Natural homemade fabric softener leaves laundry soft and static free without a chemical film or artificial fragrance. Learn how to make homemade fabric softener dryer sheets. It’s easy and affordable to replace your current fabric softener with a more natural alternative.
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I grew up in a country home with a huge clothes line in the backyard. Laundry time in the spring, summer, and fall meant folding warm, sun-dried laundry infused with the smell of sunshine. Today, like many Americans, I live in a suburban neighborhood with no clothes line but the memory of that ultra-fresh laundry.
For years I tried to mimic the smell with commercial dryer sheets and liquid fabric softeners. Then I glanced at back of my fabric softener bottle and read Biodegradable Fabric Softening Agents (Cationic).
What the heck?
I had no idea what this meant so I did a little digging and what I found out shocked me. This purposely unspecific phrase is used instead of listing the actual harmful chemical ingredients.
The Truth About Fabric Softener
The artificial scents that make laundry smell like mountain streams or fields of flowers contain toxic substances that can harm your health, and pollute the air inside your home.
These indoor air pollutants or VOCs can cause immediate and long term health problems like asthma, hormone disruption, heart disease, cancer, headaches, eye irritation, congestion, and nausea.
How Fabric Softener Works
Commercial fabric softeners leave a slippery film on fabrics that makes it feel soft to the touch. This chemical film makes contact with skin when you wear clothes, sleep on sheets, or dry off with a towel. There are lots of opportunities for your skin to absorb these dangerous chemicals!
Natural Fabric Softeners
I wanted a safer way to soften laundry and found several easy-to-use, natural alternatives:
- Baking soda added to the wash lowers the ph of water in the washing machine. Softening the water helps laundry rinse cleaner and be less stiff. (Baking soda is as an ingredient in my Natural Homemade Laundry Detergent.)
- White vinegar added in the rinse cycle helps to break down the detergent, removes leftover soap residue, and deodorizes the laundry. Add white vinegar during the final rinse cycle (use your fabric softener dispenser or a dispenser ball).
- Wool dryer balls placed in the dryer natural soften and reduce static by bouncing and rubbing against the fabric as it dries.
- Homemade fabric softener & dryer sheets soften laundry in the washer or dryer. This fabric softener uses vinegar to soften and deodorize with a softening boost from vegetable glycerin.
- Glycerin is used in lotions and beauty products to moisturize and soften because it is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air). It is a clear thick liquid that is natural by product of soap making.
- The softener does not use baking soda because it can not be used on dryer sheets and should not be combined with vinegar in homemade cleaners.
Natural Homemade Fabric Softener Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 c. White vinegar
- 2 c. Water
- 1/8 c. Vegetable glycerin
- 10-20 drops Essential oil (optional)
- cotton cloth (for dryer sheets)
Liquid Fabric Softener Directions
- Combine white vinegar, water and glycerin in a glass jar. (To make liquid fabric softener mix together in a vinegar jug, it’s easy to pour into the machine.)
- Add essential oils, if desired, and stir or shake to combine. My favorite homemade laundry scent combinations are:
- Zen Spa – 10 drops eucalyptus, 5 drops lavender
- Floral Dream – 8 drops ylang ylang, 8 drops jasmine
Dryer Sheet Directions
- Add 100% cotton cloths to the fabric softener container. Mine are made from flannel fabric and are approximately 5 x 8 inches. Stitch around the edge to prevent unraveling (this step is cosmetic – you can simply rip up strips of flannel or cotton jersey). Tip – An old 100% cotton t-shirt can be cut up and made into dryer sheets. Make sure it’s 100% cotton.)
How to Use Homemade Fabric Softener
- Liquid Fabric Softener – Add ½ cup to the final rinse cycle. Use fabric softener dispenser or a dispenser ball.
- Fabric Softener Sheets – Remove a fabric sheet from the jar and squeeze so it is not dripping. Add a sheet to the dryer with wet laundry and dry as usual.
More Laundry Softening Tips
- Use dryer balls (reusable) or clean tennis balls to soften laundry and speed drying.
- Try placing a ball of aluminum foil in the dryer to reduce static cling.
- Dry clothes that attract lots of static (synthetic fabrics) until they feel a bit damp then hang to dry completely. This reduces wrinkles and eliminates static cling.
