Dryer balls are a helpful way to keep our clothes soft whenever we wash and dry them. Dryer balls roll around in the dryer, forcing our laundry items apart when they would otherwise clump together in one big wet mass. In this way, they help increase air circulation around each item in our dryer. In addition, as dryer balls tumble around in the laundry, they also naturally soften clothes and linens, and gently smooth out wrinkles. We all want comfortable, soft clothing to come out of our dryer. No one wants to wear scratchy items that irritate their skin. Essential oils on dryer balls are an easy way to get an all-natural fragrance to your clothes
Dryer balls are also a convenient alternative to dryer sheets. Dryer sheets are coated with artificial fragrances and other environmentally harmful chemicals. Dryer sheets are likewise not reusable, and billions of them end up in our landfills every year. Wool dryer balls, on the other hand, are made of 100% wool and are completely natural. Wool dryer balls also have the added benefit of speeding up drying time and reducing energy usage in the process. They are also compostable.
How Long Do Dryer Balls Last?
How long are dryer balls good for? Dryer balls typically last around 1000 uses. This means if we do 4 loads of laundry per week, they will serve us for about 5 years. If we typically do 2 loads a week, they will last us almost 10 years. That is a lot more time than a box of chemical-laden dryer sheets would last us. This means that using dryer balls is both environmentally friendly and better for our pocketbooks. Only having to buy more every 5–10 years is sure to save us money in the long term. If we want our dryer balls to last as long as we can, we need to make sure we store them properly. We also need to understand what we can do to periodically recharge them. With a little care, dryer balls will last us for a long time.
How Can We Extend the Life of Dryer Balls?
To make sure that our dryer balls last as long as possible, it is critical that we care for them. Caring for wool dryer balls is easy. We can keep them in any well-ventilated area. Wool needs to breathe, so we should not store dryer balls in plastic. It is also commonly recommended that we recharge our dryer balls every 6 months or so.
We'll need to understand how to recharge our wool dryer balls from time to time. This is because the wool becomes overstressed and loses too much moisture, leaving it brittle and less absorbent than before. When our wool dryer balls begin to seem worn or when we observe they are no longer drying items the same way, it is time to recharge them.
How Can We Recharge Dryer Balls?
Recharging dryer balls is a really simple procedure that does not involve anything fancy. To begin, we should run our wool dryer balls through our clothes washer on a gentle cycle with hot water. This will not only clean our dryer balls by removing part of the lint and fiber buildup, but it will also rehydrate them. This will improve their ability to absorb moisture during drying by revitalizing over-dried wool fibers.
After that, we may put our dryer balls in our clothes dryer on high heat. While we can mix them in with other clothing, it is recommended to run them separately. Since they are moist, they will not help the load dry faster. In fact, because they are so saturated, they may cause the entire load to dry more slowly. We'll want to make sure they're completely dry before using them in a load that we want to dry faster.
When Should We Toss Dryer Balls?
We should note that if our dryer balls are simply not drying as well as they used to, we probably just have to recharge them. We will know our dryer balls are done once they start falling apart. We should look out for a scraggly appearance or shedding. We might even begin seeing wool show up on our dried clothes when we pull them out of the dryer.
When dryer balls do start to fall apart, it is time to replace them. But we should not simply throw them in the garbage. Since dryer balls are all natural and do not contain any harsh chemicals, we should use them in our compost because plants love the water retention abilities of wool. Using our old dryer balls to help our plants grow is sure to put a smile on our face.
