How to Make Natural Dryer Sheets

When I was little, one of the things I looked forward to about growing up was doing my own laundry… but not for the reason you’d think. I wanted scented laundry detergent and dryer sheets. My mom smartly used an unscented natural detergent that was closer to the homemade laundry detergent I use now, but I wanted the heavily scented chemical stuff that all my friends used.

I actually did use those artificially fragranced harsh detergents in college, and eventually realized that while they smelled good, they weren’t all they were cracked up to be and they gave me a headache.

When I had kids and made the switch back to natural detergent, I missed my clothes having that “clean” smell I had become so used to. Using essential oil scented soap in my DIY recipe solved this problem somewhat, but I realized that the scent didn’t stick around after the clothes were dried.

Natural Dryer Sheets

I stopped using conventional laundry detergent and dryer sheets, but desired a solution that would leave a fresh scent on clothes naturally.

I was also frustrated with the static cling that was tough to get rid of without dryer sheets. After some experimentation I found a two-fold solution that left clothes static-free and nice smelling without the harmful artificial fragrances:

Homemade Natural Dryer Sheets
Wool Dryer Balls

DIY Dryer Sheets:

I looked for a natural dryer sheet to buy, but could never find an option with ingredients I truly felt comfortable with. Just as with deodorant or toothpaste and all-purpose cleaner, homemade was the best, cheapest and easiest option.

I mainly wanted dryer sheets for the scent, so this was a really simple DIY project.

What you need:

Cloth baby wipes (or old scraps of cloth)
Essential oils of choice
White Vinegar
A glass jar with a wide lid or other storage container

What to do:

Mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 25+ drops of essential oils of choice. I like Geranium, Citrus, Lavender and Mint.
Fold the wipes or cloth scraps and place in your jar or storage container.
Moisten but don’t saturate the cloth with the vinegar mixture (store extra in a bottle if you don’t need the entire mixture).
Use one wipe/cloth per dryer load to freshen laundry. The vinegar smell will evaporate during drying and the essential oil scent will remain.

Wool Dryer Balls

Wool dryer balls help remove static cling, and also shorten the time it takes to dry a load of laundry. I couldn’t believe it took me so long to try them and I won’t ever go back. The mixture of natural dryer sheets and dryer balls has been the perfect solution for me.

With wool dryer balls, you can make them at home or buy them:

Make them: This is a great tutorial for DIY Wool Dryer Balls
Buy them: Or, get good quality dryer balls at a great price here.

What, if anything, do you use in your dryer to reduce static and freshen clothes?

Natural dryer sheets combined with wool dryer balls are a great reusable alternative to artificially scented disposable dryer sheets.

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

112 responses to “How to Make Natural Dryer Sheets”

Melissa

August 22, 2016

Am I the only person that has wool balls that don’t reduce static cling or dry time?!

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Rebecca K

June 5, 2016

TO remove wrinkles, I’ve always only used a damp cloth or other clothing item (clean, not dripping wet) in the dryer and pull them out after 15-20 minutes or so. The steam created by the damp cloth is enough moisture to get the wrinkles out. I have never used any additional ingredients to “dewrinkle.” You can always just pour/mist water onto another clothing item; it doesn’t have to be a lot and you don’t want it soaking wet anyway. AND, remember to have multiple items in the dryer for best circulation. Using too few just to ‘get the one piece of clothing’ you need right then will not work well at all. The air needs to evenly circulate in order to NOT have wrinkles and the dry clothes/items will help dry any wet items more quickly.

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Heather

March 19, 2016

Just to clarify, you put the liquid in a container and the wet the wipes just before throwing one into the dryer? Or can I wet them all and store them wet? Thanks!

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  March 20, 2016
  
  You can do it either way. I typically wet them just before using now.
  
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  1. heather
    
    March 30, 2016
    
    Thanks! Can’t wait to try this.
    
    Reply
Nichole

March 13, 2016

I tried buying and making my own dryer balls. Both sets eventually fell apart. I was wondering if I could just cut apart an old wool sweater to use instead? Anyone tried this?

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Katie

February 29, 2016

what am i doing wrong? I can’t smell my citrus essential oil on my clothes afterward. I put the vinegar and the essential oil in, stirred it a little, then put in little baby wash clothes all in a jar with a lid like in the picture. I shook the jar around to get the wash clothes evenly through the vinegar. hmmm any suggestions?

