I've had a box of unwashed wool sitting in my sewing room for far too long and rather than washing the grease out of it outside I went the "easy" way and put it in my washer on cold but got distracted and didn't get it stopped before it agitated. its still pretty seperated at the ends, but there are "ropes" of mats at the base. It'll work perfectly for my current project which is a gnome puppet I needed hair and beard for, but I somehow don't think I need 3 pounds or so of gnome beards. Should I even try carding it or is it a lost cause? I just don't have enough experience to know where to start troubleshooting.

Soooo, what can I make with white beards and hair besides Santa and gnome dolls, puppets, etc?

You could dye it and then use it to needle felt embellishments onto things. You could take up selling large Waldorf dolls and use it for stuffing. You could use it to stuff pillows, quilts, etc.
HTH!
Oh, I forgot to say, if I was you, I'd try using conditioner on it before carding it. I really haven't had any experience doing this with wool, but have a dd with ridiculously curly hair that matts up while she's sleeping and because she has such a sensitive scalp and runs away from me whenever I have a brush in my hand, sometimes it's a couple of days between brushings and conditioner is the *only* way I can get a brush through her hair. So, I can only guess it might be similar, based on my experience with both felted wool and her hair :D

You could try carding it. You might try a little fabric softener to use like conditioner.