Wool Dryer Balls: An Update On Natural Laundry
It has been almost four months since my post on Mrs. Meyers and the unfortunate discovery that many of the so- called "natural" products out there are not as natural as they say! If you missed that post and want to check it out click HERE for the link. As my journey continues on a path for a safer more natural home I am giving you a little update on my laundry since I ran out of the Mrs. Meyers products! Check out what has been working for me the last month or two.
I ran out of dryer sheets first, so took to Pinterest in search of options to keep my clothes soft and static free! I ran across a few posts talking about wool dryer balls! I had purchased some for my Mom last winter and I knew she was really enjoying them! I decided that looked like the best option and I love using them! Here are the benefits I have found so far:
- Naturally soften your clothes and reduce wrinkles
- Decrease drying time by 30-50% by using multiple wool dryer balls
- Save money by reusing the wool balls (they say 1,500+ times before replacing)
- Pick what "scent" you want with essential oils (no more harmful fragrance and chemicals from dryer sheets!)
- They break down static energy in your clothing (wool balances the electrons in textiles)
I have been using THESE organic wool dryer balls from Amazon. I like using the grey for my darker clothes and the white for my lighter clothes.
For laundry detergent I have been using Seventh Generation for the convenience of ordering online with my Grove Pantry account. I am not 100% set on this one as there are some small concerns but for now my clothes are clean and the fragrance is from essential oils leaving my clothes fresh with no artificial fragrance! When I look up the Blue Eucalyptus & Lavender on the EWG/ Think Dirty there are concerns with two of the ingredients, METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE (EWG) and LAURETH-6 (Think Dirty). These two apps have always given a slight difference in results so I wasn't super surprised that they had two different ingredient concerns. The use of METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE (which may be toxic to aquatic life and is a synthetic preservative) put the EWG rating of this at a C. Think Dirty still technically doesn't have this rated but I'd guess its at a 3-4, the only ingredient of concern with them was LAURETH-6 (plant-derived cleaning agent) which has no known negative health impacts but may irritate skin. I had a few people recommend Green Shield but it was pretty expensive, I am thinking about maybe trying Dr. Bronner to make a laundry detergent but I'm not sure. Would love to hear some feedback on this one! Have you used Seventh Generation Liquid Laundry Detergent before? Do you have a detergent you love and trust?
As always, thank you for following along with my Little Urban Life!
xx nichole