What do you wear if you want to wear natural fibres but wool is too itchy in winter?

[hippospot]

Obviously cashmere but it's pricey.

I'm talking about scarves and jumpers. My neck gets irritated very easily.

I'm looking for things that will last a long time and not go bobbly. I want to avoid acrylic and polyester. I'm asking the impossible aren't I?

Thanks for any tips.

Extra fine merino, doesn't bobble and is soft next to skin

I second merino wool

I don’t like wool next to my skin so wear a thin cotton T-shirt under jumpers.

Cashmere is the softest. It's really worth the extra effort required in terms of washing and moth protection.

I feel you, last winter I had eczema on my neck and it was very easily irritated.

Merino is wool, but very soft and not as pricy as cashmere. Uniqlo do ultra fine merino jumpers that last well, I've had some for 10yrs plus. Cashmere/cotton is a good jumper mix, but not as warm as cashmere.

Wool/silk blend scarves are warm and soft. You could just go for silk/cotton, but it wouldn't be was warm.

Silk
Fine cotton
fine merino (try Uniqlo for a low cost option to try)
cashmere

viscose is almost natural … but doesn’t bobble

Layers: cotton vest, cotton long sleeved top or shirt, knitted cotton jumper. I get all my knitted cotton jumpers from Esprit as they're finer knit, softer and look smarter than any other cotton jumpers I've found.

I can't wear wool either. You can get 100% cotton knitwear and some sites like Next allow you to filter by material. I have one wool jumper which I wear occasionally with a long sleeved cotton top underneath, only because I loved the design.

Layers; long sleeved cotton shirts and Tshirts below jumpers or cardigans.

Merino is soft and much less itchy than other wools (and less pricy than cashmere). You could otherwise try an alpaca blend? Light and warm.

Some cotton/bamboo blends are soft but won't be as warm.

Silk thermal under layers had them for 20 years they look a bit shit but do the trick with Will over the top

I can't wear wool. In winter if I need to layer up it's a cotton vest top, then cotton or silk collared shirt and pure cotton M&S kids school cardigan.

Getting over heated irritates my exzema on my neck and inner elbows so I need layers I can get rid of as necessary. M&S are good for 100% cotton

I can only wear cashmere or I itch like mad. I have found some cashmere bargains on Vinted.

Also, charity shops will throw out any jumper which has a hole in it - even if the hole is tiny. My DM has sourced several perfectly serviceable cashmere jumpers from charity shops for free because they were going to be chucked otherwise & she's sewn up the holes herself. If you know anyone who volunteers in a charity shop you could ask them to keep an eye out.

Thanks everyone.

For jumpers I often wear a Uniqlo thermal layer under merino. Scarves are trickier because of the contact with skin. I'll look at Vinted for cashmere :)

I looked everywhere last winter for exactly this.
Cashmere is good but expensive, hard to wash and maintain (and shrinks unless you use the gentlest care!). I find a mix of cotton/merino/silk and cashmere (in whatever mix or blend) is best. I haven't found the holy grail though, apart from one very old cotton/silk mix jumper which was actually flattering as well. 10 years ago now.

Even merino makes me itch like mad but this base layer is amazing, sort of fluffy on the inside and not itchy at all (I once wore a yarn jumper at school and got sent home because I itched until the inside of my elbows bled - just to demonstrate that I've been itchy all my life in wool!):

https://www.odlo.com/gb/en/the-natural-merino-260-base-layer-top-112041.html?dwvar_112041_color=15000&cgid=#q=active+natural+warm+merino&start=14

I got it on a running website for half the price - I'm going to try to find another in the black Friday sales, it's the only thing that keeps me warm WFH - I wash it and wear it all winter. I have Icebreaker, Mizuno etc. base layers and can't wear them all day. No idea how they made this one feel so nice.

And yes, TK Maxx and Vinted for cashmere. I've never paid more than 25 pounds for my cashmere jumpers and most of my winter work wardrobe is made up of them. Just check on Vinted that they are a 100 per cent cashmere.

Look at the NearlyNewCashmereCompany

They make new items from recycled cashmere and do scarves. And their neck warmers are cheaper than Turtle Doves who also use recycled cashmere.

www.nearlynewcashmere.co.uk/collections/second-hand-cashmere-accessories?filter.p.m.custom.style=New+Scottish+Scarves&filter.p.m.custom.style=Second+Hand+Scarves

This is pretty much what I do. I always layer up a jumper with either a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt or heattech under.

For scarves, I have several woven silk/wool mix ones that are v fine weave. Some from Becksondergaard and Inouï - tkmaxx often has a good priced range. I lived in these last winter, when I had eczema on my neck and couldn't wear knitted, wool scarves.

I can't wear anything but Cashmere.
I buy from Tk Maxx & new M&S on eBay. There are lots of Cashmere scarves on the Tk Maxx website at reasonable prices. Yes, you can buy from the pre-loved websites as well but the items may not wear as well. A cardigan I bought from Turtle Doves a few years ago developed holes in almost immediately. I think due to the different weights of Cashmere in it as it was composed of 'pieces' .

I honestly find it so easy to care for.
I wash Cashmere in the machine on a delicate wash with wool detergents &
Debobble with an battery operated debobbler. I find pure wool much harder to care for as it often shrinks. You do need a Moth deterrent & I store the items in plastic zip lock bags in Summer.

Cashmere.

If you wash it carefully it will last for years.