Library of Anvard @lirenel - Tumblr Blog

Flashbacks to the 2000s

At my library a teenaged girl came up to the desk and asked if we had any yaoi or yuri manga. I told her that the manga were shelved by title so she would have to know which manga she was looking for, or we could try to search the catalog for type of relationship.

I then had to explain to my coworkers how I knew that yaoi and yuri were same-sex romances and now they know I was an early 2000s user of fanfiction.net. (Granted I didn't read romance in general, but you'd have to be deliberately obtuse to not know what yaoi and yuri were).

cryptotheism

The Romans were for real naming their kids shit like Boy #2

lemilianposts

lirenel

I wouldn't be surprised if I reblogged this before, but it's too funny not to reblog again!

cryptotheism

The Romans were for real naming their kids shit like Boy #2

lemilianposts

rythms-of-synthax-deactivated20

Quote of the day

baffledtreesquid

I’m seeing a lot of people saying this post changed their brain chemistry, and as a neuroscientist I wanted to say yes!!! Yes it does!

Wanting something requires dopamine signaling, but liking something doesn’t.

If you have a mental illness/disorder that affects dopamine, you might feel that you don’t want to do the things that you like. You do still like them. You will appreciate having done them.

Let your likes guide you.

(If you want to read more, here’s one experimental paper about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5171207/ This theory called the incentive-sensitization theory was originally created to explain behaviors in addiction but can be applied elsewhere as well)

Rewards are both ‘liked’ and ‘wanted’, and those two words seem almost interchangeable. However, the brain circuitry that mediates the psych

amyamychan

[Image Description]

Black text on a white background. It reads:

"Focus on your likes, not your wants.

You may not want to exercise, but you like how it makes you feel.

You may not want to write, but you like the feeling of accomplishment.

You may not want to wake up early, but you like the calm beauty of morning.

Wanting is the desire you feel before doing something. Liking is the satisfaction you feel after doing something. Let your likes guide you.

[End ID]

antiadvil

it's wild that popular discourse around migraines is that there are too many people who claim to have migraines but "just have bad headaches". this is the exact opposite of my experience? i'm still trying to convince several of my friends that their "bad tension headaches" that are unilateral, throbbing, cause light sensitivity, nausea, etc, are migraines lmao. migraine is underdiagnosed and undertreated by every metric i can think of.

this narrative is not harmless! it prevents people from getting treatment that could really benefit them. so i would like it to die. thank you.

shamebats

As a guy who went to see a neurologist only to "rule out migraines" because I thought I had "tension headaches at worst and also it's not that bad really" only to realize by tracking my headache days that I have very bad chronic migraines just with no aura (most people with migraines don't have them), I co-sign this 100%.

Just starting abortive medications already improved my quality of life so much and now that my doctor started me on preventatives, I might actually be able to have more than a handful of headache-free days each month.

Migraine is frequently misdiagnosed as chronic sinusitis or tension headaches according to research. Mostly because people have a very rigid (inaccurate) idea of what it actually is.

But even if it's not migraine, you still deserve treatment for your headaches. Just because someone else has them worse than you doesn't mean you don't deserve relief.

Learning about the different types of migraine and headache disorders can help you better understand your symptoms and discuss them with you

roach-works

yeah i found out awhile back that the 'pressure headaches' that i get that 'aren't that bad' (but still leave me feeling sick and dysfunctional all day) were migraines. i now take a low dose of a preventative medication and the number of shitty rain days i have per month has dropped from like ten to two. it's great.

lirenel

Look, I just had my first tension headache (multi-day) after years of migraines (that I only learned a few years ago were migraines) and it is just as not fun as migraines. Maybe worse, because at least I know what to expect with migraines, the tension headache was all new! I had to go to the doctor and take muscle relaxers to get rid of it and I don't even take anything more than advil and black tea with ginger for migraines!

