I wore a Wool& dress for 100 days
My thoughts on the 100 day dress challenge:
What’s your first thought? “Ewwwww!!!!! Won’t it smell? Wasn’t it dirty? WHY would you do that??” For so, so many reasons. But it honestly started on a whim, after seeing a social media ad. I’m a “strike while the iron is hot” kinda person and while I am very planned and organized in many areas of my life, I can also teeter on being impulsive depending on the day or the activity. THIS was indeed an impulsive decision.
I often feel like impulsive decisions are driven by a need for “something”... and I often don’t learn what that “something” is, until I’ve taken the dive.There are so many things I realized during this challenge.
To help you understand my frame of reference and my world right now: please note that this has been an incredibly difficult year in my life. My father (my rock, my guide) died unexpectedly from COVID in December 2020, after 7 very difficult years of declining health, and then 5 months following that, my kind, quiet, and thoughtful father-in-law also died from COVID. And I’ve lost two dear pets during this past 100 days. I haven’t been the same since. My mental health has taken a huge hit and I don’t even want to go to work most days. Grief is very real and present in my life and I honestly didn’t understand the plunging depths, emotional roller coaster, and detriment to relationships that grief and loss can cause. To say it’s been hard is the biggest understatement of my life. I’m just thankful that I’m still here right now.
Now that we’ve gotten that aspect of my life out of the way, up until the past 100 days, I have never enjoyed my “look.” I’ve always been obese, according to the lovely and misguided BMI chart, and I’ve always had a belly, large boobs, and serious curves. I have worn jeans and t-shirts my entire life. MY ENTIRE LIFE. And honestly they’ve never been comfortable, I just wore them because I really didn’t know what else to wear.
Up until 100 days ago, I only wore dresses when I felt absolutely forced into doing so: a job interview, going to church when I was really young, attending a ‘fancy’ event as a child or adolescent. I ALWAYS hated it. I hated hose. I hated my hair being brushed, I HATED how dress fabric felt, I hated how COLD I felt when wearing a dress. I also felt naked and uncomfortable. So the fact that I was even remotely drawn to this strange dress challenge is bizarre, even to me. (I also now understand as an adult, that I have a sensory-processing disorder, along with anxiety/depression, social anxiety, and ADD… which explains a LOT about why I have always been so picky about clothing and how it feels.)
But even WITH jeans and t-shirts, in the past few years, no matter what shirts or jeans that I bought, the quality was continually going downhill. Whether it was Old Navy (or even a more expensive brand like Michael Kors) that I would find second-hand on Thredup, the shirts would get holes after just a few wears. I would need to replace my Old Navy jeans within 4-5 months because the denim would wear thin and eventually fray into large holes in the thigh or butt area.
I even tried to get my jeans repaired a few times, but the repairs never lasted long. When I could find shirts that seemed to have some life to them, along with fitting my large apple shape, they would suddenly stop being made, so after the inevitable holes started coming (usually around my waist, or areas where I rubbed against counters while washing dishes, or where my seatbelt rubbed against my shirt), I couldn’t find more of the shirts that I actually liked. It was SO frustrating. It made clothes shopping a chore and something I hated, because I never felt good about the clothing I would find. I never felt good about myself or my choices.
So before this challenge, dressing in the morning was never a joyful occasion. It would honestly astound me to watch shows, like “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix… because I could never imagine any of my clothes really bringing me joy. I’d be naked if I cleaned out my closet on that advice.
I’ve come to understand that I was searching for many things:
To help alleviate daily decision fatigue
To understand and find clothing that I truly did find comfortable for my body shape and size
To learn about my own true style and what shapes fit my body
To declutter my wardrobe and only make space for the things that I actually wore and used
To find something to look forward too in the midst of my achingly painful grief
To find more ways to accept and love who I am physically, exactly as I am
To have clothing that I could actually use with the 30+ scarves I have in my closet that NEVER get used… lololol
I know fast fashion is a bad thing, and I’m very interested in sustainable clothing, I was just never willing to spend more money on clothing…
Less laundry is always a good thing, right?!
