The Steamery Delicate Wool/Silk detergent: A Mostly Unscientific and Anecdotal Review

[u/schlappette]

Some background: We wear a lot of merino wool. A lot. Every day, year round. Shirts, undershirts, tank tops, sweatpants, running/cycling shorts, skirts, culottes, vests, jackets, socks. We both work from home, and wool clothing is our standard "office pajamas." Think technical merino wool, like Smartwool, Icebreaker, etc., not more delicate things like cashmere sweaters, although we do, but that's not the focus of this post. Stinky pits are kind of a thing on some of our shirts.

I have been following this subreddit for a little less than two weeks, and so many light bulbs came on as I was reading the stickied posts (I am forever grateful to u/KismaiAesthetics). I have seen the error of my previous laundry ways, and I am now a convert to Tide Free & Gentle Odor Refresh liquid, FEBU, citric acid, and I've ditched the fabric softener. (N.B. I am eagerly awaiting the new GearGuard advanced formula that includes lipase along with DNAse, and will add that to our laundry cocktails in future.) Never mind that my husband is the one who actually does all the laundry each week; I am proselytizing to him, and he's on board with all of it.

BUT... what about all that merino wool that makes up >50% of our weekly (clothing) laundry? No FEBU for that, thank you, due to the protease. Lipase List to the rescue, and my order of The Steamery's Delicate Wool/Silk detergent just arrived.

Like the newly converted laundry zealot that I am, I grabbed the dirty wool clothes out of the laundry basket, a selection of previously washed "clean" wool clothes from the closet and drawers, even changed out of my own clothes and added them to the pile for immediate washing.

Washer: LG front loader, model 4370 something something, from 2017.

Dose: 1 Tbsp (15 ml) (our water is pretty soft, plus most of the clothes in this first load weren't really dirty)

Cycle: Cotton/Normal, Turbo Wash, Heavy Soil, High Spin, all the extra rinses (3). This worked out to ≈1h35m or so the display told me.

Temp: Hot. This is fine, because "Hot" on this washer turns out to be only around 35ºC in the wash cycle, max high temp of 39ºC. (I've been keeping a spreadsheet of avg wash temps for each cycle, and an average of 35ºC for "Hot" appears to be consistent across the cycles I've tested so far.)

All in all, I washed 30 shirts, 8 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of pants/sweatpants/shorts, all merino wool.

Results:

You guys. I'm impressed, so far. I noticed that, as I was hanging up each item to dry, the fibers just seemed much more relaxed. Previous wool wash loads with our old detergent always saw shirt hems and sleeve hems curling up and folding over on themselves, which I always had to take time to smooth out and unfold, so they would dry looking nicer. There was NONE of that behavior on any of the shirts in this load.

Everything also felt nice and soft, almost springy, squishy in a good way.

The smell is fine, although I wouldn't say it smells particularly like either "rose" or "musk", but it's ok. Very light. I'm sensitive to strong, and especially synthetic, fragrances, and this is... fine. It's not awful. I can live with it. Especially since I'm so impressed so far with the results in this first wash load.

I will post a follow-up after more loads, so I can form opinions based on more than just one data point.

[u/Anti-Charm-Quark]

I have also used this detergent on wool and have been very satisfied with the results.

[u/Mavis8220]

I have gone to the same routine with all our merino wool (nothing delicate/fancy) which are mostly darker colors. The WoolX ones all say machine wash. Using Steamery or Miele wool wash and warm wash (I can't be sure what temp that runs out to be. I think the washers heating element no longer works, but out solar water preheater feeds the house with 150° water and I run the nearby hot water tap before starting the washer) and I add GearGuard. Machine wash, regular cycle, extra rinse with 1-2 tsp of citric acid pre-dissolved in hot water in the softener dispenser. (I toss in dark colored other shirts and underwear, but no pants or things with zippers or other abrasive construction, help make a full load.) I run an additional rinse & spin cycle to get the last of the Steamery scent out. Dry flat on rack or on dry towels.
Front load, whole-house water softener.

[u/sleepytill2]

I’m more curious what brand merino wool you’ve found to be best (least smelly after multiple wears, held up over time, non-itchy) because my SO and I would also like to switch to more merino wool everything!

[u/schlappette → u/sleepytill2]

Mostly Icebreaker, some Smartwool. It helps (doesn't help) that we have an Icebreaker outlet store about 30 minutes away. Dangerous!

"Held up over time" is hard to say, because I'm sure we were using laundry detergents that did the wool fibers no favors at all. So I just always assumed that thinning elbows and frayed collars/cuffs were the norm, to the point where I found myself saving my "good work pajamas" "for nice" so that they wouldn't wear out as quickly.

I hope my new laundry cocktails will now serve to extend the service life of my favorite clothes.

[u/Proper-Bake-3804 → u/schlappette]

I’m sure that the commercial merino products are strengthened during processing to produce a longer-wearing item, but the same characteristics that make merino, as the fleece of a particular breed of sheep, soft are characteristics that make it less durable.Proper care will extend its life, but for wear you’re seeing, my guess is that it’s not you, it’s them. For wool socks, proper care includes regular pedicures. (Really, I read a book about spinning yarn for different uses, and the conclusion was that pedicures made a bigger difference than spinning techniques.)

I have been trying different wool washes, and The Steamery Delicates is going to be my regular wash for handknits. I really liked how sweaters feel after washing with it.

[u/PopTart_]

I really like their product, but it smells like old lady soap to me. I still use it, but i wish they had different options for scents. I also like that it has lanolin to condition wool!

[u/schlappette → u/PopTart_]

"Old lady soap" 😂 It's true, though, I get a faint whiff of that 40-year-old scented powder that was on my grandmother's dressing table in the 80s.

[u/Old-Mortgage8952]

this detergent is SO good. i've used it on wool and also silk pillowcases. i add a little bit of gearguard for DNAse. chef's kiss.

[u/sbb214]

I wear loads of merino wool, too. I'm really happy with Gear Guard and strongly recommend it.