Sheep and wool have been woven into the fabric of human
civilization for more than 10,000 years beginning in Asia Minor,
which is now basically the country of Turkey. The natural migrations of peoples, the spread
of religions, and the conquests of armies – especially the Roman armies in
Northern Africa, Spain and the British Isles, and the Spanish Conquistadors and
Church in the New World of the Americas – spread sheep and the use of wools
across large parts of the world. After
all these millennium wool is still a major textile cornerstone for clothing,
bedding, carpeting and household furnishings.
Some people feel that the reason for this enduring and endearing
relationship is because wool is composed of the same protein that makes up the
outer protective layer of your skin and wool works in total harmony with your
body's own protection mechanisms. Wool has naturally developed a higher level
of in-built UV protection than many other fibers. Wool also has natural
recovery. Each fiber is resilient and springy, thanks to its complex internal
structure, giving clothes a beautiful drape and greater crease resistance.
Wool is a uniquely natural fiber that has a number of benefits. So, why wool?
-
Built-in climate control. Wool is a natural
insulator to keep you warm in winter and naturally breathable to keep you cool
in summer. Wool fiber helps to keep your
body at the optimal temperature zone for comfort and rest. When used in
blankets, synthetic fibers, down and even cotton fibers do not breathe as well
as wool, and are more likely to trap heat in your bed. Wool buffers the extreme
cold or hot air on the outside, keeping your body in that comfort zone.
- Naturally absorbent fiber. Wool fiber is the original wicking fiber. Its coil-like
shape pulls excess heat and moisture from your skin while you sleep. Wool
fabrics can absorb up to 30% of their weight without feeling heavy or damp.
Cotton fabrics begin to feel damp after 15%. The absorbent fibers
"breathe" by wicking away moisture from the body and releasing it
into the air. This quality makes wool fabrics comfortable to wear in warm and
cold weather.
- Natural mildew and mold resistance. Wool's
natural resistance to mildews and molds comes from the way it repels moisture,
and lets moisture pass through it's fibers without holding the moisture.
Mildews and molds require moisture to live and grow.
- Perfect insulator. Wool is warm in winter
and cool in the summer because of its hydrophilic ability to wick away excess
moisture. In the winter, wool removes moisture from the skin to keep the wearer
feeling warm and dry and wool’s insulating qualities trap dry air and warmth
near the skin. This is unlike synthetic
fleece, which is warm but does not breathe easily. Wool's natural insulating quality and its
ability to shed water results in a fabric that keeps the body warm even when
it's raining. In the summer, wool’s
coil-like shape pulls excess heat and moisture from your skin helping the
wearer stay cooler.
- Water repellent. Tiny overlapping scales encase the wool fiber
like tiles on a roof. This allows wool to repel rain, snow and liquid spills
with ease.
- Wool is durable. Laboratory tests have shown
that wool fibers resist tearing and can bend back on themselves more than
20,000 times without breaking. Cotton breaks after 3,200 bends, silk fibers
break after 1,800 bends, and rayon fibers break after just 75 bends. Wool
clothing will last for years. Wool
resists spills, dries very quickly and is mildew resistant.
- Naturally wrinkle resistant. Wool fabrics
resist wrinkles. Wool is the most resilient fiber because it has a natural
crimp that helps it keep its shape. Wool
fibers can be stretched and still bounce back to their original shape.
- Fire retardant. Wool is safer to wear
having natural fire-retardant properties. It can resist flame without the
chemical treatment involved in fireproofing. Synthetic fleece is oil based,
ignites easily, burns fiercely and melts. If your synthetic fleece is fire
proofed, then you have the fire proofing chemicals next to your skin.
- Resists static, dirt and dust. Wool fabric doesn't
collect much static because of its absorbent fibers. Static attracts lint,
dirt, and dust. Wool fabrics also clean
easily because dirt sits on the surface of the fiber. The outside surface of
the wool fiber consists of a series of overlapping scales, similar to the
feathers on a bird, making it easy to brush off and for stains to lift out.
