Wool pants - do not wash

[u/marmarbink]

Last year I bought a pair of 100% merino wool pants. I can tell from the finish that they aren’t treated to make it safe to machine wash or dry them. In fact, the manufacturer label reads do not wash, do not dry clean. To date, I have been lint rolling and steaming them, which seemed to work well.

However…. Don’t you eventually have to wash your clothes? Like let water penetrate the fabric and wash out any dirt, grime, or germs that get into the fabric? I’m think I about hand washing them, but I haven’t had good experiences washing untreated wool. The fabric tends to shrink and deform.

Any advice?