Pain is bad. Find out why you are in pain and find something (legal and healthy) to make it better.

lirenel

And today , I think I got my first vestibular migraine! Instead of pain you get nausea and vertigo even when you are lying down! So much fun!

quasi-normalcy

Reverse Mulan about a young man who disguises himself as a noblewoman and has to learn how to do passive-agressive politicking at dinner parties.

batsarebetterthanpeople

He does so to dodge the draft

lirenel

OK, but seriously. This was one of the original ideas in the Trojan War, where Achilles's mother sends him to hide among the women to keep him from his Fate of dying in battle. And he's so feminine-looking that he hides perfectly until Odysseus decides that he'll put a sword in front of the women along with a bunch of dresses and Achilles is the one who chooses a sword thus showing that he is a man.

Although thinking about it that could be a hilarious take on the trojan war where a girl who really likes swords ends up being mistaken for Achilles and heads off to the Trojan War while the real Achilles stays behind and learns how to weave.

#as a classics major #greek mythology #achilles

cowboyhatesithere

Enough about favorite books. What’s a book you read and absolutely hated? The book you’ve got a bone to pick with.

jmtorres

out of curiosity. I would love to hear folks' most hated book that was NOT assigned reading. what's a book that you picked up of your own volition but were deeply frustrated with? bone to pick etc?

letslipthehounds

I do not remember the title, and it's been at least 25 years since I read this book. Possibly closer to 30. I know I read this back in the 90s sometime, probably sometime between 1996 and 1999, but can't pin it down any closer than that.

It was, basically, a story about an Atlantian princess who became a bull jumper, survived the fall of Atlantis, (managed to get in a boat, and they were met with a man with an ark full of animals, also a survivor) who landed in what was probably England, and then became the mother of Merlin. Pretty sure his father was a singer of some kind (bard, maybe?). I think it then went on to tell the story of Merlin and Arthur.

Yeah. All that sounds like an interesting story, but I just hated it.

I am pretty sure there was more than one book, but like I said, I don't remember the book titles. Maybe 3 books? Anyway, sorry I can't remember the title(s), but that's the one.

asphodelimago

... is this the Mists of Avalon series???

Specifically, The Fall of Atlantis?

Because if so, oh boy. I remember that series being big in the 90s, and I remember being a prepubescent kid who bounced hard off the focus on gender and the sexual content. One of these days, I'll reread just for closure.

letslipthehounds

No, I don't think so. I don't remember anything explicit in the book(s).

kraytwriter

It sounds like the Pendragon cycle by Stephen Lawhead. The first book was called Taliesin. It’s a blend of mythologies and history that I found by turns fascinating, perplexing, and dull as ditchwater. The conclusion of the first book left me so unsatisfied! And while there’s no explicit sexual content, the violence is at times graphic and gory.

lirenel

The Worst Book

"The Last Heir to the Blackwood Library" by Hester Fox. Not because it was bad, but because of what it could have been. As a Goodreads review said of it (spoilers follow):

First the good: I liked the background and the premise of the story. Suitably gothic, a touch magical but nothing too over-the-top.

But the thing is….

This should not have been a romance. I mean, it is your standard gothic romance with the brooding dark man against the golden but sinister rival. But the very premise of the story demanded something beyond romance.

The book begins with the anchoress choosing to hide her writing due to the actions of unscrupulous men. The evil at the abbey exists because the anchoress, instead of choosing to share her knowledge with the women around her, chose to write everything down instead and a mad monk found it.

The novel should have been Ivy depending on the women around her to solve the mystery of the abbey and save the day. Perhaps not the housekeeper, too entrenched in the curse, but Susan (Ivy's London friend) and Agnes (the maid) should have been Ivy's partners against the sinister Arthur and his group. Why would Susan come all the way to Yorkshire only to glibly turn back at Arthur's urging? We barely met Agnes and her death was supposed to move us? No, instead of Ralph, Ivy should have started depending on Agnes. When her notebook is destroyed, she should have asked Agnes to continue reminding her each day of her missing memories. Susan should have shown up and, instead of being turned away by Arthur, stuck around and snuck around investigating. They three women should have been part of the final confrontation at the end, saving each other and the knowledge of the anchoress, and they should have used that knowledge to help others.

