Are you new to hand-tufted wool rugs and are you being plagued by persistent shedding and even questioning the quality of your rug for a while? Don’t worry, this is a very common phenomenon. In this article, we will analyze the causes and duration of shedding, and share practical tips and shopping tips.
Many people think that rug hair loss is poor quality, in fact, wool rug hair loss is a normal phenomenon. Wool is a natural protein fiber, in the spinning, weaving will produce not completely fixed short fibers, the use of these fibers at the beginning of the shedding, as the first wash of new clothes slightly discolored, is the natural fiber “adaptation process”.
High-quality wool rug shedding, the essence of the fiber “break-in”, and will not affect the stability of the structure of the rug, but rather show that you are buying a solid wool material.
Fiber length (also known as tuft length) is a key factor in how much wool a rug sheds. Longer fiber wools have the obvious advantage of being more tightly woven together to form a strong yarn structure, which also holds better to the base during weaving and naturally sheds less hair.
In the case of the Edward Martin Off-White Mallory Wool Pile Rug, for example, the long-fiber wool has very little shedding due to its dense texture and tightly interwoven fibers. On the other hand, short fiber wool is difficult to intertwine the fibers, so it is easier to shed when stepped on and rubbed, and the shedding lasts longer, but it does not affect its durability.
Many people will confuse shedding and pilling, in fact, they are completely different. Linting is the shedding of tiny pile hairs on the surface of the rug, which are loose fibers left over from the production process and will not affect the structure of the rug.
Hair is the rug longer yarn head from the pile head bulge, belong to the normal structure of the rug, mostly due to trampling, furniture compression to the yarn displacement. This only affects the appearance, use scissors to gently cut the protruding threads along the root of the pile, do not pull hard to avoid destroying the structure of the weave.
The root of why hand-tufted wool rugs shed more is the process of making them. Unlike hand-knotted rugs, hand-tufted rugs use a tufting gun to pass tufts of wool through a plastic grid, which is then secured with a latex or polymer adhesive and finally reinforced on the back.
This process relies solely on glue to hold the fibers in place and does not employ mechanical locking. With daily trampling, stain erosion and natural aging, the glue gradually fails and the wool fibers loosen and fall out, resulting in more pronounced hair loss.
Wool quality is the core factor that determines whether hand-tufted rug loses wool. In the field of rug making, high-quality long-fiber wool is often preferred because of its high fiber strength and good toughness, which is more suitable for the complex process of hand-knotted.
On the contrary, hand-tufted rug, the raw material is mostly low quality short fiber wool, the fiber is fragile and easy to break. Daily trampling, friction, and even slight scraping may lead to fiber shedding, triggering the problem of hair loss.
The shedding of hand-tufted wool rug shows obvious stage pattern:
To effectively control the linting of hand-tufted wool rugs, the correct vacuuming method is crucial. Recommend the use of suction adjustable vacuum cleaner, will be adjusted to the gear to medium-low intensity, to avoid too strong suction pulling fibers resulting in accelerated hair loss; at the same time with a soft brush head, in the cleaning process to take good care of the fiber structure, to prevent damage.
In terms of cleaning frequency, it can be adjusted in phases: for newly laid rug, during the initial 3-month break-in period, it is recommended to vacuum 2-3 times per week to remove loose floating hairs in time; after passing the initial shedding period, the number of times of cleaning can be adjusted flexibly according to the actual situation of shedding hairs.
High-quality rug pads can significantly reduce wool rug shedding. It can stabilize the position of the rug, reduce the friction caused by daily activities and prevent the fibers from loosening; at the same time, it can reduce the stepping pressure with excellent cushioning performance, slow down the fiber shedding, and effectively prolong the service life of the rug.
When selecting the rug pad, you should give priority to the moderate thickness and good anti-slip effect. Special attention should be paid to avoid the use of cheap plastic mats, in order to prevent damage to the back of the rug.
Avoid High Traffic Areas
Reduce hand tufted wool rug hair loss, can be laid in areas with low traffic, such as the bedroom, study. Living room, doorway and other high-frequency use area due to frequent tread friction is easy to accelerate the fiber shedding, there are children, pets should be avoided in the family laying.
If you need to lay the rug in the living room due to actual demand, you can add a non-slip mat underneath the rug to play a cushioning and stabilizing effect; at the same time, try to reduce the frequent moving of furniture to prevent the local fiber from accelerated shedding due to long-term pressure, so as to effectively extend the service life of the rug, and reduce the phenomenon of hair loss.
In addition to daily vacuuming, professional deep cleaning is an important means to reduce wool rug hair loss. Professional team adopts mild scientific cleaning process, with wool special cleaner, not only can deep decontamination, but also can protect the wool fiber structure and adhesive layer, compared with the family cleaning method, can effectively reduce the risk of hair loss caused by improper cleaning.
It is recommended to incorporate professional cleaning into the annual rug maintenance program, 1-2 times per year is good. It is recommended to clean the rug in time after the peak period of hair loss. Through deep cleaning and professional care, it can restore the elasticity of the fiber and reshape the tight structure, so as to reduce the subsequent hair loss.
The pile of high quality hand-tufted wool rug is well arranged and tight, when you pull the pile gently with your finger, you can feel obvious resistance feedback, and the fiber will not come off easily under the normal strength.
If gently pull on a large number of fibers fall, or the pile head presents high and low uneven, sparse and dense state, that the fiber fixation process is defective, this kind of rug in the subsequent use of hair problems will become more serious.
The back of the rug is an important window to judge the quality. High-quality rug back bonding firm, smooth and clean surface, no bubbles, wrinkles or glue spillage; hand pressure on the back, there will be no soft collapse or material off the situation.
On the contrary, if the back of the glue adhesion is not enough, and even directly observe the fiber loosening, the durability of this type of rug is doubtful, need to be extra cautious when buying.
Feel the Material
natural wool material feel soft and delicate, elastic, press can be quickly restored to its original state; and inferior wool or blended material feel rough and stiff, lack of resilience. With the palm of your hand on the surface of the rug repeatedly rubbed, high quality wool is not easy to ball off hair, poor quality materials will instantly scatter a lot of fiber.
When shopping can be close to the nose rug surface sniffing, if the strong pungent chemical odor, it is likely that the use of low-quality latex adhesive. This kind of latex is not only poor adhesion, easy to aging failure, but also may release harmful chemicals, but also lead to serious hair loss of the rug is an important reason.
A small amount of floating hair on the surface of a new rug is a normal phenomenon, but if a large number of fibers continue to fall off after gently tapping or rubbing, even exposing the rug backing, that is excessive hair loss, indicating that there are quality defects in the product.
It is recommended to carry out on-site testing when purchasing to avoid the risk of purchasing poor quality products.
hand-tufted wool rug hair loss need not worry, through the purchase of high-quality products, do a good job of daily maintenance, it can be easily resolved.
If you have already started to buy wool rugs, you can try the method in the article; if you are still choosing, you can avoid the problem of hair loss by purchasing according to the quality test points. Let the wool rug is no longer troubled, enjoy the warmth and comfort.
