What Does Cashmere Feel Like? (Does Cashmere Make You Itch?)
Cashmere is famed for being one of the most luxurious fabrics in the world. Superbly breathable, lightweight, and insulating, it’s a popular (albeit expensive) choice for any number of garment types and blankets. But what does it feel like, and what makes it feel that way?
To understand what cashmere feels like, we first need to look at how it’s made. While some people seem to be under the impression that cashmere originates in Italy, it really doesn’t.
Cashmere comes from the cashmere goats of Mongolia and China, two countries whose harsh climates have forced the resident goats to adapt to the cold by developing a double fleece.
What does cashmere feel like? Cashmere comes from the hairs of the undercoat, hairs so ultra-fine and insulating that they not only protect the goat from the water and cold (while feeling very soft against the skin to boot), they’ve become the gold standard in luxury knitwear.
Of course, not all cashmere goats are created equal, and neither are their coats. But if you chance upon cashmere made from the goats of Inner Mongolia (who, thanks to the extreme winter conditions of their country, produce some of the longest, thinnest and softest hairs known to both man and goat), you can be assured of a cashmere that’s superbly warm, as soft as a cloud, and about as luxurious to wear as a diamond tiara.
Is Cashmere Soft or Itchy?
Cashmere (or at least real cashmere) is famed for its softness. The fibers that make up its composition have an extremally fine diameter (less than 18.5 microns, if we’re taking the creme de la creme of cashmere), but it’s not just the diameter of the hairs that give them their legendary softness – it’s their bumpiness.
Yep, strange to imagine as it is, those long, wispy hairs are full of bumps, bumps that cling together so closely, there’s no risk of any fibers sticking out and irritating your skin. Compare that to straight fibers like angora, and you’ll soon notice the difference a few bumps can make.
Does Cashmere Make You Itch?
Cashmere is soft. It’s luxurious. It’s designed to make you feel like royalty. What it’s not is itchy.
If your 100% cashmere sweater is making you itch like crazy, then prepare for some bad news. Because that ain’t cashmere – not good-quality, 100% cashmere, at least.
Just because a garment comes with a ‘Made from Cashmere” label, there’s no guarantee that 100% cashmere is what you’ll be getting. If a cashmere piece has been blended with other ‘filler’ fibers (something that’s usually done to lower the price point), it could very well make you scratch up a storm – but it’s those other fibers that are causing the scratching, not the cashmere.
Why is Cashmere So Itchy?
The idea that cashmere is itchy is pure myth. Wrap a newborn baby in a cashmere shawl and even their delicate skin shouldn’t suffer any kind of negative reaction. If your cashmere clothing is making you scratch, take it as an alarm bell.
Many manufactures blend cashmere with other, inferior fibers to stretch it out (and reduce the price, of course). Although this makes ‘cashmere’ much more accessible, it doesn’t do an awful lot of good for its reputation as the softest and most itch-free fabric out there.
We’ll look at some of the ways you can tell a real cashmere garment from a cunning fake shortly, but for now, know this – if your cashmere is making you itch, it’s not the real deal.
Does Cashmere Get Softer?
Good wine and good women may get finer with age, but what about cashmere? Does it get even softer with time? In a nutshell, yes.
From the second you bring a cashmere garment home from the store, it should feel soft. If it’s scratching your skin, you might want to consider just how accurate that ‘100% Cashmere’ label is.
But cashmere is a fabric that becomes even softer over time – hence, no doubt, why it’s considered such an investment piece.
Some clothing manufactures accelerate the softening process by treating the cashmere with chemical additives and softeners before releasing it for sale – but beware such tactics.
Cashmere will soften up naturally in its own good time – trying to rush the process will simply shorten the lifespan of the garment. If you want a piece that lasts, look for cashmere that’s soft against the skin…. but not so soft as to suggest any underhand practices.
How do You Make Cashmere Less Itchy?
How do you make cashmere less itchy? For a start, make sure that whatever garment you’re buying is made from real, 100% cashmere – and don’t just rely on the label to tell you as much.
If you’ve bought a cashmere item that’s been blended with other fibers, it’s very likely that it’s those fibers that are the culprits behind that scratchy, itchy feel... in which case, you’re in luck.
Learn a few little trade secrets, and that scratchy sweater will soon be an itch-free zone.
The White Vinegar and Water Method
This is a super simple way of softening up an itchy garment and requires no more than a few household essentials to do.
- Step 1 - Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to a bucket of cold water. You’ll need to make sure the bucket is large enough (and the water deep enough) to hold the garment to be softened comfortably.
- Step 2 - Flip the garment wrong side out and dunk it in the bucket. You’ll need to make sure the garment is completely submerged, so use a weight to hold it down if any sections start floating up.
- Step 3 - Leave the vinegar to work its magic on the fibers of the wool. Don’t agitate or scrub the garment as it’s soaking – regardless of how low the cashmere content is, cashmere really hates being messed around with too much, particularly when its wet.
