Product Care

Once each season, remove all of your wool pillows from their pillow cases and place them out in the sun. Sun will naturally deodorize, bleach, disinfect, and revitalize your wool pillows. You can hang the pillows over railings or furniture, hang them out the window, or lay them on a blanket in the sun. If you are unable to bring your bedding outside, you can place the items near a fireplace/stove or other source of dry heat.

If you live in a particularly humid climate you can take additional steps:

• Use a dehumidifier
• Sun and air bedding more frequently
• Use a space-heater as a stand-in for sun

Wool is incredibly resistant to mold and mildew. Keep an eye on the wooden slats of your frame for early signs of mildew.

1. Allow Your Bedding to Breathe Daily

The easiest way to care for your natural fiber bedding is by unmaking your bed every morning. In order to let the most active areas of your bedding breathe, pull back your comforter and blankets for at least an hour or two after you wake up. Your wool bedding has been actively wicking moisture away from your skin throughout the night in order to keep you in a comfortable temperature zone. Giving your bedding a daily chance to air out allows it to release that moisture and stay fresh.

2. Seasonal Sun and Air

Once each season, remove all of your wool-filled comforter from it’s duvet cover and place it out in the sun. Sun will naturally deodorize, bleach, disinfect, and revitalize your bedding. You can hang the bedding over railings or furniture, hang them out the window, or lay them on a blanket in the sun. If you are unable to bring your bedding outside, you can place the items near a fireplace/stove or other source of dry heat.

If you live in a particularly humid climate you can take additional steps:

• Use a dehumidifier
• Sun and air bedding more frequently
• Use a space-heater as a stand-in for sun

Wool is incredibly resistant to mold and mildew. Keep an eye on the wooden slats of your frame for early signs of mildew.

Wool should always be washed with care. Frequent washing can strip the fibers of lanolin removing some of the beneficial properties of wool. (Lanolin adds dust-mite and mildew resistant properties to wool fibers.)

Your mattress protector can be machine washed. Front-loaders are best, but not necessary. Always use a “delicate” or “woolen” cycle and cold water. Use a mild detergent or one that is formulated for wool such as Eucalan, Kookabura or Woolite. You can purchase Eucalan detergent on our website.

1. Allow Your Bedding to Breathe Daily

The easiest way to care for your natural fiber bedding is by unmaking your bed every morning. In order to let the most active areas of your bedding breathe, pull back your comforter and blankets for at least an hour or two after you wake up. Your wool bedding has been actively wicking moisture away from your skin throughout the night in order to keep you in a comfortable temperature zone. Giving your bedding a daily chance to air out allows it to release that moisture and stay fresh.

2. Fold Mattress Topper Down Once Each Month

Once per month (or whenever you change your sheets) pull your mattress topper down over the foot of your bed. This allows the very middle of your bed to air out and release moisture. This is a great time to rotate and flip your mattress topper in order to create even compression.

3. Seasonal Sun and Air

Once each season, remove all of your wool bedding (other than the mattress, which only needs to be sunned once per year) and place them out in the sun. Sun will naturally deodorize, bleach, disinfect, and revitalize your bedding. You can hang the bedding over railings or furniture, hang them out the window, or lay them on a blanket in the sun. If you are unable to bring your bedding outside, you can place the items near a fireplace/stove or other source of dry heat.

If you live in a particularly humid climate you can take additional steps:

• Use a dehumidifier
• Sun and air bedding more frequently
• Fold all bedding over to allow the bottom of the mattress additional air
• Use a space-heater as a stand-in for sun
• Vacuum your mattress to pull air through the fibers

Wool is incredibly resistant to mold and mildew. Keep an eye on the wooden slats of your frame for early signs of mildew.

1. Allow Your Bedding to Breathe Daily

The easiest way to care for your natural fiber bedding is by unmaking your bed every morning. In order to let the most active areas of your bedding breathe, pull back your comforter and blankets for at least an hour or two after you wake up. Your wool bedding has been actively wicking moisture away from your skin throughout the night in order to keep you in a comfortable temperature zone. Giving your bedding a daily chance to air out allows it to release that moisture and stay fresh.

2. Seasonal Sun and Air

Once each season, remove all of your wool-filled mattress topper and place it out in the sun. Sun will naturally deodorize, bleach, disinfect, and revitalize your bedding. You can hang the bedding over railings or furniture, hang them out the window, or lay them on a blanket in the sun. If you are unable to bring your bedding outside, you can place the items near a fireplace/stove or other source of dry heat.

If you live in a particularly humid climate you can take additional steps:

• Use a dehumidifier
• Sun and air bedding more frequently
• Use a space-heater as a stand-in for sun

Wool is incredibly resistant to mold and mildew. Keep an eye on the wooden slats of your frame for early signs of mildew.

The wool seems to thrive with regular but not constant sun exposure (just like people!). Wool naturally neutralizes itself – it could be considered a “self-cleaning” fiber as it releases odors quickly. The best and simplest care instructions for your wool felts is to Sun and Air them on a regular basis.

