The Ugly Truth About Dryer Sheets – 5 Reasons to Ditch Them for this Money Saving Alternative

The Ugly Truth about Dryer Sheets –  5 Reasons to Ditch them for this Money Saving Alternative

The biggest mistake you’re making while doing laundry isn’t mixing whites with colors or using warm water instead of cold water – it’s using dryer sheets. Dryer sheets, known for their ability to soften and freshen your laundry, are a huge culprit of toxicity and waste. Here are 4 reasons to ditch them, and make a major sustainable swap to our 100% Organic New Zealand Wool Dryer Balls:

1. Cost – The average American family does 8-10 loads of laundry each week. With typical dryer sheets costing anywhere from .05 -.10 a sheet or load of laundry (at a minimum because let’s be honest – sometimes we throw in 2 sheets), households spend over $50 a year on dryer sheets.

2. Lack of Transparency – Don’t let a long list of ingredients fool you. While dryer sheets are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, manufacturers still aren’t required to disclose all the ingredients they use on their labels. This means that the clothes going on your skin, the sheets you’re sleeping in, and towels you’re using to dry your body, could be coated in toxic chemicals exerted from drying with dryer sheets.

3. VOC’s – Volatile Organic Compounds are gases that are released into the air when a product is being used. Many are considered carcinogenic or are linked to other respiratory illnesses. In an Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health study, many popular brands of dryer sheets were found to emit VOC’s during the drying process. Of the VOC’s emitted, the EPA classified multiple (7, to be exact) as hazardous air pollutants.

4. Fragrance – If you’ve seen Stink! on Netflix, you already know how scary this word can be. “Fragrance” is an ingredient commonly listed on dryer sheet ingredient labels to indicate an added unnatural scent. While it only appears as 1 ingredient, it can be kept proprietary, and therefore may be a placeholder ingredient for a formula comprised of multiple undisclosed ingredients.

5. Single-Use-Plastic – Traditional dryer sheets are typically made from nonwoven polyester, also known as a plastic, coated in chemical fragrances and fabric softeners. After one use, dryer sheets transfer their fragrance and softening chemicals onto the laundry, making them unable to be reused. Because of their makeup, they can’t be recycled and therefor end up in landfills for years to come.

Dryer Balls: We said it twice, but we’ll say it again – 100% Organic New Zealand Wool, only! Dryer Balls contain zero plastic, and even come in a canvas tote to eliminate plastic packaging.

100% Organic New Zealand Wool Dryer Balls are one of our favorite sustainable swap yet. They are the best alternative to dryer sheets that still soften and remove static and wrinkles from your laundry – without the chemicals and plastic.