This post is part of “All About Wool Week on Dirty Diaper Laundry.

One of the scariest parts of using wool is washing.  What soap is safe?  How often do I wash?  When I started researching what soap to buy I actually asked around to a few of my cloth diapering friends.  Many of them suggested Sudz ‘n Dudz. I realized that my local diaper store (by local I mean 1.5 hours away in Ithaca) carried that line.  I waited for an excuse to get to Jillian’s Drawers.

There I bought my first bottle of Sudz ‘n Duz Liquid Wool Wash.  It was sealed so I didn’t even know how heavenly it smelled until I got home!  I have to say I love my Sudz ‘n Dudz!  I have been using it to wash all of my woolies.  When I am done washing them they smell so great.  Plus, it has a small amount of lanolin in it so you are lightly lanolizing your wool each wash.  This is a way to extend the time between having to full out lanolize them.  They also make tons of other wool care products as well!

About Sudz ‘n Dudz:

Sudz ‘n Dudz began in the early months of 2005. What started out as experimental curiosity has bloomed, thanks to your enthusiasm and support, into a wonderful business adventure. Our goal is to create organic wool care products at a fair and competitive price. My daughters, Emma and Maya are my cheerleaders, order packers, bottle pumpers and sticker-putter-on-ers! They love to help with labeling and scenting the products, signing and decorating invoices, and they are always my inspiration (and sometimes my guinea pigs!) for new products. Emma is a skilled order packer now, and I think her cursive is neater than mine! My husband is a whiz at sourcing ingredient and container suppliers, as well as offering sage business advice and fixing the occasional printer jam before I have at it with a sledgehammer!

While looking into what Sudz ‘n Dudz was made from I was pleased to discover how much care goes into the ingredients and the formula.  The product is all organic and the lanolin is very high quality.  I know when I run out of my Lansinoh that I will be buying pure Lanolin from Sudz ‘n Dudz.  Here are all of the ingredients:

Organic Wool Wash Bar: saponified organic oils of olive and/or canola, palm kernel, coconut, castor, jojoba. Enriched with certified organic lanolin and scented with essential oils, fragrance oils, or nothing!
Organic Liquid Wool Wash: same as above, plus distilled spring water and liquid lanolin oil.
Organic Lanolin Balm: organic lanolin, organic jojoba oil. scented with essential oils, fragrance oils, or nothing!
Lanolin Spray: liquid lanolin oil, organic jojoba oil, silicone. scented with essential oils, fragrance oils or nothing!
Liquid lanolin: nothing but the best certified pesticide-free, detergent-free, residue-free liquid lanolin oil!
Organic lanolin: CERTIFIED organic lanolin from Australia, scented with essential oils, fragrance oils, or nothing!

Now that you know all about this wonderful company wouldn’t you love to try Sudz n Dudz for your wool?

Sudz ‘n Dudz is offering a choice between a custom scented sampler pack (you can pick up to 5 for the above products, plus the wool wash bar sample can be cut from a scented bar) and a full sized washing and lanolizing product. (Either a bar or a 4 fl. oz. liquid wool wash and a 4 oz spray, balm, lanolin, or liquid lanolin.)

To Enter: (for help entering refer to this handy entry guide)

Please leave a separate comment for each entry you do.

First, (this entry is mandatory) Go to SudznDudz.com and tell me your favorite product that they sell. Come back and leave a comment with your answer.

-OR-

Go to EmmayaNaturals.com and leave a comment with feedback (good or bad) about the new website.

Please leave your email in this comment as well in blank at hotmail dot com format.

Extra Entries:

Follow @organicwoolcare or @EmmayaNaturals on Twitter. Leave a comment saying you did. (2) entries for following both.  Leave separate comments.

Follow Emmaya Natural’s Blog via Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment.

Become a fan of  Sudz ‘n Dudz on Facebook or Emmaya Naturals. (2) entries for becoming a fan of both. Leave separate comments.

