Here's lots of suggestions, that were gathered from the BTLdiapering email list, names and email addresses were XX-ed out to protect the innocent...or should that be guilty? LOL:
HOW TO CARE FOR A WOOL SOAKER
You don't have to wash before the first use. Need to only wash once a week or every other week. Can wash in Woolite or even baby shampoo. Wash in cold water with a capful. Rinse out until no more bubbles. Squeeze dry, don't wring. Roll up in towel a few times to dry some more. Hang flat and not on top of a heat source or sunlight. Takes about 2 days to dry.
About once a month, or when you notice that the soaker may be losingwaterproofing, you will have to treat it with lanolin. Either use a prepared wool wash such as Eucalin or can use pure lanolin out of a tube. The easiest way is to use a bottle with a top. Pour in warm water, about an inch of lanolin, a TBS vinegar and maybe a drop of tea tree or lavender essential oil and shake vigorously to get an emulsion. Then pour this into a sink (or bowl) of warm water and mix well, should be cloudy. Soak your soaker in this bath, making sure it gets in all the nooks and crannies. Don't allow the water to get cold, add warm water if necessary. Leave in at least 15 min, dry as above. If your soaker ever gets poop on it, treat the stain immediately with soap and rinse well. That's it!
Another way:
First wash the wool soakers. Then start some hot water running in your clean bathroom sink. Use a clean bottle with a lid (like a large juice bottle or something) and run some of the water into it. Add to the bottle about an inch of lanolin and a tablespoon of vinegar. Put the lid on and shake it up really well, until the lanolin is all melted.
Put the stopper in your sink and fill it about halfway. Add the lanolin water from the bottle and swish everything around to mix it up. Put 2 soakers in. Work the water into them if it is not too hot. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Every five minutes, go in there and work the water into the soakers some more. When the time is up, work the water into the soakers and then wring them out and lay them flat to dry. They will probably take a couple of days to dry.
I have also heard recommended to use very warm water instead of hot water. Maybe this depends on whether you have Aristocrats which might shrink, or soakers which are pretty much well shrunken already.
How I Wash Josh's Aristocrats and Save Lots of Money
I use Johnson and Johnson Vapor Baby Wash, it works and works
GREAT! 1/2-1tsp. in a sink full of cool water and wash & rinse it, towel roll it to dry, then hang to dry or lie flat keep it out of the sun or heater.(it will shrink if you don't) USE 1x a month a 1/2 tsp of lanolin to a cup (make sure you only use this cup for this purpose)using hot warm (not too warm) about 1 cup to dissolve lanolin, then pour onto Aristocrat and rub it in. There you go a great way and cheaper alternative to the more expensive wool washes. Jennifer & Joshua S*****
As for lanolin treatment, that's what I use.
From directions I got from a post on ParentsPlace I take an inch of lanolin from the tube and add it to a tablespoon of vinegar in an epi bottle(small bottle I received from the hospital after my sons birth) add a bit of very warm water and close the bottle...and shake for all I'm worth, lol. After the lanolin and water are well mixed I add that to a sink full of very warm
water. I set the time for 15 minutes and every five minutes I go in and swish the soaker trying to get every inch of soaker well saturated.
After 15min, I gently squeeze the excess water from the
soaker(usually by opening the drain, and letting the water run out of the soaker) then roll it in a towel to get the rest of the water out. then let it air dry flat.
From: Edward and Phantom M********
The care of wool soakers really depends on the brand, though. Some, like the Aristocrat, require meticulous special care to avoid destroying them. Others, like the NZ soaker and Butt Sweaters(mine) are more forgiving. Aristocrats must be hand-washed *gently*,and dried flat, not hanging, no twisting, wringing, or scrubbing. You also cannot put them in direct sunlight at all. NZ soakers say to hand-wash them, but I've machine washed mine many times without issue. I do air-dry them, though. Butt Sweaters can be machine washed and dried, but last longer if you air-dry, and require more frequent lanolin treatments at first, since the wool is not new. Phan
From: "The Adam Family"
Before it was developed as a commercial product, Eucalyptus wool
wash was made at home to the following recipe. This might not be the same as Eucalan, as I haven't come across it here, but it *is* no-rinse.
1 cup methylated spirits (ed note - also known as denatured alcohol -ethyl alcohol denatured with a small amount of methyl alcohol)
4 cups pure soap flakes
1 small bottle eucalyptus oil.
Mix well together, it's rather thick and gluggy. Use one tablespoon of mixture to a bowl of water.