In my journey toward making a more natural home, over two years ago I ditched using dryer sheets and started using wool dryer balls instead.
You see, regular dryer sheets contain chemicals and potential toxins. Sure, they may make your clothes smell pretty, but I can accomplish that with essential oils.
Wool dryer balls are 100% natural. They speed up drying time, soften clothes naturally and leave no toxic residue on your clothes, linens or cloth diapers.
(Speaking of cloth diapers, you canNOT use dryer sheets while drying diapers! You will ruin them!)
I bought my first dryer balls from a work-at-home mom. They worked, but I am LOVING my newest set, from Everday Willow Wool!
As you can see in the picture below, the Everday Willow Wool are bigger, and, to me, the quality of the wool just feels stronger.
Everday Willow Wool wool dryer balls (ball on left) are made from natural wool that has been hand felted. The no-name ball on the right looks like it may be knitted wool covering another fabric.
Besides helping to detox your laundry room, I personally believe that using wool dryer balls can help save you money. I have not had to buy dryer sheets in well over two years, and I will probably never buy them again. And using wool dryer balls can help cut the drying time almost in half for some loads of laundry!
To use, simply toss 2-3 balls in your wet dryer and start. There is no need to ever remove the balls from your dryer.
Gina
When I do use my dryer, it would be great to have these wool balls. My mom uses tennis balls, but they are really noisy!!!!
Erin
I love them!
Jessica
Do you find that the balls create static. I made a few from 100% sheeps wool and found that I got static….
Tammie
I am also curious to know about static. I need something that will eliminate static and it seems that the wool wouldn’t do that, but I have no experience with them so really have no idea.
Christa Upton
We haven’t used anything in the dryer for several years, and in the last couple years I noticed our static problem had decreased greatly. I could not figure it out for the longest time, but I think maybe I’ve found the reason…. We have switched to cotton as much as possible (cotton clothing, underwear, blankets, etc.) I think the synthetic fabrics must generate more static? I don’t know why, but we just don’t have much trouble any more, except for a few sweaters of polyester, acrylic, etc. I don’t know if that will help anybody, but I thought I’d share my weird observation. ๐
Erin
That’s really interesting! You know, I wonder if that’s how it is with our clothes as well. I do notice the things that get static are usually fleece or something like that. To be honest, I think the best person to ask may be someone new to using the wool balls. I’ve been using them so long that it’s hard to compare to what my static was like before.
Erin
I do still have some static but very little. I had to do laundry to answer your question-Ha! To be honest, it’s so little that I don’t really notice it. I did pull out on fleece shirt tonight that had static on it, but that was the only shirt in the entire LARGE load of toddler clothes. I used 6ish balls in the dryer tonight, but you really only need 2-3. I honestly can’t remember how much static cling I had while I was still using dryer sheets, but I went through a period where I used nothing in the dryer (before I heard of the balls), and I did have problems with static then. I would say you will still have some but not much…at least that’s been my experience, and I’ve been using the balls for about 2 1/2 years now.
Sue Rainer Scarboro
Put essential oils on the dryer balls for a plesent smell…..
Jessica W.
As others have mentioned, it IS the synthetic fibers that create static in the dryer. You can eliminate the static by removing any clothing made from synthetic fibers BEFORE the articles are completely dry. They don’t need to be damp, just not completely dry. Static forms after the fabric is dry and then begins rubbing against itself, creating the charged particles. The presence of any amount of moisture prevents this process from happening.
Erin
Thanks for the tip!
Joanna
I had this problem also, then with a little Google help found out that I was drying my clothes too long. Before using the wool dryer balls my energy efficient dryer was not so energy efficient had to use the longest setting to get clothes dry. Well I continued that with my new wool dryer balls and static was crazy. Now I put it on the energy preferred setting and my clothes are drying faster and have almost no static at all. I hope this helps others.
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents
I love my dryer balls! ๐
Erin
me too! ๐
Deb
I have never heard of this before. If it cuts down the dryer time, it would save me a lot of electricity! I want to try these!!
Stacey Hubbard
Wool dryer balls sound wonderful. With a family of 4 all having skin sensitivity issues, these sound great. I have not heard of them before, and have tried tennis balls, but would LOVE to try the wool balls in my dryer.