Follow my twitter and tweet this giveaway. Please tweet, “Win Sudz ‘n Dudz Sampler pack from @organicwoolcare and @KimRosas on DDL

http://dgt6q.th8.us” Leave a comment with a link to your status.

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Although we cannot give extra entries  for product or company reviews on  www.diaperpin.com , the businesses you support are so grateful for your positive comments. Please consider leaving a review and make someone’s day!

Giveaway ends on October 12. Winner will be chosen using random.org. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be drawn.

This post is part of “All About Wool Week” on Dirty Diaper Laundry.

Lanolizing wool seems complicated but it is truly simple!  Don’t over think it!  I did tons of research before I set about lanolizing my covers for the first time.  While I always, always encourage people to do their research I think over researching can be a bad thing.  If you spend hours reading about washing and lanolizing wool it seems like a feat!  I hope the video shows you how easy it can be, although I am silly and thought I was recording portions of it but actually wasn’t!  Here is what I do:

1. Run VERY HOT water from your tap (or boil water) and put it in a bowl.  Add a squirt of Wool Wash or baby shampoo and 1 inch of Lansinoh lanolin.
2. Shake well until all of the lanolin has dissolved.  You can also microwave the mixture.  Works great!
3. Fill your sink (or tub, bowl, etc) with lukewarm water.  Saturate cover(s) completely.
4. Run a new sink full of lukewarm water if desired.
5. Pour your lanolin/soap mixture in your sink.
6. Immerse cover(s) in the water inside out.  Work them around a bit and let soak for at least 30 minutes.
7. Remove from water and wring out, then either roll in a dry, clean towel or put in your washer for a spin cycle.
8. Lay Flat to dry.

This post is part of “All About Wool Week” on Dirty Diaper Laundry.

Before I say this, let me state that my husband has been Phenomenal with cloth diapering thus far.  Though hesitant at first, he has managed to learn almost all of the crazy terms I throw around like “AIO, Pocket, Fitted, WAHM, etc.”  For some reason, he really likes the “WAHM” one and tries to throw it into conversations.

When I decided I was going to dive head first into wool he was already skeptical of how it worked.  I described it to him, saying simply that wool is water resistant and the lanolizing process helps it, and he didn’t really get it.  Fine.  He doesn’t have to.  The first morning my husband changed our son when he had a wool cover on was……. interesting.  He came into the bedroom asking directions.  Half asleep I tell him, “Just pull it off and let it dry.  Toss is over the crib rail.”  “What do I do with the diaper?”  Put it in the pail, like always.”  So he does.

He tells me a few mornings later that he is no longer changing our son in the morning if he had wool on the night before.  Fine, I will change him.  I wasn’t about to switch back since he had been completely leak free since starting using wool.

This kind of worked, but there were mornings that I begged him to change our baby so I could grab 20 minutes of extra sleep.  I think it is fair since I have to wake up umpteen million times to nurse our son, something he is exempt from.

A few weeks later I wash a load of diapers.  Routine.  This happens 3-4 times a week.  On this occasion I empty my dryer and see a very bright and familiar color: teal.  I don’t have any diapers this color that should be in the WASHER or DRYER.  I only have the one Sbish wool soaker in that gorgeous color.  My heart skips a beat.  “Please don’t be what I think it is.  Please…. no…. not the Sbish soaker in the Dryer!!!”  I hesitated to actually pull it out because until I did it was a theory.  Once I pulled it out it was reality.

My wool soaker was washed on HOT, rinsed, and dried on low heat.  Panic set in.  It looked a good bit smaller than it did before being tortured.  I went upstairs and ran for my other Sbish soaker.  Yes, upon comparing them there was definitely a steep difference in size.  I tweeted like crazy that day about my anger and frustration.  I was worried about reviewing an item that was possibly not usable anymore since it shrunk.

Then, this tweet came.  I believe @Fentonlee sent it.  “Did the lanolin make your diapers repel?”