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  February 29, 2016
  
  Since all of us have varying degrees of smell, you may try adding a few more drops and see if you can smell it then 🙂
  
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2. heather
  
  May 19, 2016
  
  Heat will diminish the scent you never heat EO s
  Aromatherapist Certified in training.
  
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Lisette

February 16, 2016

The one thing I use in the dryer that works amazingly to rid static cling is pink Himalayan salt! I tie the salt rocks in a muslin bag and secure it and I had zero static! It is amazing!

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1. Judith
  
  February 21, 2016
  
  I think that clothes smell CLEAN when they have no scent. I think consumers have been conditioned to ‘need’ some perfume in their clothes in order for them to smell clean.
  
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  1. Lisa
    
    June 1, 2016
    
    I agree! The best scent is the smell of fresh laundry that has been hanging outside on a sunny day!
    
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  2. Dani
    
    June 16, 2016
    
    if your like me… you sometimes let it sit to long… and there isthis smell called… ewwww gross moldy uggg… even rewashing it once or twice it still stinks… so having something pretty can cover it…
    
    Just made my first set of dryer sheets from old wash cloths… 4 of them soaked up the cup of ving – they were kinda thicker wash cloths… so i double it to have like 10 wash clothes…I love how vinegear smells… so it’ll be interesting what it smells like… as a baby girl is about to hatch… but then again… if her clothes smell like vinegar… that’ll make her smell better than what she poops out?
    
    Reply
    1. Laura
      
      June 17, 2016
      
      If your clothes sit on the washer too long and start to smell like mildew, just pour some vinegar in the machine and run them through a rinse cycle. Works great, I do that with some regularity. Neither that nor the vinegar on the homemade dryer sheets will make your clothes smell like vinegar. The vinegar smell evaporates in the dryer and your clothes just don’t smell like anything, good or bad. They’re just clean.
      
      Reply
    2. Tanya
      
      January 19, 2018
      
      Baking soda in a rewash will help with that left-clothes-in-the-washer-too-long nasty smell. Just pour in about 1/3 to 1/2 a box with another cup of whatever detergent you’re using and that smell will come out. I unfortunately do that way too often, and if you put them in the dryer like that, you’re locking in a nastiness that you definitely don’t want.
      
      Reply
2. Laura
  
  June 17, 2016
  
  Thanks! I’ll definitely try that.
  
  Reply
Lisa Head

February 14, 2016

I hear you can ‘revive’ the wool dryer balls by throwing them in a sock and sending them through the washer and dryer. I have also wondered if you could use a sweater defuzzer on them first as they tend to pick up lint and form fuzzballs like a sweater does. Then I think they don’t do as well to reduce static.
I have the best luck when I load the washer with detergent then carefully pour straight distilled vinegar into the softener cup of my washer. I fill about half full. Vinegar is so diluted this way that theres very little odor on clothes coming out of the washer. The wet clothes smell so clean and fresh!
Then on the dryer balls I mix the water with essential oils. Shake bottle well and spray on the wool balls or sheets prior to throwing in the dryer.

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Taya

February 10, 2016

Katie! You are on another level of awesome! Every time I Google search a natural/organic/home remedy, you are a top hit! Congratulations to your flourishing blog and thank you for helping me! ::Hugs:: ~Taya 🙂

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Tammy Earl

January 2, 2016

I had the same problem with the eo’s coming if on the laundry. I think I’m gonna try injecting my will balls (I absolutely luv them). Ordering the natural bleach next go round for my clothes too. Reading your blog gets my brain working for more ideas took try. Thanks so much.
If this works you can get syringes at any pharmacy. I’m thinking at least an inch long needle:)

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Nora

November 26, 2015

The best way I found to avoid static is to eliminate synthetic fibres in our clothes and household linens. So, only natural fibres of cotton, wool, linen, silk, and bamboo for us and we have no static. I made the switch when menopause began and found the hot/cold sweats were greatly reduced once there was no polyester, acrylic, etc. next to my skin and all-cotton sheets and all-cotton or all-wool blankets made the nights much more restful. I do use wool dryer balls to fluff and shorten drying time that I made myself on the cheap with 100% wool yarn from area thrift stores; made 6 tennis-ball sized dryer balls for $5 two years ago and they still look and work like new.

Thanks for all the great info you share, Katie!