It was the perfect setup to show women overcoming the patriarchal machinations of men, and was spoiled by a romance that wasn't even very good.

#spoilers #terrible book #could have been better

antiadvil

this narrative is not harmless! it prevents people from getting treatment that could really benefit them. so i would like it to die. thank you.

shamebats

Migraine is frequently misdiagnosed as chronic sinusitis or tension headaches according to research. Mostly because people have a very rigid (inaccurate) idea of what it actually is.

But even if it's not migraine, you still deserve treatment for your headaches. Just because someone else has them worse than you doesn't mean you don't deserve relief.

Learning about the different types of migraine and headache disorders can help you better understand your symptoms and discuss them with you

roach-works

lirenel

Pain is bad. Find out why you are in pain and find something (legal and healthy) to make it better.

bowditch

this is your reminder that according to best medical practices and the text of the DSM-V, any symptom a human experiences should NOT be diagnosed as/considered anxiety until all physical medical causes have been ruled out.

if you report a new symptom and your doctor tells you it's probably anxiety without doing tests, they are failing you.

if you report new anxiety or a new anxiety symptom-- even with an anxiety disorder-- and your doctor doesn't recommend doing tests to rule out other possible causes, they are failing you.

if you were diagnosed with anxiety without any other medical tests (and possibly put on meds that don't seem to help or help inconsistently), your doctor is failing you.

the actual recommended guidelines for diagnosing and treating anxiety require that physical causes are ruled out FIRST.

not after months of waiting to see, not after trying three meds, not after symptoms worsen. anxiety is the last potential diagnosis on the table, not the first one, even if it seems the most likely.

if you are told it's probably anxiety- chronic pain, racing heart, shortness of breath, new mental health thought patterns, fatigue, brain fog, panic attacks-- ask for labs and referrals. you aren't being paranoid. it might be a symptom of anxiety, but it is best practice to check first and you aren't being too difficult if you insist.

lirenel

When I first got heart palpitations my doctor said "It's probably anxiety, but we are getting you an EKG and [other heart tests] first because we are not messing around with heart stuff."

Lots of tests and yah, it ended up being anxiety and sertraline is a lifesaver, but only after my doctor was sure the seemingly-heart-focused symptoms weren't heart-related.

william-shakespeare-official

Here's THE masterpost of free and full adaptations, by which I mean that it's a post made by the master.

Anthony and Cleopatra: here's the BBC version

As you like it: you'll find here an outdoor stage adaptation and here the BBC version

Coriolanus: Here's a college play, here's the 1984 telefilm, here's the 2014 one with tom hiddleston

Hamlet: The Kenneth Branagh 1996 Hamlet is here, the 1964 russian version is here and the 1964 american version is here. THe 1964 Broadway production is here, the 1948 Laurence Olivier one is here. And the 1980 version is here. Here are part 1 and 2 of the 1990 BBC adaptation. Have the 2018 Almeida version here.

Henry IV: part 1 and part 2 of the BBC 1989 version. And here's part 1 of a corwall school version.

Henry V: Laurence Olivier (who would have guessed) 1944 version. The 1989 Branagh version here. The BBC version is here.

Julius Caesar: here's the 1979 BBC adaptation, here the 1970 John Gielgud one.

King Lear: Laurence Olivier once again plays in here. And Gregory Kozintsev, who was I think in charge of the russian hamlet, has a king lear here. The 1975 BBC version is here. The Royal Shakespeare Compagny's 2008 version is here. The 1974 version with James Earl Jones is here.

Macbeth: here's the 1961 one with Sean Connery. Here's the 1971 by Roman Polanski, with spanish subtitles. Here's the 1948 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljZrf_0_CcQ">here. The 1988 BBC onee with portugese subtitles and here the 2001 one). The 1969 radio one with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench is here and the 1966 BBC version is here. The Royal Shakespeare Compagny's 2008 version is here.