THE ‘NO SHRINK’ WASH METHOD

For the layered felt bed, only the “protection layer” (top layer closest to the body) needs to be washed. Wash only when necessary.

Soiling and dirt washes out of wool easily. To avoid shrinkage, we recommend the ‘foot washing on a roll’ method (this is a traditional Persian method of washing wool rugs).

For this you will need:

PVC plastic pipe, 3″ in diameter and long enough to accommodate your felt with about a foot to spare on either side of the felt. These are easily available at your local hardware or lumber yard. Queen felt requires PVC pipe approximately 7′ long. King felt requires PVC pipe approximately 8′ long. You will need approximately 10 to 15 gallons of hot, soapy water.

Instructions:

1.   Begin by laying felt out flat on an outdoor, clean surface, such as a cement pad or a cement driveway. Wet the felt with the warm soapy water, using a garden watering can.

2.   Roll felt onto the PVC pipe snugly, and secure the roll by tying with cotton or wool cloth strips at 5 locations along the roll, using a half bow for easy release and re-use.

3.   Use some kind of support bar or several chars to support you as you foot stomp along the full length of the rolled up felt. Stomp every inch of the upper section of felt, back and forth several times, then turn a quarter turn and repeat until you have gone around the whole roll once or twice.

4.   Use soap free water to rinse felt. Follow the same method of foot stomping, turning the roll 4 times until the felt has been fully rinsed.

5.   Lift one end of the roll to rest on the bar or chair and let it drip dry for an hour or so.

6.   Unroll the felt to lay flat on the clean cement pad to dry.

7.   You can stretch and shape the felt a little while wet.

8.   Dries quickly. It feels good to lay on a moist felt. Try it sometime.

THE BATH TUB METHOD

Fill tub a few inches deep with slightly soapy warm water. Press wool felt into the water, saturating it completely. Let the felt soak for a half hour. Knead and swoosh it around to remove the soiling. Drain the tub. Fill tub again a few inches deep with non-soapy, clear water for rinsing. Swoosh and knead the felt until the soap is removed. Let the water drain out. Leave the felt in the tub to continue draining for another half hour — or more. Ring out the water occasionally. Pull the felt out of the bathtub when it has had a chance to fully drain and dry a little so it is just moist.

Now lay the felt flat on a floor (that can handle moisture) and let it dry. The felts dry quickly. While still moist, stretch the felt if necessary to the desired size. There should be very little shrinkage from the start measurements, if any.

Voila! Clean felt!

Finish by sunning and airing if desired.

MACHINE WASHING METHOD (use at your own risk of shrinkage- from 10% to 30%)

To avoid much shrinkage, it is very important to use a short wash cycle and COLD water on a delicate setting, using the lowest water level setting. Must use a front loader — NEVER A TOP LOADER. Commercial washing machines are most effective. You will need to use a large front loader washing machine at your local Laundromat to accommodate the large bed felts. Pack the felt into the machine, with some room to spare. If packed too tight the felting will be less vigorous and less consistent. Too much room will result in more felting, thus more shrinkage.

The felt dries quickly when stretched out flat to dry — ideally in the sun, but indoors is fine too. Stretch or shape the felt while still wet.

With constant use, the new felt will begin to ‘pill’ (tiny balls form on the surface of the felt where there is the most contact). This is unavoidable. Before washing (once or twice a year), take the little pillings off by hand. With each washing the felt will pill less and less.

1. Let it breathe

Unwrap your newly opened mattress and let it breathe at least a full day before sleeping on it, ideally inside your home where there is maximum air circulation. This will allow any of the natural odors of latex and packaging to dissipate.

2. Choose a bed frame

Choose an appropriate bed frame that allows for airflow underneath the mattress, such as our slatted wood frames. Ideally you would want spaces that are about 1.5 inches apart to provide solid support for your body without blocking airflow.

3. Use a mattress cover

Use a removable, washable mattress cover underneath a fitted sheet made of natural fibers. Your mattress is built with our premium organic cotton sateen and Eco Wool encasement. For added protection and comfort, we recommend our wool mattress toppers, covers and organic cotton sheets.

4. Flip or rotate

Rotate or flip your Live & Dream mattress about every six months to allow for complete air circulation throughout the materials. The nature of our high quality latex cores and premium cotton sateen and Eco Wool over covers makes frequent rotation unnecessary but will help reduce compression spots where you sleep when done occasionally.

5. Avoid direct sunlight

Avoid direct sunlight on your uncovered latex. Unlike our wool mattresses which thrive on sunlight, latex can be damaged by excessive heat and from the sun’s UV rays.

6. Use spot cleaning for spills or stains

Use gentle spot cleaning with a damp rag as needed.  Do not use any harsh cleaning solutions.  Should your mattress come into contact with excessive moisture, unzip the cover to expose saturated area and blot with a clean dry towel.  The latex will naturally repel any spills or stains, but you don’t want to trap significant amounts of moisture inside the bed.  Circulating air with a fan or using a dehumidifier will help speed the drying process.