I wouldn't say it's "completely necessary" to lanolize it, but I would highly, highly recommend it. I don't use wool wash. I wash with Dr. Bronner's (a tiny drop in a lot of water) and melt lansinoh lanolin into water to lanolize. Works great. And I only have to do it about once a month, so it's not a big deal.
Re: Wool ?s
I lanolize. Not everyone does. It's not completely necessary, but it's not a big deal to do.
I have some i bought on Swap Spot.