Measure for Measure: BBC version here.

The Merchant of Venice: here's a stage version, here's the 1980 movie, here the 1973 Lawrence Olivier movie, here's the 2004 movie.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: the Royal Shakespeare Compagny gives you this movie.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: have this sponsored by the City of Columbia, and here the BBC version.

Much Ado About Nothing: Here is the kenneth branagh version and here the Tennant and Tate 2011 version. Here's the 1984 version.

Othello: A Massachussets Performance here, the 2001 movie her is the Orson Wells movie with portuguese subtitles theree, and a fifteen minutes long lego adaptation here. THen if you want more good ole reliable you've got the BBC version here and there.

Richard II: here is the BBC version

Richard III: here's the 1955 one with Laurence Olivier, and here's the 1995 one with Ian McKellen. (the 1995 one is in english subtitled in spanish. the 1955 one has no subtitles and might have ads since it's on youtube)

Romeo and Juliet: here's the 1988 BBC version.

The Taming of the Shrew: the 1988 BBC version here, the 1929 version here, some Ontario stuff here and here is the 1967 one with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Tempest: the 1979 one is here, the 2010 is here. Here is the 1988 one.

Timon of Athens: here is the 1981 movie with Jonathan Pryce,

Troilus and Cressida can be found here

Titus Andronicus: the 1999 movie with Anthony Hopkins here

Twelfth night: here for the BBC, herefor the 1970 version with Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright and Ralph Richardson.

The Winter's Tale: the BBC version is here

Please do contribute if you find more. This is far from exhaustive.

(also look up the original post from time to time for more plays)

littlecityghost

Oh, I have additions!

A Misdummer Night Dream: Here’s the 2013 globe production (the one with The Kiss, you know it)

Romeo and Juliet: Here’s the one that was going to be a stage show and then lockdown happened so they filmed it! Stars Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley

nerdsandthelike

Okay, I'm collating everything from the comments because I love this so much!

From vivienlacroix:

Much Ado about Nothing: Here is the Free Shakespeare in the Park version with Danielle Brooks as Beatrice (From 2019)

Hamlet: Here is the 1921 silent film in which Hamlet is a woman (don’t get your hopes up though it’s extremely sexist and heteronormative)

A Midsummer Night‘s Dream: here is the 2019 National Theatre version (With Gwendoline Christie)

From partywithponies:

Here is the Shakespeare's Globe/Roger Allam/Colin Morgan version of The Tempest! (From 2013)

From ryfkah

"Двенадцатая ночь" (Twelfth Night), a Russian film from 1955 (with subtitles)

Twelfth Night (1986), a filmed version of an Australian stage production with baby Geoffrey Rush as Andrew Aguecheek

From chekovsphaser:

This drive has 4 Globe productions Midsummer 2013 and Tempest 2013 (Both above), and then As You Like It 2009, and Love's Labour's Lost 2010

From maa-pix:

Twelfth Night: the 1998 version, "Live From Lincoln Center" on PBS, directed by Nicholas Hytner, with Helen Hunt, Paul Rudd, and Kyra Sedgwick. Part One, Intermission interview with Nicholas Hytner, and Part Two. Also here. (Absolutely fantastic version, best I've ever seen.)

From everybody-dies-at-least-once:

Andrew Scott's Hamlet: Almeida (2018)

King Lear at Shakespeare Festival NYC (1974) w/ James Earl Jones, Paul Sorvino, and a young (very sexy) Raul Julia here

Then I made a Google Drive for the ones that I have that I haven't seen elsewhere on the list:

They are also all Globe productions: MacBeth 2020, Romeo and Juliet 2009, Romeo and Juliet 2019, The Merry Wives of Windsor 2019, and The Winter's Tale 2018.