Here are some things I learned along the way and how this challenge changed many aspects of my life:
First I documented my entire challenge here:
https://100daysofwillowplus.tumblr.com/
I switched to Lume deodorant. I did this because Wool& suggests that antiperspirant/aluminum based and/or baking soda based deodorants/antiperspirants can break down wool and harm the fabric of the garment.
When I bought the dress, I never intended on switching deodorants. I’ve used Secret my entire life and a few years ago, it actually stopped working for me, so then I switched to Clinical Strength Secret. Before switching to the Clinical Strength deodorant, I had tried to use more natural deodorant alternatives, but I have never been able to find a solution/product that actually worked for me until NOW. Most products broke me out.
While switching deodorants wasn’t part of my initial game plan, I also had never spent $138 on a piece of clothing before (seriously - I even used my high school prom dress for my wedding dress) and I didn’t want to ruin this Wool& garment… So I was willing to make the switch. And honestly I’m SO glad I did. I LOVE LUME!!!!!!!I have only used Lume Clean Tangerine and I absolutely love it. IT DOES NOT work for a full 72 hours like it says on the package… that’s nonsense, but I put it on each morning and after a shower. As long as I apply it daily, I have NO smelly pits! After you apply it, it’s also important to just let your pits air out for about 5 minutes just to allow the product to dry. I use this as a little 5 minute meditation/kitty petting session in the morning!
I also occasionally (maybe once a week) use a homemade alcohol “reset” – basically I have a little spray bottle that has straight (cheap) vodka and vanilla extract in it and I rub it over my armpit area to help kill any lingering bacteria hanging around. Some people JUST use the alcohol spray as their deodorant, but I feel like I need the help of Lume’s acidified ingredients to keep me from getting stinky.
I also started using Lume’s acidified body-wash in the shower and while it smells terrible (really, it’s gross), I think it IS very effective in helping your body to not be smelly when you sweat. I also love that you can both use the body wash, body lotion, and deodorant ON ALL of the creases and crevices ALL over your body. Feet, pits, all your private places, everywhere. It’s good stuff. (No, they aren’t paying me to say any of this, I just am a huge fan!)
240 lbs., 5’3, apple shape,
Enell lite sports bra (SO comfortable, and yet so much support, discovered these YEARS ago!)
A 100% cotton v-neck tee-shirt, as my first layer
Leggings or Snag Tights (usually a basic pair of polyester gray, black, or wine colored leggings I found on Amazon – I hope to replace these with a natural fiber legging eventually)
Washed Navy Willow 2xl, regular length
Would add one or two of the following depending on the weather and what activity I am doing: scarves, fleece vests, duster vests, long pendant necklaces, linen apron if at home and doing chores or cooking
Black socks - if a really cold day, I would add a layer of Nordic wool socks on top
Shoes - only if I’m leaving the house: Black slip-on sneakers (because it’s easy to take them off at work, I prefer sock-feet), Brown ankle boots, Black suede ankle boots, Sperry black duck boots for rain days
- Even with using LUME, I still was concerned that the product would build up in the armpits of the dress, especially as I was only planning to wash the dress about every two weeks. So I use this cotton undershirt. I’m glad I use the undershirt everyday, I think I definitely would get cold without it. AND I fully believe it saves the armpits of the dress with daily wear and tear.
- The cheaper polyester leggings I found on Amazon have been my daily go-to and they’ve held up relatively well. I like SNAG tights, but they were harder to put on (even though they fit PERFECTLY) during my challenge, so I didn’t find myself reaching for them as often as I would have liked. I plan on eventually adding some wool or bamboo leggings to my wardrobe, because I absolutely love how regulated my temperature is in wool.
