Working with itchy wool

Dear users and authors,
do you have any tips for working with scratchy wool? How can I make the wool soft?

I was once told that you should wash scratchy wool with baby shampoo, rinse it well, and then—instead of drying it—wrap it in a towel and put it in the freezer for at least 24 hours. Then take it out and let it dry slowly in the towel—don’t forcefully unroll it from the frozen towel, because that will break the wool fibers—and afterward, the wool should be nice and soft. I haven’t tried this myself yet.

Best regards, Inge

I don’t even buy scratchy wool in the first place—what am I supposed to do with it? I’d be too worried that it wouldn’t get soft enough.
I’ve crocheted with sponge yarn before, but I didn’t find it that scratchy at all—I’d imagined it would be worse. And of course, those ended up as cleaning and dish sponges.
Amigurumi and things like that also have to be soft—many of them end up as stuffed animals for kids—so I almost exclusively use cotton so they’re washable.
But I’ve also heard something about freezing it.

Does that mean you have to freeze the garment every time after washing, or is that a one-time process before working with it?

...I think it only softens after the first wash... I’d only heard about freezing it with mohair.
For pure new wool, washing it in the washing machine on the wool cycle—tucked inside a pillowcase—helps. The yarn blooms really nicely...
If it contains a lot of spinning oil, soak the yarn in boiling water with dish soap before knitting. Don’t move the skein around in the water. Once the water has cooled, carefully pour it off, rinse the yarn, and let the skein dry....