And then finally MIT has this super cool repository of performances from around the world and some of them have videos https://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/

In my (unsuccessful) quest to find The Hollow Crown, I also found a few other of the histories, so here's Richard II with Sean Connery, Richard II with Ian McKellan, and a stage play of Richard III

Also, if anyone has a version of the lockdown Romeo and Juliet mentioned above or the Olivier or McKellan Richard IIIs, the current links are broken and the productions sound very cool!

william-shakespeare-official

I might kiss you my friend for that work. I awoke from my slumber to find that the post had become popular again and there was way too much notes attached to it for me to read them all.

lirenel

Saving for the future

sunnibits

hey random ass post but in the tags can you tell me what’s your number one safe food. like not necessarily your favorite food, but just thee most quintessential “ol’ reliable” that you can always manage to eat no matter how bad your sensory issues or mental illness is acting up.

mine is microwave popcorn (and bonus points for a chocolate milk to go with it)

lirenel

pasta with butter and parmesan usually. But apples with peanut butter on the really bad days.

headspace-hotel

The closest experience I've ever had to discovering "the vitamin" was buying a 100% wool outfit and wearing it in the winter.

Not only was I not freezing anymore, I was not sweating and overheating either. The horrible sensory nightmare of winter clothes disappeared.

In particular, I bought a pair of wool pants. They were a thrifted pair of fancy dress pants like you would wear at an important office job, and they were easily the most comfortable pair of winter-appropriate pants i'd ever worn. I wore them Every Single Day.

From that point on I realized a lot of my clothes were making me feel bad, and the common thread was polyester. Especially polyester blends.

It's a trap because the polyester clothes are the ones that always feel sooooo silky soft when they are in the store, whereas cotton, linen and wool can feel comparatively rough and scratchy. But when actually wearing them for hours throughout the day, it's the natural fibers that feel more comfortable.

Maybe the secret to sensory comfort is not about the presence of softness, but the absence of overloading sensations. Or maybe the sensory stress and agony is not triggered by texture of the fabric, but by how it breathes and regulates temperature.

Then there's the problem of clothing life span: polyester blends, no matter how soft they seem at first, become rough and scratchy and covered in hard, itchy pills after wearing them 10 or 20 times, whether or not they have been tumble-dried or even washed at all. (I tested it!) Linen and cotton become softer and more comfy the more you wear them, polyester but ESPECIALLY polyester blends become a constant stressor. Polyester blend t-shirts I used to love for their softness now feel bristly and irritating.

So now I'm trying to change my wardrobe to as many natural fibers as possible, and the more natural fiber clothes i have the more I realize that the plastic fibers stress me out. It's so easy to overheat or freeze in them and they're always degrading and becoming less comfortable and it sucks.

pyroteknich

So this was mentioned in the notes (and I mentioned it there, too), but I know that sometimes those just don't get read. So here I will mention other natural fabrics.

Alpaca- my all time favorite. It is both warmer and lighter than wool, and if you have allergic reactions to wool, as I do, this is a great substitute. Alpaca socks are so great.

Cotton- the common fabric. Good for shirts, underthings, socks, pants, you name it. Good at wicking moisture and letting skin breathe, but can also be woven into warmer items such as sweaters. Good all around fabric. Can be strong and used for heavy duty clothing as well as delicate clothes.

Linen- the original warm weather fabric. The more it is washed, the softer it gets. Fabulous in the heat. Use it for bed sheets in the summer and you will never be hot in bed again. It can be used to make shirts, pants, shorts, and underthings.

Silk- great for warm and cool weather. Cool in the heat, warm in the cold, and beautiful no matter what. Can be made as a washable fabric, but usually hand wash or dry clean. Will wear like iron. If you treat it right, you can have silk for 20 years or more. Gloves, socks, underthings, shirts, pants, dresses, jackets, you name it.

Hemp- less well known but a great fabric. Resists mold like you would not believe! Used to make sails for sailing ships, as well as ropes during the age of sail. It was stronger than cotton when wet and would last longer due to the no molding thing. Less water intensive to grow than cotton, with many of the same properties of both linen and cotton. Can be used to make bed sheets, bath towels, shirts, underthings, pants, socks, pretty much anything.

