Product Care & Information

Caring for your new shawl, ruana, or poncho is easy.  Store it folded as you would a nice sweater, do not hang for long-term storage.  You may want to air it out occasionally and the easiest way to do that is to hang it on a hanger outside in the sunshine for a couple hours.  Airing it outdoors will reduce the number of times it will need to be washed.

You may have your new shawl dry cleaned if necessary, although the more gentle approach to cleaning it is hand washing.

To hand wash, fill the sink with warm water and add a small amount of gentle soap to the water.  Soap flakes, a gentle shampoo, Orvus Paste, liquid dish soap or Eucalan Wool Wash are options that work well.  We do not recommend Woolite because it has been re-formulated for lingerie and is fairly harsh on wool.  Let the shawl soak for 15 to 20 minutes then gently squeeze out as much water as you can.  Remove the shawl from the sink and refill it with warm water.  Let the shawl soak in the rinse water for 15 to 20 minutes.  Squeeze out as much water as you can, then wrap the shawl in a towel and squeeze tightly to remove more water.  Lay flat to dry.

Please do not agitate your shawl in the washing process, only swish it gently in the water both to wash and rinse.  Agitation in warm water may felt and shrink the wool.

• Ruana: two triangles woven together halfway across the long dimension to produce a square with a long slit.
• Poncho: two triangles woven together at the ends of the long dimension with a slit left in the middle.  The slit can be worn shoulder-to-shoulder or front-to-back.

About Lanolin

No product has been returned to Ascal Laboratories NZ, Ltd. in our 22 year history by any customer saying that they are allergic to Lanolin.

Lanolin is a byproduct of the wool industry

Wool is carefully shorn (cut using electric clippers) from the live sheep by sheep shearers.  Sheep shearers are specialized farm workers who learn this skill over many years of shearing practice.  They shear (cut) the wool off the sheep, then the wool is washed before the wool oil (lanolin) is extracted (scoured).  The wool is harvested from sheep just like milk is harvested from cows, and honey is harvested from bees.  Therefore there is NO animal cruelty associated with shearing the sheep.

There are extensive records of safe use of lanolin in skin care applications.  Lanolin is an excelled emollient - it helps soften and soothe skin.

No allergy

Professor A. M. Kligman, world famous American Dermatologist, has clinical studies proving that 99% of dermatitis patients were not allergic to lanolin.

Professor Kligman wrote -- In a healthy population encountering lanolin in the normal way, the incidence of lanolin allergy is vanishingly small.

St. John's Institute of Dermatology, London reviewed 24,930 patients for fifteen (15) years (1982-1996), who have eczema and there was no reaction to lanolin products.

There are ignorant marketers, who try to discredit lanolin to help sell their own types of products.  Remember this quote from Professor Kligman:

Lanolin is a marvelous material.  We should begin to emphasize the benefits; not the risks.  The risks are miniscule.

Reference

ORR, S. R. Dr, Lanolin Demythologized, Personal Care, January 2001.