Okay you wool jersey lovers, what am I supposed to do now?!

[EPOJoe]

So I just picked up one of those cool looking Cinzano Woolistic jerseys in black. Hey, it looks great. The only problem is that when I put it on, IT ITCHES! I’m not talking a mild “hey, maybe I can live with this” kind of itch, but rather a “I wonder who poured a bucket of saw dust down my back” type of all encompassing, this just ain’t gonna work, kind of itch. Am I the only one to have suffered this horrific fate with a wool jersey? I thought that somehow this would have been avoided with the “new”, “modern” wool. So what now? Wear a cycling T under the jersey? Grease my upper body with Crisco before a ride? Gee, the jersey sure looks nice; it would be swell if I could wear it :crap:

[jmw]

But I wear Ibex and Smartwool jerseys, and don't have a problem with itchiness, even though I have always been very sensitive to wool. So you might want to try those? However, I have also been told that the wool tends to relax and get softer after the first wash: try washing in cold water, gentle cycle, with Woolite, or Ivory Snow Liquid, and dry flat on a rack, wrapped in a towel (no sun/no dryer). Good luck!

[David Kirk]

I have 3 different Woolistic Jerseys and haven't had that trouble at all.

Dave

[dbrk]

Sorry to hear about this, Joe. In addition to the Woolistics have Ibex, Rivendell Woolywarms, and even some old Swobos, none of them itch. I occasionally wear a plastic jersey but only with a Woolywarm undershirt underneath 'cause I can't stand the feel of clammy plastic. To each his (or her) own.

dbrk

[Tom Byrnes]

I have two Rivendell Wooleywarms and have worn them in Los Angeles without an undershirt and . . . no itch. I saw those Cinzano wool jerseys at a local LBS and thought that the wool was going to be itchy. Sorry to hear that they are. :( :(

[Dekonick]

Think you are stuck with coolmax. I suffer the same way... :crap:

[itsalldark]

If the jersey is made from Merino Wool the jersey should feel really soft after a couple of washings. The key here is Merino Wool!

[EPOJoe]

Well, I took JMW’s advice, and washing the jersey did indeed help! The itchiness dropped from around an 8.5 on the itch-o-meter down to around a 1.5, with only lingering bouts of discomfort. I’m hopeful that with further washings I’ll be able to bring the jersey down to a virtually itchless state. The really amazing thing is that, despite the frequent jibes from my riding buds today, I decided to wear the jersey on a 30 mile loop, with the temps in the high nineties. That’s right, a black, wool jersey in the high nineties. I was fully expecting to be suffering the throws of heat exhaustion in the first ten minutes of the ride, but amazingly, the jersey was cool as could be. The knit appears to be quite tight, but it felt as though I was wearing an almost mesh garment, with the mild breeze passing right through the fabric and cooling me off quite nicely. Very nice and very unexpected on a very hot day! :banana:

[shinomaster]

Just pretend you are a sheep.

[jmw]

EPOJoe,

My friends tease me all the time too; tell me how hot I must be, and how smelly the jersey must be (because I told them how wool does not get smelly). Ah well, we're the ones who won't have to do laundry every day -- well, at least until your jersey relaxes enough. But the earlier poster was right: merino wool is the best and least itchy.