The Wild & Wonderful Benefits of Wool

What’s so great about a sheepskin rug? Well besides the uniqueness, texture, and timeless beauty, the fact that they are made of a natural wonder material called wool that boasts strength, durability, heat regulation, moisture control, fire resistance, odour resistance, and healing properties for sensitive skin, not to mention it’s renewable, biodegradable, hypoallergenic, antimicrobial, and it does all of this without any chemical enhancement or human engineering. Here’s a breakdown of how…

1. Strength & Durability
   Wool fibers are shaped like tiny springs, and actually act like tiny springs, allowing it to handle stress and pressure and still bounce back. Since wool can store moisture inside its cells, it’s less brittle than many fabrics. Wool fibers can be bent back 20,000 times before snapping, making them 10 times more resilient than silk and more than 6 times stronger than cotton. Wool products can literally last a lifetime, and often do. Just check your local thrift store and you can likely find vintage blankets, wool knits, and tweed suits that are over 50 years old and still in great condition.
   
   

2. Moisture Control
   Wool is incredibly unique in its behaviour towards water. On the surface it repels water by having a scale-like protein coat. Then on the inside, it has a core that absorbs water and holds it there until conditions are right to re-release it. This creates multiple benefits:
   
   

   • It can retain 30% of its weight in water and still feel dry to the touch

   • This makes it stain-resistant because the stain actually sits on the surface instead of being instantly absorbed

   • It draws moisture (and sweat) away from your skin, keeping you cool and comfortable

   • It releases heat by splitting bonds in the water its retained, keeping you warm and cozy
     
     

3. Antimicrobial & Odour Resistant
   Mold spores and bacteria rely on water to survive. But because water is retained inside the wools’ cells where it can’t penetrate, they are suppressed and don’t grow. Sheep secrete their very own oil called lanolin, which further coats and protects the wool from harm and unwanted growth. Unlike many natural fibers such as cotton or silk, wool is not an edible cellulose for them but a keratin protein (like your fingernails) that they don’t consume. Bacterial growth is often responsible for foul smells so this is the same principle that creates odour resistance.
   
   

4. Fire Resistance
   Wool retains water, and quite simply put it’s hard to set water on fire. Wool must reach temperatures of over 1000 degrees F before setting alight. It can be consumed but doesn’t melt and when removed from the source of the flame will naturally extinguish. This is why wool blankets have been historically used to put out small fires. It is also why sheepskin rugs are often seen next to the fireplace, as it will protect your floor from sparks and embers and quickly put them out.
   
   

5. Hypoallergenic
   Wool is resistant to dust mites, which much like mold and bacteria, don’t find a wool to be a source of water or food. Dust mites, mold, spores, and bacteria are all leading causes for allergic reactions. Wool also traps harmful VOCs and certain offset gases like formaldehyde and absorbs them by bonding them to its carbon structure and never releases them, adding a level of cleansing to the air. Since wool keeps all of these away, people with skin sensitivities and breathing sensitivities often choose wool for comfort and relief. Wool that is less processed (like ours) tends to have more lanolin, and when lanolin transfers by contact onto our skin, it actually protects human skin from bacteria and infections, the same way it does for sheep.
   
   

6. Renewable & Biodegradable
   Each sheep can typically reproduce one or two new ewes per year, and depending on the type of breed can grow a new coat of wool every year or twice a year. Wool and genuine sheepskins are 100% biodegradable and will naturally decompose in a few years if buried, and is often added to compost because it enriches the soil with valuable nutrients.
   
   

7. Timeless Style & Value
   Sheepskin rugs go almost as far back as sheep domestication, which some estimate at around 6000 BC. In some ways they are simple and humble pieces, but is there anything more classic? They can be found from Mongolia to the Middle East, from Africa to Siberia, from Roman through Medieval Times all the way until now. All that and they still haven’t gone out of style.