In the past it was thought that wool was an allergen, and that people with eczema should avoid it. Parents may avoid using wool on their children because they’ve heard it’s an allergen. However, one small study found that merino wool actually produced less irritation in infants than cotton clothing!
While traditional wool may feel itchy to many, true wool allergies are rare! In fact as allergy testing became more common, many people had negative results for wool. This frequent finding led some researchers to propose that wool allergy was a myth and to begin to look for other factors that might be causing the symptoms.