Washed Navy Willow 2xl regular
- I don’t even know how I decided on this particular dress, but it honestly, magically, worked PERFECTLY for me. I seriously just love this dress. I don’t think the model on the Wool& shows how versatile and easy this dress is. She holds it strangely with her hands and I think it’s unflattering that way. But I love how it looks on me. I did think it just looked like a big t-shirt right out of the package, but once I put it on, I loved the shape of it on my body. And I only grew to love it more every single day! I think I will still continue to wear this dress VERY regularly after the challenge is over, because it’s SO easy and it just goes with EVERYTHING!
At the beginning I thought I might shorten it once the challenge was over. I’m only 5’3, so the dress is pretty long on me, but I think I really grew to love the length, so I will probably leave her exactly as she is. I can tell you that now, 100 days later, this dress STILL looks brand new. I did not have any issues with the fabric thinning in the armpits or anywhere else - I attribute this to using the undershirt.. I think the undershirt really helped me with temperature regulation (also an all-natural cotton shirt), but I’m going to purchase some wool undershirts as well! I look forward to seeing how well they work!
If you have any questions about the socks or footwear that I use, please let me know.
Daily care of my Wool& dress:
Every evening when I’m ready to switch into my “house” clothes - super comfy, old, stained clothes before it’s time for bed, I do the following to my cotton undershirt and Wool& dress:
Turn the dress inside out, turn the cotton t-shirt inside out
Using either The Laundress Wool Refresher OR a homemade blend of ¾ (cheap) vodka, ¼ water, and a few drops of Rainsong essential oils, I spray the armpit areas of both garments with the store-bought or homemade wool refresher. Some people lightly spray, I would often leave them wet-feeling/ nearly drenched in the alcohol formula to kill any bacteria (they dry overnight)
After spraying the armpits of each garment, I would hang the garments on a velvet hanger on a tension-rod in my closet, in an area where the clothes can get some air circulation
That’s it… I would wear cotton undershirts generally 3-4 days until the armpits would “harden” from a buildup of the deodorant. Used t-shirts would be placed on another hanger and kept separate from the rest of our laundry, that way I would just wash all of my shirts together with my dress.
In the morning, I just turn both garments back right-side and finish dressing.
Washing the Wool& dress every two weeks:
Every two weeks, usually on a Sunday night, I would take down my dress, cotton undershirts, leggings, any wool overshirts/sweaters that I’ve worn a lot, and bras out of my closet to wash. It usually only fills our washer about ½ full.
I wash ALL of these garments with a hypo-allergenic, high quality “The Laundress” detergent OR The Laundress wool detergent, either one works really well.
I use large hosiery/lingerie bags and put the Wool& dress in one bag, often with other wool shirts, and use another hosiery/lingerie bag for my leggings and bras so they don’t get wrapped up in the washer agitator. The cotton undershirts can go straight in the washer.
I add 2-3 small capfuls of “The Laundress” detergent (whichever I have on hand, they both work beautifully) and wash on cold/delicate cycle.
Then I HANG everything. I hang all the cotton undergarments and my bras on velvet hangers. (Velvet or cloth-covered hangers help to keep clothes from stretching or falling off the hanger, they provide a little friction to keep the fabric from moving off the hanger, and they have soft, naturally curved corner, so you don’t have little weird bubbles in the fabric of the shoulders of shirts/dresses).
I hang the dress and leggings over a tension rod above our bathtub (even though it’s pretty dry and doesn’t drip!). I don’t hang the dress immediately on a hanger because I don’t want it to stretch while drying.
Sometimes I spray the dress with Downy Wrinkle Releaser while it’s wet to help with any wrinkles, but most people just hang it and the wrinkles come out on their own.
The dress, leggings, bras, and cotton undershirts will dry overnight, esp. If the hangers are spread apart (with a few inches between them) so that air can circulate between the garments.
If there is static when I put the dress on, I use anti-static spray. I have also bought some small safety pins to place on the underside of the dress, I’ve heard that works too.
