Waking up damp at three in the morning on a mattress you paid good money for is miserable, and it's the usual reason people come looking for a wool protector. The other reason is a Woolroom mattress, whose sleep trial asks for one. This is a thin quilted pad of British wool in an organic cotton cover, sold direct by Woolroom: the plainest of the brand's wool protectors, with a 35cm skirt. The Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Mattress Protector (Extra-Deep Skirt) is the same protector with a 45cm skirt.
Pull a sheet over it, lie down, and the bed feels a shade softer and a good deal drier, while the mattress underneath keeps its own firmness. The cotton is a little crisp under the sheet, and it doesn't rustle when you turn over. Protectors aren't my thing, as a rule. This one is the exception I'd make, because wool breathes. Overheating wakes me, and I hate being too hot, so a protector that lets a warm bed breathe is the only kind I'd give house room.
Before you order, two things. It is not waterproof: the wool soaks up sweat and lets it go again, but it won't stop a spilt drink or a child's accident reaching the mattress. And that 35cm (about 14in) skirt suits an ordinary bare mattress, so if yours is deep or has a topper on it, the Extra-Deep is the one to buy.
The one protector I'd put on a foam bed
My usual objection to protectors is that they're a one-pound case on a thousand-pound phone. Somebody spent years getting the layers in your mattress to let air and heat through, and then a polyester pad or a plastic backing goes over the top and you sleep on that instead. Wool doesn't seal the mattress off like that. It carries moisture away from your skin and out into the room, so the sweat that would sit between you and a foam comfort layer has somewhere to go.
That's why I'd put this on a memory foam or hybrid bed before any synthetic protector, and why it's the one protector I'll recommend without a shrug. It's filled with 250gsm of carded wool, enough to feel padded and a good deal less than goes into a topper, which is why Woolroom itself points hot sleepers at a protector first. The cover and the elasticated skirt are the same unbleached 200 thread count cotton.
It takes the clamminess out of a hot night
It helps with the clammy part of running hot, and for most people that's the part that wakes them. Owners on memory foam, gel and hybrid mattresses describe the same change: the damp build-up through the night stops. One owner with night sweats says they no longer feel like they're "laying on a hot plate", and women going through the menopause are among those who say their nights got easier. Pair it with a lighter duvet and a cooler room, and take anything that feels medical to your GP.
It isn't a cure for a hot bedroom. A few owners still overheat with it on, one overheated the very first night, and one says it made no difference at all. If your room is warm and your duvet is heavy, fix those first, because a protector can only deal with the sweat trapped against the mattress.
A thin pad, not a softer bed
Don't buy it to change how firm your bed feels. To my mind the pad is thin, though owners split on it: some call it thick and padded, a few say it's thin for the money. On a firm mattress it softens the first contact, and one owner with a buttoned mattress says they can no longer feel the buttons. If you want more cushion than that, it's a topper's job, and Woolroom's advice is to put the protector over the topper, because the protector is the easier one to wash.
The 35cm skirt and the beds it fits
The skirt is cut like a fitted sheet, elasticated all the way round, with no straps or tapes at the corners. Owners have it fitting neatly on mattresses from about 26cm to 31cm (10in to 12in) deep, and on a 30cm mattress the 35cm skirt leaves you about 5cm to tuck under. My line is about 30cm. Measure your mattress with a tape before you order, and if it's deeper than that, or wears a topper, buy the Extra-Deep.
Fit is where the grumbles are. A few owners find the skirt baggy or the protector too wide for their double, and some say it creeps out of place overnight, mostly over a topper, on a storage bed that lifts, or where the elastic feels loose. One wanted "much tighter elastic to hold it in place", and I'm with them on that. Many more say it stays flat and doesn't ruck up, and a skirt tucked well under on the first night keeps it that way.
Your fitted sheets now have to go over the mattress and the pad. If they're already tight at the corners, go up a pocket depth.
Wash it at 30, not 40
The care label says 40 degrees. Wash it at 30. Woolroom's own care advice is 30 on a wool cycle with a wool detergent, and an owner who washed theirs at 40 says it shrank. Line dry it, never tumble dry it, and when it's off the bed keep it in the calico bag it arrives in, never a vacuum bag.
Wool doesn't usually survive a washing machine, and the reason this one does is a treatment. In Woolroom's words, the wool is "bathed in a chlorine solution", which smooths the natural barbs that make untreated wool shrink and felt, and the solution is then "rinsed out of the fibre twice". On something that sits under you every night soaking up sweat, being able to wash it at home is worth having.
The wool going into that bath is British, traceable back to British farms through Woolroom's own Wool ID scheme, but the protector itself is assembled in the EU. Some owners were surprised to find that out after buying it as a British product, so better you know before you pay.
Drying is the catch. Wool dries slowly on a line in a wet week and you can't hurry it in a tumble dryer, so several owners bought a second protector to swap in on wash days. Buy two if you can, one for the bed and one for the line. Rich, I know, from someone who usually tells people they can do without a protector at all.
Buying it with a Woolroom mattress
If you're buying a Woolroom Standen Wool Mattress, a Woolroom Hebridean 3000 Mattress or any other Woolroom mattress and want its sleep trial, you need this protector too. The trial only applies when you buy a same-size Deluxe Washable or Organic Washable protector with the bed and use it, and if the mattress goes back, the protector stays with you. On a wool mattress I'd want a wool protector anyway, so the rule doesn't bother me. Check the mattress depth against that 30cm line before you pick a skirt.
Is it worth the money?
Yes, if you sleep hot on a foam or hybrid bed. Waking clammy is what wool fixes, and for a wool protector Woolroom is the brand I'd pick. It's dear for a protector, and the price jumps around, so it pays to buy in a sale, as several owners did. Run cool and only want to keep the mattress clean? A plain cotton protector does that job, and the wool would be wasted on you.
What to buy instead
Deep mattress, or a topper on top? You want the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Mattress Protector (Extra-Deep Skirt), which is the same wool and cotton with a 45cm (about 18in) skirt that tucks well under a thicker bed. If what you need is a barrier against spills, accidents or a pet, this is the wrong protector, and the iGel Perfect Partner Mattress Protector is the one I'd buy: a Tencel cover over a fine waterproof backing, with a 40cm skirt.
If you want more cushion than a protector gives, add the Woolroom Deluxe Wool Mattress Topper and put the Extra-Deep over it.