Ummm..  uh oh.  I didn’t even think of that.  The soaker had lanolin on it, of course.  Lanolin makes the soaker waterproof.  Diapers that are waterproof = not good.  I did the booger sucker test.  I filled it with water and squirted it onto my suedecloth lined diapers.  Beads of water danced around merrily.  I tried pushing the water drops in, since sometimes the water beads up but technically they aren’t repelling.  Rather than permeating the suedecloth the beads broke into more, tinier beads.  Ruh Roh.

FUMING, I called my husband at work to B*tch/ vent.  “Why on earth did you put a wool soaker in the pail?”  “Because, I dunno.”  The conversation turned into me crying because not only did I have a tiny soaker, I had to strip my diapers.  Stripping my diapers= 12+ trips up and down 2 flights of stairs.  It is a day long process when I am being efficient.  2 days if not.

That evening my husband brought home Pizza Hut for dinner.  Yes, I can be bought with food.  My stomach is the way to my heart.  The next day I had forgotten the entire incident and life went on.

Now, my husband doesn’t really change our son in the mornings or if he is wearing wool.  In fact, lately he hasn’t really changed him at all!

Ladies, if you have wool or are thinking of trying it keep my story in mind.  This was not the worst case scenario.  Imagine if your custom knit 100.00$ woolies were washed.  Then just change the baby yourself and save your wallet and your heart.

P.S.  The Sbish soaker does still fit!  It is slightly felted (which means it is even more waterproof) but can be finagled onto him.  They probably won’t fit for too much longer but it wasn’t the end of the world.  Here he is in them A.W. (After Washing).

This post is part of “All About Wool Week” on Dirty Diaper Laundry.

Wool?  If you already use wool covers and you happen to tell someone who has no clue about cloth diapers, you know the reaction.  ”Wool?  Seriously?  How does that work?  Isn’t it itchy?  How do you wash it?  What if poop gets on it?”  If you haven’t used wool yet, you probably have a lot of the same questions.  Let me answer all of those.

Yes, seriously.

Wool is a breathable and natural fiber that has natural lanolin which makes it water resistant.  Because it is a natural fiber it is not “waterproof”.  When you use wool, you lanolize it even more with pure lanolin like you can buy at any drug store to treat sore nipples.  Wool goes over non waterproof diapers like prefolds, flats, and fitteds.  It is the perfect solution for super soakers, especially at night.

It can be itchy, but you should find high quality wool and it should be soft from the lanolizing process.  You can even find some with a cashmere blend or cashmere parts.

Wool only needs to be washed every 1-2 weeks unless it gets poop on it.  One of the amazing properties of wool is that it is naturally antibacterial.  When wool is left to air dry after use it will lose any urine smell it had and be ready for use again.  This is because the urine reacts with the lanolin to make a natural soap, which will clean itself! (For those of you who joke about the perfect cloth diaper being one that washes itself, this is pretty close!) When you wash wool you can buy special wool wash with a small amount of lanolin already in it.  This will allow you to go longer before needing to full on lanolize your wool.  Fill a tub with warm (not hot) water and a few squirts of your wool wash.  Swish it around, squeeze it, let site for 15-30 minutes, spin it in your washer or squeeze in a dry towel, and let dry.

If you get poop on your wool you need to wash it right away to prevent stains!

Wool is a very intimidating prospect, even for the most seasoned cloth diapering families.  It seems like it takes a huge commitment but after lanolizing your wool there is very little upkeep.  There are so many benefits of buying and using wool.

• Wool is a natural fiber.
• Buying wool can support WAHM’s since many wool covers are made by moms.
• Using wool can actually save you time and money since you wash it every few weeks.
• Wool can be super cute and work as clothing and a diaper cover.
• By buying wool you are also supporting the families who raise sheep.  You can even look around for local farms and buy the yarn there to have it made into woolies by a WAHM!

Wool was the final frontier in my cloth diapering journey.  I am so glad I have given it a try.  It really does work amazingly for overnight.  For “All About Wool Week”  I am going to be reviewing the many types of wool out there and giving you a hands on look at how to care for your woolies.  Plus, there are lots of giveaways!