- Step 4 - Remove the garment from the bucket after around 15 minutes. Rinse under cool water, and then lay it on top of an old towel. Roll the towel up to help release any excess water, and then hang the garment up to air dry.
The Hair Conditioner Method
Thought your hair conditioner was only capable of smoothing your own hair? Think again. Used on woolen garments, it works a treat to soften up any itchy or scratchy fibers.
- Step 1 - Wash the garment as per the care instructions. Take care not to let it dry out completely – you’ll want it to be still slightly damp for the next step.
- Step 2 - Squeeze a dollop of hair conditioner (look for one without silicones or sulfates) into your hands, then work the conditioner gently into the fibers of the garment.
- Step 3 - Let the conditioner rest for 30 minutes. This will give it enough time to soften up those pokey, itchy fibers. Take care not to leave the conditioner on so long that the garment dries out.
- Step 4 - Rinse the item under cool water. Make sure no traces of hair conditioner remain, otherwise you’ll be left with a slick, slimy feel. Towel dry the garment to get rid of any excess water, and then hang up to dry.
How Can You Tell Real Cashmere?
Real cashmere and ‘fake’ cashmere may look remarkably similar on the hanger, but make no mistake. Once you’ve worn real cashmere, you’ll never confuse it with anything else again.
Although cashmere softens up over time, it should never feel even the tiniest bit scratchy or itchy against your skin. If it does, take it as a warning sign.
If you’re in any doubt as to whether a cashmere garment is the real deal or not, or whether it’s really quite so great a cashmere as the store assistant is making out, put it through the wringer with a few of these tried and tested methods.
Give it a Stretch
Good quality cashmere will ping back into shape regardless of how much you stretch it. Gently pull on a piece of the fabric (if you’re doing this in a store, you might want to nip into a changing room first). If it snaps back into place, you’re onto a winner. If it doesn’t, it’s not… and for your own sake, you might want to make a swift exit from the store before anyone notices what you’ve done.
Peep Through it
A good quality, pure cashmere will be made from a tight-knit. Hold a piece of fabric up to the light, give it a little stretch, and then look through it. If you can make out what’s on the other side of the fabric, put the item back on the rack and beat a hasty retreat. If the knit is too tight for you to see anything but the fabric itself, you’ve found yourself a winner.
Rub it
While every type of cashmere will pill over time, one made from the best kind of fibers (and in the cashmere world, the longer the hair, the better) will stay resistant to pilling for far longer.
To test the garment for quality, gently rub your hand across its surface. If it starts to pill immediately, you can be confident that the fibers used are of the shorter, lower quality kind.
Check for Fluffiness
If you want a good quality garment that’s going to stand up to years of wear and look no worse for the experience, you’re going to want to invest in a high-quality cashmere – and that means one made from the super-long, super-thin hairs that line a cashmere goat’s underbelly.
If you look at a cashmere garment and are struck by how fluffy it looks under the light, put it down. The fluffier the cashmere, the shorter the hairs. It might be soft, but it’s going to pill and wear out much quicker than an equivalent garment made from long hairs.
Ideally, look for a “fluff” level of no more than between 1 and 2 mm.
Check the Price
Cashmere can come in a hundred different colors and styles, but the one factor that unifies all cashmere garments is their price.
Whichever way you look at it, cashmere isn’t cheap (and when you consider how it takes 4 goats to make just one cashmere sweater, you can understand why).
While a bargain buy is always tempting, resist. If a retailer is peddling ‘real’ cashmere at a bargain-basement price, you can bet your bottom dollar something’s afoot– starting with that ‘real’ label….
Roll it
High-quality cashmere doesn’t wrinkle. Cheap imitations often do. Roll the garment into a ball – if it comes out of the experience wrinkle-free, there’s a good chance the fiber content consists of a high-quality cashmere. If it comes out with more wrinkles than a bulldog, it’s unlikely the fibers have ever been anywhere near a goat’s belly.
Examine the Report
Most sales assistants will tell you anything if it means getting a commission. If they tell you a sweater is made of the finest cashmere, make them put their money where their mouth is by showing you the certificate to prove it.
High-quality cashmere items should come with a cashmere test certificate. Items to look out for on the report include the mean fiber diameter (as a general rule of thumb, the lower the number, the better the cashmere. Ideally, you want to be seeing a number of 19 microns or less) and the percentage of coarse hair (again, this should be as low as possible, and ideally less than 3%).
Can You be Allergic to Cashmere?
Can you be allergic to cashmere? Unless you have a very, very rare condition indeed, then no. You absolutely can’t. Some people might say they have an allergy to all woolen fabrics. But the fact is cashmere is naturally hypoallergenic. Sure, you might find yourself having a reaction to a cashmere blend, but it’s the other fibers in the mix that are causing the trouble. Cashmere itself is blameless… expensive, but blameless.
