Washing raw wool

At one of the local yarn stores that Sherry and I stopped at after Fenzi Camp, we found raw wool for sale. It was only $1 per oz, so I grabbed a big bag of 10 ounces to experiment with washing and carding. Half was dark brown with lighter edges, and half was cream.

I decided to tackle the dark brown wool first. Per the instructions the store had given me, I filled the sink with hot water and a small amount of detergent, covered the sink to keep the heat in, and left it until the water was lukewarm.

This was the resulting water:

And this was the resulting... gray wool??

Soak it in plain hot water to rinse. This was the water:

And this was the wool:

Second round. Wash water:

Wool:

Rinsed, then third round of wash water:

And final rinse water, almost clear:

Final wool:

The brown tips are still there, but it's mostly gray. Wow. It still has a slightly greasy feel when I rub it between my fingers, and unfortunately that's what's going to happen when I spin it. The directions stated that washing soda would get rid of grease, though you have to be careful as it will damage the fiber if left in contact for too long. I don't have any on hand but I'll pick it up and do another soak/rinse eventually.

I'm curious to see how the "cream" colored wool will turn out.