Cashmere- Super luxurious! It is the shed hair of the Cashmere and pashmina goats. Usually made into sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves , and shawls. Super warm and soft. Hand wash or dry clean.

Angora- Also super luxurious. The shed fur of the angora rabbit. Can be used to make sweaters, hats, gloves, shawls, socks, and shawls. Warm, soft, and fluffy.

Mohair- The fur/hair from angora or mohair goats. Used to make sweaters, socks, gloves, hats, scarves, and shawls. Soft and warm.

There are also natural blends. These include (but are not limited to, and are not a complete list): cotton/wool, cotton/linen, cotton/silk, linen/silk, wool/silk, alpaca/wool, cashmere/wool, mohair/wool, etc.

Other natural fibers can include camel, yak, and other animal hair that is shed or clipped and then spun into yarn. Some are more available in certain areas of the world than others. I did not include bamboo due to the massive amount of chemical processing that it takes to extract the fibers. I also did not include lotus silk, byssus silk (sea silk), or any other experimental animal silk (such as the golden orb weaver spider silk) that has been made/created.

Natural fibers cost more to harvest, process, spin, and weave. They can be more difficult to color evenly, because like any natural material they have flaws and variations. This makes them more expensive to work with, which makes the clothing more expensive to produce and sell. But the items produced will last longer (theoretically), will feel better against the skin, and will be better for you in the long run for both you and the planet than clothing yourself in plastic. Microplastics will rub off on your skin, washing away in the washing machines and getting into the water supply. As the fabrics break down, they will become not only rougher against the skin, but also more difficult to mend and patch, limiting their wear life. But because they are plastics, they won't decompose and break down, continuing to pollute the environment unless they can be recycled.

Natural fabrics, in comparison, will become softer over time. They can be repaired more easily as they get holes or tears because the fabric will not have pieces break off like plastic will. It can be easily recycled, and will eventually decompose (which is why archaeologists rarely find clothing and textiles at dig sites), causing little to no damage to the environment. Rarely will a person be allergic to a natural fabric (WOOL! Argh!!!), and when they are, there is usually a protein, emollient, or fabric composition which can be a factor and can (usually) be mitigated, unlike with a synthetic fiber.

Don't get me wrong, synthetic fibers have their place and they have become very useful for certain things. But, we live in a time of fast fashion and high consumerism fueled by synthetic fabrics and exploited labor. Being conscientious of what your clothing is made of, what natural fabrics can do, how long they can last, and why and when you should wear them is a good way to start cutting down on waste while helping your body feel better. And you may find that by limiting the amount of synthetic materials you put on or near your body, that certain things might start to clear up (acne, rashes, etc.).

I know there is much more about fashion and fabrics out there, and I am 100% certain that there is someone out there MUCH more knowledgeable than me. But this is just some information I had and info dumped.

headspace-hotel

natural fibers knowledge!

smashinbeetlessinceorson

I'm a fiber nerd for similar reasons to you, headspace. If you'll humor me, I have a few unsolicited suggestions for looking for natural fibers in thrift stores (other than looking at the tags, naturally, but also since I don't always trust the tags, since fabric fraud or mislabeling isn't uncommon, and tags can be missing or hard to find).

Bast fibers like linen and hemp usually have a fair number of slubs and are usually woven for durability, because lightweight knits tend to unravel near the slubs just around the same time that the wear level starts to get Perfect.

If you're running through the racks and find a nice hand, remember that synthetics tend to absorb water poorly. Holding the fabric for just a moment and then rubbing the fingers together usually tells me if the moisture was absorbed, or if my hands are still sticky. Fabric softener and dry cleaning can fool me sometimes.

Same as the above, synthetics tend to reflect heat. If a fabric feels soft to the hand, hold onto it a moment. Silk and wool warm up slowly, but synthetics feel "warm" almost immediately. Plant fibers also warm pretty quickly in the hand, but will still absorb water.

