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Cotton remains damp after you sweat and eventually also stinks of sweat. It's not a good base layer in cold weather. A lot of merino wool products are easy to clean and maintain. I have never seen polyester called wool.

No don't, you're going to be in for a bad time if you wear cotton as a base layer in -10C weather.

If you wear cotton socks and they get wet you might lose tour toes.

Most wool is definitely not polyester. At least not in Scandinavia.

This is good - potentially even life saving - advice if we're talking about doing serious activities outdoors. And in that case, even wool is probably best replaced with synthetics that are lighter and dry quicker when wet.

For around town, though, a cotton base layer and wool works pretty well.

I must side with the other replies to your comment.

I have been wearing cotton as my top base layer for a while, and it is not great at staying dry or drying out while damp.

I'd certainly choose it over any synthetic fabric, but once you go over that low mark, just about anything is better, e.g. wool, linen, help, silk, etc.