- Wool is colorful. There are an amazing
variety and number of breeds of sheep that come in a wide array of colors
giving us a huge number of natural colors. In additional to natural color-grown fibers, the structure of wool
fibers allow wool to easily accept dyes without the need for harsh and
sometimes toxic chemicals to prepare the fiber for dyes. When wool fabrics are dyed, the dye reaches
to the core of the fiber and bonds permanently. Almost any color and dye can be
used.
- Naturally non-allergenic. Wool is almost
entirely non-allergenic. Although some
people do have a rare natural allergy to Lanolin, the oil found in wool, most
people's allergy to wool is a reaction to the many harsh and toxic chemicals
that go into the treatment, and finishing of conventional wool garments and
bedding. Serious chemical abrasives are routinely used to wash raw wool for
processing. Chlorine and mothproofing chemicals are routinely applied to
conventional wool before turning it into a finished product.
- Renewable and Sustainable. Wool is a renewable
resource that can be shorn from sheep annually. It is biodegradable and kinder to the environment than oil-based
synthetics, which contribute to global pollution. Wool is sustainable. Wool from free-grazing sheep, treated
ethically throughout their long lives, represents a traditional small-scale
industry that once thrived in America.
Today, many small organic farmers are returning to this sustainable industry to
create clean and healthy wool that is produced without stress to the animals or
the environment.
At the Polytechnic Institute in Wales,
research conducted on the effect of various bedding materials during sleep indicated
that wool's ability to wick moisture away keeps skin drier during sleep than
any of the other fibers tested. This is significant because during sleep people
can lose more than one pint of water per night through their skin and breath. Their research also indicated that sleepers
in wool-filled comforters had lower heart rates suggesting a more restful state
of sleep than sleepers using comforters filled with down feathers or
synthetics.
All of this just substantiates what many have known and experienced for
centuries: wool is a wonderful fiber. Unfortunately, just as with the purity of cotton, sheep growers and wool
fabric manufacturers have fallen under the dark siren’s song of better, easier and
more profitable living through chemistry.
Conventional Wool Production.
Here’s the story. Sheep live outside
and require large areas for grazing. When sheep are confined and their pastures are overgrazed, they become
more susceptible to mange and pests such as mites, lice, and flies. To control these pests and parasites, more
than 14,000 pounds of pesticides were applied to sheep in the U.S. The most common conventional pesticide
treatments contain potentially dangerous organo-phosphorus compounds. The top three pesticides used on sheep are
moderately toxic to humans but they are moderately to highly toxic to fish and
amphibians, such as frogs, and they are suspected endocrine disruptors. Some of these pesticides are also highly
water soluble which means that they can easily be carried from the sheep dip
application site by rain or irrigation water runoff into our streams and rivers
and contaminate our groundwater.
According to the Organic Trade Association:
“Pesticides used in sheep dips have consistently
been linked with damage to the nervous system in workers that have been exposed
to them in the United Kingdom. Even
low-dose exposure over the long term has been conclusively linked with reduced
nerve fiber function, anxiety, and depression. Long-term exposure to sheep dip has also been linked to reduced bone
formation. In addition, residues of
diflubenzuron, an insecticide used in sheep dips, persist in the environment
for more than a year.”
This is just to control external pests. Sheep are also
susceptible to internal parasitic worms. The conventional doctrine for control is to routinely dose the animals
with drugs.
And then there is the issue of antibiotic feed additives,
such as oxytetracycline and chlortetracycline, sometimes given to sheep to
promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for overcrowded and unhealthy
conditions in concentrated sheep pens. Again according to the Organic Trade
Association, “Mounting evidence suggests that widespread use of agricultural
antibiotics is contaminating surface waters and groundwater, including drinking
water, in many rural areas as a result of their presence in animals waste. This
non-human use of antibiotics is compromising medicine's effectiveness in people
as bacteria become resistant to antibiotics over time.”