Silk and wool are HEAVY on the thread level. A tightly woven silk jacket is way heavier than a poly or nylon one of similar thread gauge.

And although your assessments are largely excellent, pyroteknich, I have a few nits to pick:

Cotton gets WET and holds 36x its own weight in water, compared to ~6x for bast fibers and a little more for wool and silk. When it's wet, the water clogs the gaps in the clothes and prevents airflow. I mention this because I live in a humid subtropical area and sweat basically doesn't evaporate. Cotton means a swampy underside, or all-over-side if you're working hard enough or get caught in the rain. A notable exception to this is very loose and billowy clothing like gauzy skirts. I generally avoid cotton entirely because of its water-holding capacity.

Silk does wear like iron unless it gets wet, then it's very weak and abrades easily. Normal activities in my area will cause sweat to build up and that moisture will shred silks. Again, the solution is loose and billowy, and being choosy about which fabrics during particular times of year. I tend toward bast fibers in the warmer months and silks in the cooler ones. Reconstituted cellulose fibers like "bamboo", ramie, rayon, and so on have similarly poor durability when wet. Silk also stains very easily and HATES being in the sun to dry or for too long period, as UV light breaks it down, just something to be aware of.

And also unsolicited, I would like to share a few tips I've picked up for keeping natural fibers in good shape so they can get to that delightful broken-in level. We have very, very soft water in my area, so your mileage may vary.

If not handwashing, a top-loading washer, filled up completely with cold water, is pretty close to handwashing, on delicate settings.

Most of the time, "dry clean only" is a bunch of nonsense, except with suits or dresses made with water-soluble interfacing. People washed these pieces for how many centuries before dry cleaning existed? Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't know an easy way to find out if interfacings are water-soluble, except to give the piece a wash. I've restored dozens of stinky natural-fiber pieces that were discarded because the original owner's dry cleaning didn't remove the water-soluble odors, and I "restored" them just by giving them a nice wash. Sometimes a pair of suit pants or a jacket will start poking out the plastic interfacing after the wash, so yknow. Caveat washor.

Even if handwashing, strongly alkaline detergents or high heat will cause protein-based fibers like wools and silks to denature and degrade rapidly during the abrasion of washing. Vinegar will help, and mild curd soaps are best. If only washing wools, a little liquid lanolin mixed well with hot water and curd soap prior to adding to the wash water will help restore the fibers, making the garment more water-repellent, stronger, and more durable. Small amounts of detergents can be used to boost the efficacy of the wash if there is a lot of oil in the laundry soils.

Inversely, plant fibers prefer hot water and can withstand alkaline detergents well, making washing soda and borax viable additions, but hot water will often cause stains to set. I like to help remove the alkalines from the fabric by using vinegar in the rinse. Machine drying, even on "air dry" settings, will still cause static buildup in the fibers, making them slightly water-repellent and for myself, an extremely unpleasant sensory experience. I try to line-dry everything, which is difficult when showers and storms are unpredictable and frequent, and the humidity is 70%+ most days during the hottest part of the day. Still worth it, and indoor line-dry is an option.

Wools and silks are magnets for carpet beetles and clothes moths. When I'm storing clothes for the season, I wash them, gently lanolize the wools, make sure they're 100% dry, then heat up an oven with a baking stone to 200F (90C), line a metal sheet pan with parchment paper, cut the oven, and then leave the clothes in the oven for 30min to kill any eggs. Then I wrap them tightly with plastic bags and put them in plastic bins for storage, and I've never had a problem with insects since. I got the idea from bedbug treatments.

I hope that fellow sufferers from fast fashion and the electrostatic nightmare that is synthetic clothing can get a little something out of the years I've been working on this. I have pieces I've been wearing regularly for 15 years using these techniques.

headspace-hotel

MORE NATURAL FIBERS KNOWLEDGE