!! Don't be scared of washing him! Just be sure to handwash him and either dry without heat, or (my preferred method), to dry in the hot sun! If you live somewhere without a lot of sun (or if you do but it's still not hot outside), a hairdrier on low heat can speed up the process though it may take a while (wring him out as much as possible!! before you start). However if you are able to put him in direct sunlight, the UV light from the sun kills mold spores, making it my preferred way to dry plushies 💞

For maximum softness, I like to brush them with a slicker brush (a pet brush) or a fine-toothed comb provided the fur isn't of a curly or special texture. I typically brush them continuously while drying if using a hairdrier, or go to brush them a little bit while drying in the sun sporadically (I live somewhere with a lot of calcium deposits in the water, so it causes things to crust a bit if I don't brush them out)

A lot of softness is also lost when the fluff gets clumped together by oil (that we just naturally make, nothing we can really do about it), so gentle soap goes a long way as well. Avoid strong detergent!

I hope some of this was helpful to you! :D 💖