Woolen sweaters shrink when washed, so will woolen sweaters shrink when they take a bath?

There are a wide variety of wool sweaters on the market now, and almost everyone has a wool sweater in their wardrobe. But no matter how good the wool sweater is, it will shrink to some extent.

Especially after washing in the washing machine, wearing it will make people feel like they have gained ten pounds.

Some friends may think, wool comes from sheep, wool sweaters will shrink after washing, so will the wool on the sheep also shrink after taking a bath?

Before answering this question, we must first know the reasons why wool sweaters shrink.

Before that, I would like to ask you to separate a strand of hair or a small strand, touch it all the way down along the hair, and then touch it backwards from the end of the hair to the root of the hair. Try it a few times, do you find that it is very smooth when you touch it along the hair, but it feels frizzy and a little buzzing when you touch it backwards?

If you feel it, then congratulations, you have discovered one of the essences of this problem - friction. The reason for this friction is related to the structure of our hair.

This is the hair under the electron microscope. Doesn't it look quite frizzy? It turns out that hair is not as smooth as everyone imagines. It is covered with many scales, which are the hair scales.

Because there are so many hair scales on the hair, we feel resistance when we touch it backwards.

But what does this have to do with our sweaters?

The structure of the hair scales is exactly the key to the shrinkage of wool sweaters, because wool has a similar structure to our hair and also has hair scales.

When a sweater is thrown into a washing machine, the turbine of the washing machine will toss the clothes inside, and friction will come into play. In such a chaotic environment, our sweater will keep rubbing against other clothes and even itself.

Once friction is generated, the scales on the wool fibers act like little ratchets, allowing the fibers to move in only one direction.

And the water in the washing machine makes the situation worse. The water will swell the wool, causing the fibers to swell and the wool scales to become softer.

Softness is not a good thing either. If it is too soft, the adjacent hair scales will become entangled and knotted due to friction.

Think about it, during the whole washing process, thousands of wool scales on the sweater become small ratchets one by one, making the fibers move and gradually become tighter. Then they tie a knot by themselves. It would be strange if your sweater didn't shrink at this time.

Then let’s take a look at what the cute sheep looks like after getting wet.

They don't seem to be bothered by shrinkage because they lack the crucial friction.

When sheep are caught in the rain or fall into a ditch, their wool will also swell. However, they do not shake their wool around, so the wool fibers will not be entangled. And the wool on their bodies is not woven together, but still has one end open. So the ratchets cannot work.

When the hair dries, it will still be the same length and shape, so the hair of sheep will not shrink after bathing.

If you want the sheep's hair to shrink, you need to lock a lot of sheep in a closed space, wet them and let them run around in it. Or put the sheep in a drum washing machine...

Of course, sheep are so cute that no one would harm them just to watch them shrink in a tangle.

So when washing wool products, it is best not to put them in the washing machine and let them develop. When washing by hand, you should also avoid rubbing them against each other and be sure to wash them gently.

The main raw materials used for wool products on the market now are wool, fine wool, cashmere, etc. Because the width of wool scales is different, different degrees of shrinkage will occur during washing.

So we don’t actually have to worry about whether the wool will shrink after getting wet. It’s better to protect the wool products in your wardrobe and don’t let them shrink.