Theresa Hoff
Since we raise sheep, I am a big advocate for sheep/wool products. With 7 children I just don’t have the time to take on another project, especially working with wool. This would be cool to add to my laundry room and use! I have kids with skin disorders, so right now I don’t use anything in the dryer, this would be awesome ๐
Lori Lynn @ Playing House
I’m taking baby steps towards a more natural lifestyle. These dryer balls would be a great step in that direction! Thanks for posting this giveaway ๐
Kim
We are trying to be more aware of what we use and this would be great. Love your blog.
Christa Upton
I want to thank you for sharing a non-toxic approach to the dryer! I have extremely severe Toxic Injury (also called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), and dryer sheets actually give me nausea and heart symptoms. Other people’s use of dryer sheets affects me in these ways: in public (the chemicals coming off their clothes can affect me from 15 or more feet away–I know, hard to believe), with workers such as a plumber coming into our home, in rental homes we might move to, and in second-hand clothes we might buy. There are thousands of people like me, (actually probably way more than that). So, the fewer people in the world that use dryer sheets, the better. (I hope your post goes viral! :)) Also, the chemicals in dryer sheets really are bad. When people switch, they might be helping their own families not get Toxic Injury somewhere down the line.
Deb
Amen on the toxins in dryer sheets. Folks think they need to use them but that’s a bunch of balony. Hang ’em outdoors. I have never used dryer sheets and all my kids have managed to survive despite it. LOL No laughing matter, sounds horrible what you go through. if you were around me there’s be no perfume, etc. or dryer sheet chemicals. Nature is best.
Christa Upton
Thank you; it is pretty horrible what I go through. But, I like to take every opportunity to laugh, and “managed to survive despite not using dryer sheets” IS funny. ๐ People do seem to be attached to their fragrances. “They say” (and I have no idea if it is true or not) that chemicals/perfumes in stuff can be addicting….
Deana
Hanging outside isn’t always an option, esp with allergies. The clothes pick up the allergens from outside.
Elizabeth
I love my dryer balls, especially with my cloth diapers. I did a review of a great small business that sells them:
http://www.themessyorganicmum.com/2012/10/organic-wool-dryer-balls.html
Thanks for supporting dryer balls, too few people seem to know about/use them.
Sarah
I love dryer balls. I tried other types but nothing works like wool dryer balls. I would love some ๐
Sharon McGee
Would love these
Amy
I would love to give these a try. Thanks so much for the information, and the giveaway!
Deb
Would love to win the dryer balls for when I use it. Use the greenhouse in inclimate weather a lot or reg. clothesline outside or drying rack by the woodstove.
Rebecca
I would love to try these!”
samantha
I would love to try dryer balls!!! I’m quitting my job at the end of the month to go back to homemaking and these sound amazing!
Jennifer Dunn
These look fabulous! I have never tried dryer balls yet, but they are just what I’ve been looking for! I stopped using bounce sheets and my family is complaining! I don’t want to give in and buy more……now that I know more about them, they just seem gross! Thanks so much for sharing, and perhaps I’ll win the free ones to give them a go!
Christa Upton
Dryer sheets ARE gross! ๐ But, before I got MCS, I used to brush dryer sheets over my hair to get rid of static. It worked, but YUCK. Somehow there’s got to be a spiritual lesson in there…. ๐
Erin
LOL! I think I did the exact same thing!
Christa Upton
LOL I’m glad I’m not the only one to do that! ๐ I just remember hating how my hair would “stick” to my sweaters, PJs, etc….
Erin
Same here–I wonder why my hair doesn’t do that now?! LOL
Sara Shay
Can’t wait to try some with essential oils!
Tara E
i need some! wish i could enter, but i’m in Canada. ๐
Erin
๐ So sorry!
Gina Salem Gunter
I would so love to win these 3 balls of wool dryers! I’ve never heard of them before today. Currently I am not using anything in the dryer, ever since I read how harmful the average commercial dryer sheets are for our health and the environment (approximately 8 months ago). So , I’m really excited to learn about how wool can help the environment and even cut down on drying time.
Karyn
Could you tell me where you bought the original dryer balls that you didn’t care for…you can do it privately. I like the looks of the stoney mountain ones but don’t want to buy poorly…thanks
Erin
I still liked the original ones & actually still use them along with these–but they are just MUCH smaller. I got them from re-diaper.com.
karyn
thanks so much, I appreciate it!!!!!
Angelica
Hello, A quick question…How long do the wool drier balls last? How many uses I may get from the balls- let’s say 3??
Thank you,
Angelica
BJ
Do new wool dryer balls shed when first using?