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April

October 6, 2015

When I spotted this idea on your blog I was really excited. Softer clothes that smell good without all the chemicals? Sign me up! So I gave it a try yesterday and I’m sad to say it did not turn out how I expected. I hate the smell of vinegar and most of my clothes reeked of it when I pulled them out of the dryer. There were also a few oil spots on a Tshirt that weren’t there when I put the clothes in. I used about 30 drops of lavender EO in the vinegar. Was that too much? Was I supped to shake instead of stir to emulsify before dampening the wipes? I am guessing that a glob of eo must of transfered from the cloth to the shirt. What did I do wrong?

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1. Kate
  
  January 27, 2016
  
  I have the same problem and have given up on the homemade dryer sheets. It isn’t worth it to have my hubby tell me his clothes smell like vinegar 🙁 Katie, if you could give some hints on why your clothes don’t smell like vinegar, I would appreciate it. I have even tried putting in double the amount of essential oil with the vinegar and still my clothes smell like vinegar. I do use the wool dryer balls and from time to time I put a few drops of essential oils on them to give my clothes a nice scent. I love the wood dryer balls and they do cut down on my drying time and like others, I have found that synthetic materials do cause a lot of static, so I just remove them from the dryer after about 15 minutes and all is well.
  
  Reply
Cheryl

September 21, 2015

Do you have any other suggestions for reducing static? The wool dryer balls did not work for me at all. I want to be able to not have to rely on those chemical laden dryer sheets for static. I did see that some use an aluminum foil ball but I have hesitation using that since I am trying to get rid of/reduce aluminum in our family. (Like deodorants etc) Thank you so much for your time and help!

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  September 22, 2015
  
  There are silicon dryer balls available that are supposed to reduce static as well, though I haven’t tried them…
  
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Sarah Snow

September 15, 2015

I have been using this mixture for about a month now. Unfortunately each and every time I dry my clothes they still smell like vinegar. I even over dried a few loads hoping it would help. I started getting my EO and supplies from the same company that you do ( love them btw thank you) but it doesn’t seem to make a difference other than I can smell the EO more. If I switched to Apple Cider Vinegar do you think it would help? Maybe less vinegar and more EO? I’m in love with your blog and tell everyone I know. If they have any of the same questions I would love to help them and myself in the process. I’ve tried quite a few of your recipes and all have worked perfectly until now. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

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Dolores Torres

September 10, 2015

I love to read everything you teach. I get very excited to to learn new ways to clean as well as other things.
The way to dry clothing is unbelievable to me!!! I grew up old school ways.

I’m will be 67yrs old in Nov. Get my retirement and work a full time job.
It’s better then gardening & watching soap operas. I hear that’s the trend. UGH!!!!!!

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Vani

September 1, 2015

I just made this product and tested it out in my laundry yesterday and all my clothes smell like vinegar, I couldn’t even smell the geranium oil I used. I used one cup of vinegar and 23 drops of essential oil. Did this happen to anyone else? I really wanted it to work!

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1. heather
  
  May 19, 2016
  
  Because heat will kill the scent of EO if u use real unadulterated ESo. You do not heat ESo!
  
  Reply
Anna

August 29, 2015

What a lovely idea! I have never thought of making my own dryer sheets!! This is definitely on my to do list.

Anna

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cynthia

August 22, 2015

cant wait to try this. I use non scented everything and use organic and/or earth friendly products. I have used them for so long that my mother did my laundry the other week and I felt like me entire house just smelled and it made me sick to my stomach! Cant wait to do this! 🙂

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Sara

August 12, 2015

I just tried these dryer sheets from your recipe and my sheets smell like vinegar, yuck! Any suggestions on how to fix this? I would love to get away from using bounce with all my loads of laundry but I am not ok with sheets and clothes smelling of vinegar! Should I be drying on an higher setting or putting more oils in the mixture? I have been letting the sheets sit in the mixture until l go to use them, then pulling one at a time out.

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  August 25, 2015
  
  The smell should evaporate once the sheets are completely dry. You could also just use the dryer balls and put a few drops of essential oils on them.
  
  Reply
Corinna

July 31, 2015

Everyone days their dryer balls work with static. Mine don’t at all. Someone gave me mine as a baby shower gift and it’s the same brand they use. I’ve just learned to live with static. Lol

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1. Shauna
  
  August 20, 2015
  
  I just throw in a couple of tennis balls!
  
  Reply
Suze

July 30, 2015

I did this exactly as you said, and it didn’t work at all. In fact, my clothes came out smelling like vinegar, not the oils. Not sure how it is working for you.

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