So much for the purity of conventionally grown wool. Small wonder that Little Bo Beep lost her
sheep. She probably also lost her lunch
after discovering what Farmer Brown was doing to her sheep.
Conventional Wool Fabric Manufacturing
As with cotton, the health dangers to the environment and the consumer are
only compounded with the conventional production of fabrics and garments from
conventionally grown wool. The
conventional wool garment manufacturing process typically employs harsh
scouring agents and bleaches to clean and whiten the wool, formaldehyde,
polyester, foams, dioxins, conditioners, moth-proofing, harsh chemical dyes, and other, often toxic, additives to finish
the fabric and garments. Chemical dyes
frequently include toxic heavy metals such as chrome, copper and zinc, and
sometimes contain known or suspected carcinogens.
For the chemically sensitive and chemically concerned consumer, beware of
garments manufactured with new fabric technologies that boast of creating
“smart wools” that will not shrink and have high performance capabilities. Many of these “unique and innovative
properties” are achieved through a combination of chemicals and manufacturing
processes which change the structure of the wool fibers and utilize the latest
fabric technologies for processes such as sliver backwashing and continuous
chlorine oxidization shrink resist systems. The chemically sensitive should be cautious with new wool fiber
technologies such as Sportwool™, Woolscience™, Sensory Perception Technology™
and Arcana™.
Prevention is better than cure.
As much as possible and appropriate, buy organically grown wool and organically processed wool garments and products. Organic wool is from sheep that have been raised without synthetic or
harmful chemicals under healthy, natural, and responsible animal husbandry
methods which reduce or eliminate the need for most agricultural chemicals and
promote healthy soils, air, and waterways. The sheep are grazed on pesticide-free land that is not over-grazed and
are never sprayed or dipped as is commonly practiced in conventional sheep
farming. Responsible organic animal
husbandry methods help raise sheep that have healthy immune systems that are
most resistant to external and internal parasites.
Organic wool yarn is not chemically treated during the entire production
process, from the farm to the finished garment or product. The raw wool is scoured clean in an approved
biodegradable cleansing agent before being carded and spun at an organic mill. This organic cotton sweater is the Organic Wool Crew Neck Sweater from Patagonia.
Wool is a natural fiber and a renewable resource that is non-allergenic.
Organic wool can be used extensively by those who normally suffer from chemical
sensitivity when in contact with conventional grow wool. Sometimes those who ‘react’ to wool are
actually displaying a reaction to the harsh scouring agents, dyes and chemicals
used in conventional wool production and not the wool itself.
Have you seen a Manx Loghtan recently?
If you are having trouble knowing your Balwen from your Cotswold, visit
Garghenor Organic Pure Wool ,
home of traditional and rare breeds of organic sheep. Garghenor is located in Ceredigion, Wales. The hilly countryside of Wales
is home to an astonishing variety of sheep. For centuries, sheep have been a cornerstone of the economic and
cultural life in Wales.
We hope that you search out for some of the exceptional organic wool
products. In our next posting, we will
explore the efforts of the Organic Wool Network to raise consumer awareness of
organic wool products.
Enjoy.
Michael
LotusOrganics.com
The popular media has recently caught the scent of the growing importance of yoga within the blossoming lifestyle trends towards improving individual health and the wholeness of consciousness. Some of these articles have made a caricature of the yoga mama portraying only a tiny tip of the iceberg while missing the enormous impact that this lifestyle trend is creating within our society. But as they say, "All publicity is good publicity" and we all welcome the recognition and attention towards ways to improve our quality of life, health and awareness.
For ladies, it is wise to invest in a good sport bra which can help considerably with support and comfort. This will enhance and bring self confidence during your yoga practice. Many sport bras are beautiful and can be worn outside the yoga studio also.
