Mumsnet Talk

I'm looking for new clothes and had some great advice here including to try and go for natural fibres. I've bought a couple of things now, gloves and a cardi both with wool in and they are making me itch like crazy and feel all prickly when I wear them. The gloves have had to go already!
Is this often the case with wool and I guess that means I need to avoid that in future buys. What are the other natural materials to look out for that won't itch?

I wear a thin long sleeved T shirt under. I'm sure you do too.
Do you mean around the neck or somewhere?

Some wools are itchier than others. The more expensive ones tend to be softer and feel better on the skin.

Cotton and linen are nice. Some natural and unnatural mixes good too. Cotton with lycra for keeping shape for example.

I have a 100% merino sweater that is that fine knit type and it's not itchy. Have you tried merino?

Yes, I itch uncontrollably when wearing wool. I can only wear it if I have a layer on underneath wherever the item might touch my skin. Cotton works best for me, or cashmere and angora seems fine.

Cotton, silk and cashmere...my favorite. Wool is makes me itchy.

Look for superwash wool. It has the outer "scales" removed and is pretty itch free. Superwash merino is a joy to wear. Cheap wool will likely be itchy.

Coarser wools - aran /icelandic type stuff makes lovely outer wear -warm and weather proof but not next to the skin.

I can't wear wool at all.Even a small percentage of wool in a garment makes me itch all over including supersoft Merino[and Mohair].I am fine with cashmere ,even entry level cashmere like Tesco's and baby Alpaca[i've recently discovered].I think the quality of expensive items is often no better than cheaper garments[my Tesco's cashmere from 2 years ago is better quality than the Wrap cashmere tunic that i bought this year at 4 times the price].

I struggle with most wools but can cope with cashmere and sometimes the softest merino and alpaca. I have to try them out because even over a long sleeve top the itch will get to me. Linen, cotton and non wool natural fabrics and knits are usually fine.

I'm itching just reading this!

I can't do wool at all, not even the finest merino, but cashmere, even the cheap stuff, is fine.

Apart from that, just cotton, or silk. Anything else and my skin bubbles for days.

DD1, me and DSIS are allergic to wool. DD and DSIS itch at any in the fabric blend at all.

DD has a lovely coat she can't wear, I have been given lambs wool scarves and gloves that non of us dare use.

It is very, very annoying.

Magso same here I will still itch with a top underneath. Scarves with any wool are a no no, I get a rash on my neck. Just checked a couple of my cardis, one is 6% wool the other 30%. Just touching them makes me feel itchy now!

Don't start me on this one...

DW has very sensitive skin and was wearing her stalwart cold-weather cardigan last week. It's an M&S classic from the 1990s and seemingly indestructible, as it still looks in mint condition despite being a well-worn faithful. Well, the flip side to it being warm and cosy is that it's pure wool. She spent every evening that she was wearing it generally scratching her neck and getting annoyed.....and got a nasty rash from it too.

It made us reminisce about the home-knitted wool jumpers we wore as children and the pure wool coats. I know I used to walk around like a stick boy because if found wool clothes so uncomfortable to wear.

DD is always complaining about soft, non-scratchy clothes being itchy and we often comment that she doesn't know that she's been born....

The thought of wearing a wool polo-neck jumper is enough to send me rigid....

I am sure cashmere is entirely different though.....

I feel your pain!! I itch in wool too! I can tell if something has 5% wool in it just by holding it next to my skin for a few seconds. I don't need to check the label. Cashmere is slightly less itchy and prickly, more burny! I'd love to know where you can get good quality non wool jumpers too.

Oh dear.. I've killed the thread haven't I?

I'm allergic to wool, as with others, except cashmere, even cheap cashmere appears to be fine. Lambswool etc, even with something underneath, and I get highly attractive rashes with mohair!
Like outbid (no you haven't ) I can tell just from touching something if it has wool in it.

I find I can wear wool more comfortably when it's really really cold out. I have a thick merino wooly hat that's fine in the snow, but as soon as its a bit warmer (say, 5 degrees) it itches like mad.

Cashmere is fine on me next to my skin. Mohair and rough Shetland type knits I wear a long sleeved thin top under.

The thing is nothing really beats wool in terms of warmth and bouncing back into shape ability.

DH wears merino long johns. Now that I could never do.

I have a knitted wool dress that used to make me itch like crazy...I came on MN to complain and was given this solution: put the garment in a plastic bag and pop it in the freezer overnight. Yes, really. It's a once-off treatment. I was sceptical but it worked for me!

Even with a layer in between anything with wool in makes me itch like crazy. Merino base layers would be torture for me!

The freezer tip is interesting I may give that a try.

wool makes me itch

Me too.

As many others have said, pretty much all wool except cashmere bothers me. I have a Merino cardi from Boden that is fine, but apart from that one I don't like merino next to my skin.

Can't wear wool at all - even a tiny percentage of it will make my skin itch like crazy.

So annoying as love White Stuff clothes but they can't do any knitwear seemingly without wool in it!

I think what people are saying is wool makes people itchy ( including me!) but * hair* fibres don't. These are cashmere, vicuña, angora, camel and alpaca. I teach textile science. It's the scales on wool which cause the irritation. However, I also can.t wear polyester or acrylic, because they make me itchy too, which again is quite normal. I now only wear cotton, silk and hair stuff. Anything else makes me itchy. Silk is the least allergenic of all the fibre because it is a smooth filament, so has no itchy prickly bits on it.

I rally hate cheap mohair which also makes me itch. Expensive mohair doesn't. And those hairy woolly coats. God I feel itchy just talking about them...and ugh boiled wool. Itching in 3d. Yuk!