By Chris Dalziel, contributing writer
My neighbor in the city used dryer sheets pretty much constantly. With two teenagers in the house and a plumber for a husband, she did a few loads of wash every day, except Sunday. Her dryer vented in the direction of my garden. I couldn’t weed the garden without the strong “April Fresh” scent wafting my way.
At my son’s house in the city, his neighbor also has that April fresh scent emitting from his laundry vent. The polyester spun cloth dryer sheets, though, besides being expensive, are persistent in the environment. They are plastic. Like other petroleum based products, they don’t compost and they can’t be recycled.
What do dryer sheets do?
Dryer sheets contain a thin layer of chemical lubricant that softens clothing. The lubricant is electrostatically conductive to reduce static electricity. When the dryer sheets are tumbled in the heat of the dryer, the lubricant is released from the dryer and moves into the clothing. That’s why your dryer sheets look so frail when they come out of your dryer. The chemical on them has now permeated your clothing and the environment outside your dryer vent. Any fragrance on the dryer sheet is also released during the tumble. What isn’t absorbed by the clothes is released into the environment through the dryer vent.
Strategies to minimize the environmental impact
Stretch them
If you use dryer sheets, cut them into halves or thirds so that one package will last longer. This will save you money and in most cases will give you the same static-free, perfumed laundry you’ve come to expect from your laundry products. The average commercial dryer sheet costs five cents a sheet. If you cut them into thirds you’ll bring the cost down to less than two cents a load, without loss of effectiveness. You’ll also reduce the amount of chemical toxins released into your home.
Use wool dryer balls
To soften your laundry and reduce static cling, use wool dryer balls in the dryer in the place of dryer sheets. Wool dryer balls are naturally electrostatic and biodegradable. They also reduce drying time by absorbing some of the moisture from your wet laundry. See my tutorial to make your own wool dryer balls. While wool dryer balls require an initial investment, you’ll use them over and over again. Add fragrance by placing a single drop of essential oil on the wool dryer ball before using.
Use tin foil
Crunch up tin foil into balls in your hands. Place the dull side out. (The shiny side is plasticized.) Use them in place of dryer sheets. Tin foil reduces static in your laundry load by discharging the static while your wash tumbles. But tin foil balls aren’t a perfect solution. It will need to be replaced after a few wash loads, as it breaks down from the friction of the dryer. Tin foil is not biodegradable, but it is recyclable in some areas.
Line dry your laundry
Those who are able to line dry their laundry won’t need the April Fresh scent of dryer sheets to make their laundry fresh. Line drying refreshes your laundry without artificial scent. Line drying also reduces static cling. However, those who live in areas of high humidity won’t be able to line dry year round.
Remove your clothes from the dryer while still damp
Static builds up in dry clothes. If you remove your clothing from the dryer while there is still a slight dampness, you can minimize static build up and reduce your use of chemical dryer sheets.
Choose natural fabrics
Static builds up in manmade fabrics, especially when natural and manmade fabrics are together in the same laundry load. By choosing cotton and linen clothing over manmade fabrics you can reduce the amount of static in your wash load, and reduce your need for chemical dryer sheets.
Make Reusable DIY dryer sheets
DIY dryer sheets can be made from recycled clothing like sweat shirts, tee shirts, or other medium weight knit fabric. Soaked in a solution that softens your laundry, these DIY dryer sheets reduce static. Scent them with essential oils for freshness.
They not only remove a piece of worn out clothing out of the landfill cycle, these dryer sheets save you money, since they can be used over and over again.
DIY dryer Sheets
Skill level – Easy! These 100% cotton dryer sheets require no sewing skills.
Yield: 8 DIY Dryer Sheets
Materials
2 100% cotton T-shirts, knit shirts, or waffle-weave knit tops
1 ½ cups white vinegar
1 tsp. lavender, eucalyptus, or lemon essential oil
1/2 tsp. hair conditioner or Cowboy Magic hair detangler (optional)
1 glass 1 quart jar with a bail and trigger lid [like these]
Pinking shears
Directions:
Wash and dry the shirts to get them ready to upcycle. Knit fabrics are best for this project, since they don’t unravel after cutting.
Using pinking shears, cut the shirts along both sides of each seam to separate the front from the back. Fold each piece in half along the middle of the fabric, putting shoulder seams together and the bottom edge together. With pinking shears, cut the fabric along the fold to create two pieces of fabric from each front and back.
Fold each piece of fabric placing the bottom edge of the fabric against the neck cut out. You will have a small part of the neck and shoulder outside the doubled fabric. Cut this off, so that you have a rectangle with straight edges. One dryer sheet made. Repeat this with the other four pieces of fabric from this shirt.
You will have sleeves, and shoulder pieces leftover from this project. Save them for another use. Repeat steps two and thre with the second shirt. You will have eight pieces of prepared fabric in all.
Pour the white vinegar, essential oil, and hair conditioner (if you are using it) into a two-cup glass measuring cup. The hair conditioner prevents static cling. If you are in a high humidity area and static is not a concern, the hair conditioner can be omitted from the recipe. The vinegar is a softener and the essential oils contribute a fresh scent that is also an insect repellent.
Roll each piece of fabric into a tight roll that fits inside your jar. Place the fabric into the jar. Pour the vinegar solution into the jar, over all the pieces of fabric. Put the lid on the jar. Allow this to sit overnight so that the fabric can absorb the vinegar solution. There will be no pool of vinegar on the bottom of the jar, when the fabric has fully absorbed the vinegar solution.
To use:
Place a wet dryer sheet in your dryer with your laundry load. The vinegar smell dissipates when the fabric is dry. Used dryer sheets can be recharged with a fresh vinegar solution and reused multiple times.
After use, roll the dryer sheets up and place them in a second glass jar. Add fresh vinegar solution when the second jar is full of dryer sheets. In this way, you’ll always have dryer sheets ready when you need them.
Tip: For the hair conditioner in the recipe, I use the small bottles of hair conditioner that you get for free when you stay in a hotel. The hotel has to throw the unused portion out, so by taking them with you keep them out of the landfill.
Your Turn:
How do you reduce, reuse, and recycle in your laundry room? Share your tips so that we can all learn from them.
About Chris Dalziel
Chris is the author of the forthcoming book, The Beeswax Workshop: How to Make Your Own Natural Candles, Cosmetics, Cleaners, Soaps, Healing Balms, and More. She is a teacher, author, gardener, and community herbalist with 30+ years of growing herbs and formulating herbal remedies, skin care products, soaps, and candles. She teaches workshops and writes extensively about gardening, crafts, and medicinal herbs on her blog at JoybileeFarm.com. Chris’s other titles include The Beginner’s Book of Essential Oils: Learning to Use Your First 10 Essential Oils with Confidence and Homegrown Healing, From Seed to Apothecary.
Chris lives with her husband Robin in the mountains of British Columbia on a 140 acre ranch, with sheep, dairy goats, llamas, and a few retired chickens. They have 3 adult children and 3 granddaughters. All photos courtesy of Chris.
The post DIY Dryer Sheets from Old T-Shirts appeared first on Attainable Sustainable.