A Note on Natural Laundry Scent
Natural substance cannot not give laundry the huge scent of that come from artificial fragrances made with dangerous chemicals.
To add a gentle, natural scent you can:
- Add Essential Oils – Essential oils are natural and safe to use in laundry.
- EOs used in homemade laundry detergent or liquid fabric softener will scent the laundry room but will mostly wash out with the rinse water.
- EOs used on homemade dryer sheets or wool dryer balls will very lightly scent laundry.
- Spritz with Fabric Refresher – Natural fabric refresher is a safe way to give laundry a stronger natural scent.
- Spray dry laundry while folding.
The bottom line –> truly clean laundry smells like nothing! I use EOs in my fabric softener to mask the scent of vinegar and make doing laundry more pleasurable. If laundry smells bad out of the machine or dryer you have a problem that is easy to solve with this natural odor removing guide.
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Stephanie
Hi there,
Any tips on using vinegar when using a front-loading washer? Can’t open the door during the rinse cycle, unfortunately. 🙁
Thank you!
Bren
I add my vinegar to my fabric softener compartment. Make sure you have one that empties completely, not one you fill and it dispenses a small amount in each wash. You do not want the vinegar to sit in the machine for a long time. You can also try a Downey ball filled with vinegar. Good luck!
Dianne Hovey
Do you have to make a new mixture of fabric softener
for each load or can you make a large batch a head of time?
Bren
You can make a large batch!
Dave
Your suggestions and instructions for fabric softening are wonderful! I have a small technical quibble, though. Opposite to what most of us think, baking soda doesn’t lower pH, it raises pH. Acids are low (lemon juice is around 2), while alkalis are high (baking soda is around 9.5). Human blood is neutral, around 7.
Other than this tiny error, everything else is perfect. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
Bren
Thanks for catching my error, Dave! I write a lot more about pH in my baking soda vs washing soda post.
Kayla
I would also like to note that the use of any oils added to the dryer, even essential oils, poses a fire risk . I would recommend not using oils in the wash/dry process but rather make a cache for the closet or drawers by dropping EO’s on a cotton bad inside a mesh bag.
Jessica
Will this get rid of the static?
Bren
It helps cut down on static. To help with static in the winter it is best to dry synthetic fabric (like rayon, polyester, nylon, stretch) separate from natural fabrics (like wool, cotton and linen) and do not over dry.
Michelle H
Thanks for your wonderful tips. I have always used vinegar in my wash it is also a great brighter on my whites. Are you on Facebook so we can follow you.
Bren
Thanks Michelle! You can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/brendidblog/
Lisa
Hi Bren. I am wondering if adding oils (which I want to as I feel more natural commercial products don’t leave clothes smelling as nice as I would like) might leave oil stains on clothes as commercial softeners do (which I find impossible to then get out of clothes!). Thanks!
Bren
The essential oils are a catch 22, people LOVE their laundry to smell and ask about it all the time. However, most are looking for the huge burst of scent that dangerous chemicals give laundry. Essential oils can add scent to your laundry process/ laundry room and faintly scent laundry but are never going to give the huge scent of manmade chemicals. I use some in my fabric softener to mask the scent of vinegar and make the laundry process more pleasurable. I have never had oil spots on our clothes.
Janet
Please avoid using Grapefruit Seed Oil in your wash. I added several drops (it’s antibacterial) mixed with vinegar to the bleach dispenser before starting a load of sheets. It didn’t disperse as it went in and left yellow spots on my sheets. Maybe mixing it with vodka would have been better.
Bren
Janet, the grapefruit seed oil needs an emulsifier prior to being added to the wash. Alcohol such as vodka would work well.
Ilene
When I walk outside and can smell laundry going from other people’s houses it burns my eyes! To me it’s pollution! Hate the laundry aisle in the store, too!!
Jerrilynne Krambeer Specie
Hey Bren, I’m a grandma now and am wondering how these will affect my granddaughter’s skin.
Bren
With a new little one I would simply use vinegar as my rinse. No need to use EOs on tender skin!
Sarah
Would it be safe to use some type of eco friendly/organic sponges? Or should I stick to 100% cotton?
Bren
I’ve only tested it with cotton.
Scot
What is the purpose of the glycerin in this recipe? Can I leave it out if it’s not in my pantry?
Bren
To soften. You can use plain vinegar if desired.