patch so there was some exposed "hook". I was constantly pulling my wool socks/underwear off my pants Velcro.

[Dogwood]

I pay a handsome sum for my $$$ merino wool pieces as I'm sure you have if you bought Icebreaker merino wool. I wear merino both when I'm hiking and at home. 99% of the time I have at least one merino piece of clothing in my hiking kit. I've ruined a number of merino wool pieces. I used to wash everything together(wind/rain jackets, nylon pants, etc w/ zips, velcro, toggles, snaps, belt loops, etc, FILTHY socks) as Grasshopper says he does because I was in a rush or trying to save $3 at the laundromat on a long hike. Eventually, it started backfiring on me as I started noticing more and more damage to my merino wool $$$ pieces and a lingering odor(dirty socks will do this!, I advise you rinse them out first before you put in the washer as you might consider with any clothing that is thru-hiker grundgy!). On a long hike I separate my merino wool pieces and wash separately PREFERABLY in a front loading washer in cold water on a gentle cycle in a small load. I might gently hand rinse first in a laundry sink to get the majority of the grime out before putting in the washer if the clothing is particularly dirty. After hand rinsing I SQUEEZE the excess water out. DO NOT WRING or TWIST merino wool clothing to get the excess water out! Many people overdry their clothes on high heat in a heavily loaded dryer. I wouldn't do it with 100 % merino pieces. I might put a small load of medium wt merino wool torso pieces in a dryer on a low heat setting/permanent press and watch CLOSELY to get the clothes to start drying but I don't overdry and prefer to lay flat in the shade to dry outside which is what my merino laundering tags advise. Don't wash or dry your merino clothes, perhaps merino socks being the exception, with a heavy load of other clothing as you can stretch merino pieces out. That's WHY the laundry tags say to dry flat! That's WHY I say not to WRING wet merino clothing of water. Avoid washing and drying merino pieces with things with velcro, metal zippers, toggles, snaps, hooks, etc. If you notice on many of the high end merino pieces with zippers they don't usually have sharp edges. You don't want pulls and snags in the washer and dryer with merino pieces. This has been a problem for me in the past. It's a sad sight when you open the washer or dryer and notice your $$$ merino shirts, thermal bottoms, etc with pulls.

[imscotty]

Hmmm, the Care Instructions for the SmartWool and the Icebreaker Merino products do seem to differ.

Here are the SmartWool Instructions...

What about SmartWool BASELAYER?
NTS baselayer may be machine-washed with cool or warm water. Tumble dry on low.

Here are the IceBreaker Instructions...

CARE GUIDE
Icebreaker garments are designed to be easy for you to care for. We recommend that you wash your Icebreaker garments on a normal warm or cool machine wash cycle with regular powder or liquid detergent, not wool detergent. Don’t use fabric softener or bleach. Separate lights and darks as usual. Also, do not expose any Icebreaker garment to heat and do not tumble dry. Line dry or lie flat in the shade.

So they say do not tumble dry, line dry or lie flat. That is why I asked, might be tough to do on an extended hike.

[Nooga]

I carried two Icebreaker Tech T shirts on my thru hike. I just washed and dried them with everything else. One, I poked a hole in the shoulder, when taking it off wet. I think that it was weakened by the shoulder straps on my pack. The other shirt lasted the hike and I'm still wearing it. For me, I'm pleased with the durability.

[imscotty]

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Perhaps I am over thinking this . It is just that I have never owned a $60 T-Shirt before

[Black Wolf]

I've ruined a few myself .. I never put them in a dyer or wring them by hand .. I'll wash at night .. hang it or lay it flat when possible .. they dry incredibly fast when worn ..lay it on grass when you break at lunch. I do this with my synthetics as well. the nice thing about merino is that don't hold odors well .. even just hanging them up or laying them in sun fresh s them up. YMMV

[Coffee]

Regarding velcro, also keep any wool layer away from the velcro on dry bags. I snagged the sleeves of my long sleeve Smartwool shirt on my various zPacks dry bags several times. Each time, the weave of the shirt seemed to be affected although it is mostly cosmetic so far. I have repaired various holes in my shirt a number of times that simply appeared for no cause that I know of. My sewing skills have improved, the shirt doesn't look that great but still works!

[Black Wolf]

Regarding velcro, also keep any wool layer away from the velcro on dry bags. I snagged the sleeves of my long sleeve Smartwool shirt on my various zPacks dry bags several times. Each time, the weave of the shirt seemed to be affected although it is mostly cosmetic so far. I have repaired various holes in my shirt a number of times that simply appeared for no cause that I know of. My sewing skills have improved, the shirt doesn't look that great but still works!

had holes magically appear as well .. At first I thought it from pack abrasion .. Then reading about merino long term care I found it's from the short fibers and the weave .. They become relaxed and like magic .. You have a worm hole . Lanolin is best for long term care BTW..

[QiWiz]

So, I've stocked up on Icebreaker Merino Wool clothing (which I love) and it has been great on my weekend hikes. But now I'm wondering what people do on long distance hikes when they wash these items in town? The Merino Wool says 'Air Dry Only' I don't want to pack them still damp. Do you wear them till they dry? Hang them outside your pack and hope for sun? Just put them in the dryer and shrink them? What do you do?

Scott

I hang things from my pack while I hike and from a small clothesline in camp. Once they are merely damp, you can wear them and let body heat finish the job if you like. Don't put them in a drier.

[bigcranky]

I always hang up my wool, both at home and on the trail. It dries enough overnight.

[Tuckahoe]

All good advice. In general just follow the care tags. Wash in cool water on gentle and skip the dryer. The agitation of a machine and dryer along with heat are what causes a lot of damage causing the wool (especially with high wool fiber content) to felt up or come unspun. The best way to get out water is to roll up in a towel then lay flat to dry.

[Odd Man Out]

If you are in a hotel hostel with towels, you can wring out clothes to get them almost dry without stretching out of shape with this trick. Lay a dry bath towel out on the bed. Lay the wool garment flat on the towel. Roll the towel up with the wool garment on the inside. Then twist this tube tightly and hold for several seconds. Because the towel "tube" is so fat, you can't really over twist the wool garment. Every inch of wool is sandwiched between two layers of towel which absorbs most of the water and keeps the wool in shape. The wool will come out almost dry. To finish, air dry or wear dry, as described above. Great travel tip for any garment.

[daddytwosticks]

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Perhaps I am over thinking this . It is just that I have never owned a $60 T-Shirt before

Are you kidding me? $60 for a T-shirt? I think I'll stick to the Walmart crap. I can buy seven of the Starter brand T-shirts for that price.

[Coffee]

Are you kidding me? $60 for a T-shirt? I think I'll stick to the Walmart crap. I can buy seven of the Starter brand T-shirts for that price.

You can occasionally get deals on Sierra Trading Post and other sites but they are often fleeting and in odd colors/sizes. I paid $38 for my Smartwool V neck short sleet microweight and $35 for my Smart wool microweight long sleeve zip neck. Smartwool socks can be purchased at a discount on SocksAddict.com and elsewhere but still end up being $15/each.

I use Wal-Mart starter items exclusively for running. Only reason I don't use synthetic on the trail is to reduce the stink factor since I can rarely fully wash out my clothing. Smartwool only needs a rinse occasionally, and that's more for grime and dirt than stink.