Whatcha talkin bout, woolfat?

Our proud press release.ta-da! drum roll please…

****Announcing the release of a new line of baby and child skin care products that are natural, organic and compounded in a green facility. Uniquely designed to be free of irritating and harmful additives such as parabens, propylene glycol, petrochemicals and other synthetic agents. After much study of available products in this niche, even ingredients like lanolin (wool fat) and citrus oils were avoided due to potential irritation or sun sensitivity. This left room for the addition of more moisturizing and skin protective ingredients. We proudly welcome a pure, safe and gentle skin care line-Oh, Baby Organic Skincare!****

I know…you are reading along and a word like WOOL FAT jumps out at you! Like everyone knows what that is, right??? It’s just a fancy word for Lanolin…aka wool grease, aka wool wax. It’s a component in many baby lotions and breastfeeding mothers are convinced that they should shmear it on their nipples for relief.

I’d like a raise of hands of anyone who has ever even questioned anything about it.
Bueller…Bueller? Well just in case you were wondering… here are some facts of how we go from fleece to grease:

In conventional wool production, the wool is dipped in pesticides to kill any mites and parasites, and then it is chemically scoured to remove the lanolin. YUCK!

I could go on to tell you about more fancy pesticide names like Organochlorine, Organophosphate, Pyrethroid that the sheep stand in, but I think Wool Fat is quite enough to digest for now. Pretty much the sheep ingest these chemicals and they they stick more to that lovely fat. From their fat to ours- kind of has a ring it!

Methyl Chloride as a solvent to extract the lanolin from the wool. Crude wool wax contains residues of water,detergent ,free fatty acids and their metal soaps ,pesticides environmental contaminants and particulate insoluble matters.There is more evidence to count than sheep to the toxic effects of this chemical!

This is wooly important to know so you don’t massage these toxins into your body or your baby!

footnotes:Agricultural Chemicals in Raw Wool and the Wool Textile Industry
T. SHAW BSc, PhD, CChem, FRSCArticle first published online: 26 JUL 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1994.tb01106.x