Thermacontrol wool®
Wool is without doubt, a most superior fiber for bedding. It can absorb 1/3 of its own weight in moisture without feeling damp. And it breathes better than feather/down and synthetics. These inherent properties are crucial in managing your body's temperature and comfort throughout the night, to help you have a deeper, and therefore more restorative, sleep.
Tencel® fiber
Our skin is the largest respiratory organ we have. We love Tencel® because it supports the skin's natural ability to act as a protective shell to regulate body temperature and maintain water balance. To get a bit geeky for a moment, Tencel is the first cellulose fiber built through nanotechnology to create 'nanofibrils'. These are tiny fibers that provide excellent cooling properties because they trap and then release moisture into the air. For you, this means that Tencel works more effectively than cotton to help your body maintain its temperature in any environment. Tencel is also hypoallergenic which makes it ideal for allergy sufferers. (And the ideal partner to our wool.)
We also love Tencel because it's more environmentally-friendly than cotton. Tencel is made from sustainably-farmed eucalyptus trees that use 80% less land and 50% of the water that the average cotton field needs to produce the same amount of fibre. And it has the following certifications:
The International Forest Stewardship Council.
OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Certificate.
Awarded the Eco-Label of the European union.
European Award for the environment.
Panda Award (WWF Austria).
The Topper
Natural 'high-performance' fibers correct poor mattresses
The world offers many high-performance bedding and mattress products; from space-age synthetic foams to latex materials. All promise great comfort. But when considered for their thermal control capability, what we consider the most important requirement for sleep, many can fall short. They don't naturally dissipate heat or transport moisture well, and as a result, can make you too warm or clammy at night. This is often a complaint with synthetic mattresses. If you are experiencing this, don't worry, there's a simple fix. You can cover your comfy mattress with our 100% cool wool fleece Topper, and get the best of both worlds.
Our Toppers use two specific layers of cool wool: on top, a thick 600wt. plush wool fleece that will benefit you all year round (you'll be surprised to hear it's perfect for summer too), and then another layer of additional wool fill, held in place with Tencel® fabric under this. To say it's comfortable is an understatement!
Care and clean
Cool wool has natural antimicrobial properties that make it unnecessary to wash your underlay often. Our wool loves the great outdoors; hang it out in air and sunshine whenever you can and it’ll stay healthy and reduce the need for washing.
If you don’t want to fully wash your topper, but have a small stain on it, The Woolmark Company recommends this mix for spot cleaning of most stains (coffee, blood, urine, vomit...): Make a solution of one teaspoon of approved wool detergent with one teaspoon of white vinegar and about two pints of warm water. Pat it clean with the mixture and then hang it out to dry.
When the time comes however, we recommend using the 'wool wash' cycle if your machine has one, or a 'gentle' setting. We like using a eucalyptus wool wash as the result not only looks good, it smells fabulous! Then put it out to dry naturally or tumble dry on a 'wool' or delicate setting. (Or, if you prefer, your topper can be professionally dry-cleaned. Just make sure you tell them its 100% wool, they'll be extra nice to it.) If you've any questions on caring for your product, don't hesitate to contact us at info@youarewhatyousleep.com
The Comforter
All Seasons 100% Cool Wool comforter
The average core body temperature is 98.6° F. But when you sleep it drops. Indeed, a change in body temperature is what prepares our bodies for sleep. Researchers at a Swiss sleep lab discovered that warming your feet in bed helps tell your brain it's time to sleep. We loved this idea. It led us to a lot of reading and research and ultimately, what we believe to be a more innovative comforter: offering a 'warm feet zone’ of extra thick cool wool in the bottom third of our comforters. The shell of the comforter aids in the thermal control process, it is 100% Tencel®, quilted and silky-soft.
Care and clean
Both cool wool and Tencel® have natural antimicrobial properties that make it unnecessary to wash your comforter often. Regular airing and sunshine will do your comforter wonders. When the time comes however, we recommend using a 'wool wash’ cycle if your machine has one, or 'gentle' setting. We also recommend using a quality natural wool wash as its specifically made for wool! Then put out to dry naturally or tumble dry on a low or delicate setting. (Or, if you prefer, your comforter can be professionally dry-cleaned. Just make sure you tell them its 100% wool, they'll be extra nice to it.) If you've any questions on caring for your product, contact us at info@youarewhatyousleep.com
The Pillow
100% cool wool height-adjustable pillow
Our pillows are uniquely designed for sleep and neck support. They have only three sides sewn with piping, allowing one long side to better fit the curve of your neck. The pillows are filled with 100% Australian wool 'knops' (little springy balls of premium wool that bounce back night after night), with an outer shell of Tencel® fabric filled with the premium wool batting we use in our comforters. These two materials are specifically chosen to help regulate your head temperature (there's a lot of heat exchange there), and wick away moisture so you won't get cold if you sweat. (And avoid the resultant stiff neck because of it.) Finally, to ensure our pillows suit everyone, we make them infinitely adjustable; you just unzip and remove or add fill as needed to change the firmness. (With every pillow we also supply extra fill.) So like Goldilocks, you can look forward to a pillow that's always 'Just right'.
Pillow height adjustment
A little instruction card comes inserted in your extra wool fill bag so you can easily refer to it any time. We'll give you the longer version here:
On one short side you'll find a zipper. It is purposely made small so it doesn't get in your way. But it is a little sticky at the beginning, so unzip it slowly. Once open you'll find a protective flap that keeps the knops from being caught in the zipper. Pull this out to reveal your pillow fill. Go on, put your hand in; this is the closest you'll get to patting a sheep on the farm.
For Side Sleepers: If you sleep on your side (especially for men), you may need to add fill from your extra bag of knops. Grab a handful or two and do so. Fold the zip protector material back in then zip it back up. Now grab the short end of the pillow and give it a good shake to distribute the fill.
For Back or Belly Sleepers: You may need to remove fill from your pillow. Just do the reverse of the instructions above. Don't be afraid to test your pillow once you've done so, even have your partner check your neck alignment when you're lying on it!
Note: Your fill will compress a little over time (4-6 months). This is to be expected with new knops. If for some reason you ever use up the extra fill in your bag, we do sell additional bags of wool online.
Care and clean
Both cool wool and Tencel® have natural antimicrobial properties that make it unnecessary to wash your pillow regularly when used under normal conditions. (Dust mites hate wool, so no worries there!) And because of this, you can expect to use your pillow for 5 years or more. (Our Founder's family has had theirs for 8 years and haven't washed them once, and only topped up the fill inside twice.) If you choose to wash your pillow, we suggest removing the wool knops inside and pop only the pillow shell in the wash. Use a 'wool wash' cycle if your machine has one, or a 'gentle' setting. And either line dry or tumble dry on low. As with our other bedding products, you can also dry clean the shell, just tell them it's 100% wool and they'll treat it nicely. For any questions on caring for your natural product, you'll find us at info@youarewhatyousleep.com