On the rare occasion that I got a grease stain on the dress, I had three methods of getting out a stain (depending on the size, depth of the stain)
I used Clorox compostable wipes to quickly wipe out a TINY stain. Make SURE to only use the compostable kind of wipes, because otherwise, it’s likely to have bleach in it. You can also use straight alcohol wipes.
For larger stains, I would use the all-natural, plant based detergent that I used for my dishes. I would rub a tiny bit on the stain and then rinse with warm water and hang to dry.
For really stubborn stains, I would use “The Laundress” stain remover and a little wool detergent. Rub both of them into the stain, and then rinse with warm water, until the water runs clear. Then hang to dry.
A few things I’ve learned:
The quality of this dress is amazing. It visibly looks brand new and has NO stains or snags after 100 days.
Decision fatigue is real. Just having this ONE decision already made in the morning is such a gift.
The spotlight effect is real. Even though I work in a hybrid environment, half from home, half at my work… NO ONE noticed the dress. If they did, no one said anything.
Wool REALLY is temperature regulating. I had no idea how much I sweat if I wore a polyester shirt (the leggings mostly seem fine, but I look forward to eventually adding wool or bamboo leggings to my wardrobe.)
WOOL DOESN’T SMELL. I think this is some crazy magic trick of nature… but it really doesn’t. It never smelled like armpit stink. I was utterly flabbergasted. And honestly, I could have gone longer than two weeks to wash the dress. When I’m rotating through Wool& dresses on a regular basis, they definitely won’t be washed often, unless they absolutely need it.
I like what I look like in this dress. I feel good about my “look.” After speaking with a colleague, we shared that we thought “fashion” was really nothing more than wearing garments that made you feel good in a purposeful way. I really understand that now.
I loved my Wool& Willow so much that after the first week, I purchased two more Wool& dresses, even though I couldn’t wear them until after the challenge was over. By the end of the challenge, I had bought two more. I’m stopping now… really, I am! LOL
The first day I tried on the willow, I WAS itchy… but after a wash and hanging dry, it was fine. Now, I wash all my wool clothing before I wear it, if it’s going to directly touch my skin.
Natural deodorants can work if you use them in a way that works best for your body. I’m in love with Lume!
I will buy Wool& Frankie bike shorts with my reward money. I will definitely need those for chub rub in the spring and summer. Or I’ll buy Wool& Swift leggings… hmm… decisions, decisions…
I can’t believe how little laundry I have.
I like getting dressed in the morning! What scarf will I choose? What pendant will I wear? They will all look fabulous with this dress!
Fast fashion is a real environmental problem and we need to find ways to encourage people to invest and wear sustainable clothing. After this challenge, I truly understand why it’s important to save up and invest in high quality, long lasting clothing.
Learning how to repair clothing that you’ve invested in is very satisfying. Another member of this group helped me to purchase two black merino wool sweaters from Costco and one of them got a tiny hole, very quickly. Using needles and black thread I was able to repair the hole very quickly and it’s not even noticeable now. I felt good about that. My husband has also asked me to repair several of his shirts now.
I feel like I’ve found my style. I love layering and I love scarves and pendant necklaces. I love boots! Who knew!
Black and navy and brown can all go together if you wear it purposefully.
If Wool& had a full-time, fully remote, customer service position available, I would totally change my career! I LOVE this company and Rebecca Eby and the entire customer service team! They have been SO nice, helpful, and fun. I wanna join in on that!!
This challenge made me realize how much I love the art of design and reignited my love of crochet! I’ve been watching so many fashion and design shows and I’ve crocheted 5 afgans in the past 100 days!
Linen aprons are lifesavers and wool dress savers. And can be really cute as pinafores over a dress. Grandma knew what was up…
This group/community is truly, truly amazing and the most supportive group I’ve ever encountered on Facebook. It’s such an honor to share this space with you!
IF you’re still reading… Wow, thanks! Are you okay? Do you need some water? I didn’t mean to write this much… but I have so many feels over this challenge. I hope you found this helpful and I wish you the very best on your challenge! I’ll definitely be wearing my Wool& dresses every single day!
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