CLEANING AND CARING FOR YOUR SHEEPSKIN
Taking care of your sheepskin is a breeze. It requires very little attention, although we do have some customers that find great relaxation in giving their pelt a good brush! The thing about naturally tanned sheepskins like ours is that they are essentially self-cleaning. Sheepskin is dirt and bacteria resistant. It has been known for centuries that the lanolin in natural sheepskin provides it with a self cleaning quality when the sheepskin is hung in fresh air. Cool, right? But perhaps your sheepskin needs a little love. Is it looking sad, kinda smelly, or maybe it just isn't shinning like it use to?
Here are some tips for cleaning and making it beautiful again.
The most important care tip: Brush your sheepskin!
Brushing your sheepskin once or twice a month is the best way to keep it clean, dust free, and have a beautiful smooth surface. It’s easy and takes 1-2 minutes. Here’s our recommended brushes. The key is that it has metal bristles.
Brushes we recommend
for Sheepskin
Simple Spot Cleaning
- You'll need a scrub brush, cold water, and some natural soap
- Wet the scrub brush with water and scrub off the soap with the water. Repeat until the soap is gone.
- Hang dry (normally takes about 1 hour to dry)
I have a short-hair sheepskin that I've owned for almost 6 years, and recently it started looking a little old. Instead of doing a full wash, I scrubbed the whole front of the hide as described above. It was easy and dried in 1 hour. Looked brand-new afterwards.
How to wash a Sheepskin?
DISCLAIMER: If you have a curly sheepskin like a Gotland, you can not put it into the washing
machine or get the leather side wet. It will harden the leather.
1. Use cold water only! This is very important.
2. We recommend spot cleaning only. Machine washing can be done but it’s not advised because if done incorrectly it can permanently damage the pelt and harden the leather.
3. Spot cleaning method: first sprinkle baking soda on the soiled area and let sit for 1 hour. This will soak up anything not desired. Then comb out the soiled area with a comb or brush. Take a wool shampoo and mix it with equal parts water. Clean the soiled area with the mixture. Rinse and repeat accordingly while making sure not to get the leather side too wet. As soon as you are done cleaning, take a hair dryer and blow dry the fur and leather dry. *What is important is that you quickly dry the leather area(s). It can also be thrown into a dryer on high heat but this might cause the fur texture to change some. We highly recommend the hair dryer method for quick drying.
4. If hand-washing, squeeze all the extra water out (as much as you possibly can).
5. Lay flat with leather side up. DO NOT hang or lay in the sun or on a hot day. Ideally hang dry in cool dark area or on a cooler night. Also, you can hang dry them in freezing weather (cool, right)
Recommended
Shampoo & Detergent
for Sheepskin
Does it have a smell that
might be bothering you?
Here are our tips:
1. Essential oils: this is our preference. In-fact, lavender works the best. Dab your finger in the oil and then rub the oil onto 10-15 spots on the base of the root, where the hair starts. You can repeat this once a week until the smell has vanished.
2. Another option for reducing the smell of your sheepskin is throwing it into the dryer with a natural scented dryer sheet. Tumble the sheepskin on low heat and throw in a few dryer sheets. Let it tumble for 10-15 minutes. If you still smell the sheepskin, repeat this process a few times. Below, you’ll find our recommended dryer sheets.
Recommended dryer sheets to reduce smell
Cliganic USDA Organic Lavender Essential Oil
Reducing Dust
Build-up
- We highly recommend brushing your pelt once a month. Also give it a good shake outside to reduce any dust.
- Brushing your pelt will make it beautiful again and if you want that "plush" or groomed look, brushing it is key.