You bought a beautiful cashmere scarf. You wear it everywhere. You take care of it. Wash, dry, and store it properly. It has quickly become your favorite piece of clothing. And one day you realize it’s not the same as when you first bought it. You notice that it’s kind of fuzzy.

That fuzz that’s forming on your scarf is called pilling and it’s a normal occurrence in cashmere. But, how do you get rid of it? How to keep cashmere from pilling? And what are the tools I can use for depilling? We’ll answer these and many more questions in this article. Let’s get started!

Why does cashmere pill?

Firstly, let’s answer that question. Pilling on cashmere occurs because of friction. And anything that rubs against cashmere contributes to pilling. This is because cashmere is a very fine and delicate material, making its fibers prone to breaking down due to force.

This may sound scary, after all, a lot of things cause friction. And different surfaces apply different forces. Even wearing your scarf causes it to eventually degrade. But there is no need to panic. Instead, let’s see what can be done to prevent pilling from happening in the first place.

How to keep cashmere from pilling?

Proper care is the best preventive measure against cashmere pilling. If you don’t know yet how to care for cashmere the right way, we recommend you check out our guides. Washing cashmere is especially important as improper washing is the number one cause of cashmere pilling. But don’t forget to dry and store your cashmere the right way too. The better you take care of your cashmere, the less pilling will occur.

What should you do when pilling happens?

You should obviously remove the pilling from your cashmere clothes. But how? Definitely don’t use scissors, knives, razors, or any other sharp tools you may have at home. Cashmere is way too delicate for that. Such rough treatment will most likely result in you damaging the fibers even further.

You should rely on specialized tools instead. There are cashmere shavers and combs that are perfect for the job.

What is a cashmere shaver?
They are a tool designed to cut the pilling and loose fibers from your clothes.

What is a cashmere comb?
They are handy tools used to brush the pilling off, which then gathers on the comb ready to be disposed of.

We’ll get more in-depth on cashmere shavers and depilling combs a bit later in the article.

Can you prevent pilling from happening in the future?

So now we know what we should use to remove pilling, but is there a way to prevent it from ever happening again? The short answer is no. There is no way to fully stop pilling from occurring, but there are ways to reduce the amount and frequency of pilling. As we mentioned earlier. The simplest way is to wash them by hand using specialized cashmere wash detergents. Also, give your fibers a bit of rest from time to time and they will naturally regain some of their lost strength

And now, as promised, we’ll go into a more detailed comparison of cashmere shavers and combs.

Cashmere shavers comparison

Steamery The Pilo No.2 Fabric Shaver

The Steamery shaver is a small and handy tool. Its shaving area is 5 cm and it possesses 6 precision blades for cutting the pilling and fuzzing from your clothes. It’s rechargeable and can be used while it’s charging. The battery life of Pilo No.2 is about 1 hour which is not very impressive, especially considering that it takes over 2 hours to fully charge. It comes with a USB-C charging cable and a cleaning brush which makes cleaning the shaver very easy. The price of Steamery Pilo No.2 is £55.

Philips Fabric Shaver

The Philips shaver offers a large surface area for increased speed of removing the pilling. It is not rechargeable and works on batteries making it less environmentally friendly. Just like Pilo No.2, the Philips shaver is suitable for even the most delicate garments. The design of the fabric shaver allows for the removal of pills of many different sizes. This shaver is a bit larger than the Steamery one. It does have a significantly lower price point, as it costs about £16.

Conclusion

When it comes to their performance, both shavers operate quite similarly, although the Steamery Pilo No.2 does seem to remove more pilling in the same amount of time as the Philips Fabric Shaver. Both shavers are unfortunately quite loud. The Steamery shaver is easier to clean, but the Philips’ one has a larger space for collecting the cut pills. If you’re interested in a short video review of these two products, you can check it out here.

Unless you’re depilling a large number of garments we wouldn’t really recommend buying electric shavers. They do require quite a lot of work to properly de-pill your clothes. Combs produce a similar effect but are so much easier to use.

So, let’s see how to use a cashmere comb, and review and compare two combs of our choice.

Cashmere combs comparison

The Laundress Sweater Comb

This little cedarwood cashmere pilling comb is a fantastic tool for removing pills from your delicate garments. The two fine metal mesh screens pick up pills with ease. Combing is an easy process and it quickly revitalizes the fibers, leaving you with clothes that feel as good as new. The retail price of The Laundresses’ comb is £18,85.

Clothes Doctor Cashmere Comb

The Clothes Doctor depilling comb has the same small dimensions as The Laundress comb. This makes it just as great of a traveling companion. Its handle is made out of sustainably-sourced red cedarwood. It has very similar metal meshes on both sides of the handle. Although very similar, this comb has a lower price, retailing at £14,50.

Conclusion

These two products look and feel very similar which makes it difficult to determine the best cashmere comb. They have a noticeable difference when it comes to mesh density. The Clothes Doctor’s mesh hole is smaller with 4 rows. The Laundress’s mesh hole is bigger with 3 rows. In our testing, we noticed that the Clothes Doctor’s comb gathers more pills when working on the same area with the same amount of strokes.

Clothes Doctor’s comb also gets bonus points for its paper packaging. Meanwhile, The Laundress arrives in a plastic bag. If you’re interested in a short video review of these two products, you can check it out here.

One more thing, when you’re working on large surfaces, you’re going to spend a lot of time removing the pills from your comb rather than combing your garments. But at this point, you know how it is – caring for cashmere takes time.

And that’s all you need to know about cashmere pilling and how to remove it. Now that you’re equipped with this knowledge grab your comb or shaver and help your cashmere get back to its former glory!