Fresh, clean laundry is one of the best things I swear. I adore using essential oils for laundry and they help me keep my laundry fresh without perfume or heavy scents. With my health and specifically my migraines, it’s easy for scents to be a migraine trigger for me, especially perfumes. Therefore, switching to natural scents is an easy way to help my health, as well as knowing I’m making a more natural choice with what is going on in my items.
Essential oils are powerful for cleaning, and with laundry, this isn’t different. Adding essential oils to unscented laundry detergent or wool dryer balls can be so helpful in infusing a beautiful aromatic scent that is dreamy!
How to use essential oils safely with laundry
Using essential oils safely is key, they can be harmful and hurtful to yourself and your laundry machines if not used properly. Be sure to do your research on individual oils before using them in your laundry cycles to ensure they can safely be added to clothing and are safe for use in the dryer.
For myself, I add essential oils to my jug of unscented natural laundry detergent that is a liquid base. I add these directly to the jug so they’re nicely diluted and only add scents that can be used topically so when they interact with clothing on our skin, I know they’re okay. For the dyer, I add a drop or two to my wool dryer balls. Start slow, and only add 1 drop at first. Slowly build up to 2-3 drops if you want but be careful as some essential oils can be flammable when added to the heat.
As mentioned above, be sure to do your research, and when unsure add them very slowly to your dryer balls. You cannot add essential oils to dryer sheets, or directly onto clothing (as there is no way for the oil to disperse). You do not need to add essential oils each time you dry your clothing. This should only be added once the scent is completely gone.
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Looking for recommended must-have accessories for your essential oils – check out my guide here!
Why add essential oils to laundry?
Essential oils are the natural scent that does not contain perfumes and synthetic scents. For me, perfumes and strong scents can trigger a migraine, which is problematic. Therefore, I try to find natural alternatives. Others use essential oils as they prefer natural ingredients in the products they use around the house. Lastly, essential oils on wool dryer balls are more environmentally friendly and in the long run are budget friendly compared to its competitors such as wash scent boosters, dryer sheets, and scented dryer bars.
Lemon Essential Oil
Lemon is one of my favourite essential oils when it comes to cleaning power, as well as adding a fresh cleaning scent to your space. This essential oil is a clean, strong, and refreshing scent that promotes aromatic clean vibes in your space. The odor strength of lemon essential oil is very strong, so you don’t need much to add to your wool dryer balls. Typically, I add 1-2 drops to each ball as lemon is so strong and has a very bright aroma.
Rosemary Essential Oil
Rosemary essential oil is another favourite of mine and I often add it to my liquid laundry detergent as it’s a great scent that for me really helps me focus! It’s a very stimulating scent and helps with opening your respiratory airways. This is lovely when you take a deep breath of fresh laundry. Rosemary is a fresh and woodsy scent that can be strong, and like lemon doesn’t require a lot of drops added to your dryer balls. You can also blend lemon with rosemary for a bold earthy scent which can be quite awakening and refreshing! Add 1-2 drops to your dryer balls and refresh as needed once the scent is fully gone.
Spruce Essential Oil
I always describe spruce essential oils for laundry as being a very bold scent! If you’re someone who likes a more woodsy and piney scent as fresh (like a new car freshener!) then this is a great essential oil for laundry for you. This scent isn’t as strong as Rosemary and Lemon, and I find doesn’t last as long on clothing as it’s milder, which can be nice if you don’t want the scent to linger long. I like to use Spruce when I’m cleaning dirty, and strong scented odors. Spruce, I find really helps get rid of bad odors, so I love to use it for workout apparel items that can go in the dryer. Use 1 drop per dryer ball to start, you can add if needed over time.
Orange Essential Oil
Lastly, one of my personal favourite scents and essential oils for laundry is orange! Orange is one of my favourite scents as it always reminds me of freshness and summer. Although orange is known as a high-intensity essential oil, I find its scent, especially in the dryer to be lighter and when used on dryer balls it can be very light on clothing. It has a very bright scent and can be blended with lemon for a bolder scent that is supercharged with a cleaning aroma. You can use 1-2 drops on your dryer balls as needed for this to add a beautiful scent to your laundry.
Summary
Using essential oils for laundry is a great way to get a natural scent booster without all those harsh chemicals and without needing to be wasteful with using single-use dryer sheets. These essential oils are helpful in providing a natural scent that is free of perfume and dyes. Be sure to research each oil before you use it, to ensure you are aware of essential oils’ safety for that oil and if it is compatible with the dryer (flammable oils should not be used in the dryer). Want to learn more about essential oils uses are the house – check out my other essential oils blog posts here!
Talk Soon!
I didn’t know that there’s essential oils for laundry. You make me wanna try it. The lemon and orange one sounds good. Thank you for sharing.
I think Orange essential oil would smell soo good in laundry.
Thank you for sharing regarding using essential oils in your laundry; sounds lovely. Great tips. 😊
Pastor Natalie (ExamineThisMoment)
Letstakeamoment.com
I didn’t think about using essential oils when doing washing. Thank you for sharing this post and tips on how to use essential oils. I love the smell of fresh washing.
Lauren x
I’ve never considered using essentials oils with laundry. My favourite laundry scent is simply having them hung out on the washing line and being air-dried but this is a great idea!
I didn’t know you could do this! Very cool. I’d try it myself but my hubby is allergic to anything but Sunlight detergent and would flip if I used something else. Though, he’d probably do fine with a simply laundry detergent to begin with but try telling him that lol
I want to give the essential oils for laundry trick a shot, but I am worried it will linger in the machine? As I am in a flat share at the moment, I might have to wait until I am home – so so hyped by this!
I’ve never thought about using essential oils for laundry, I’m definitely going to consider this!
Yes, they’re wonderful to add to liquid detergent (in small doses!). I hope you can give them a try sometime in the future!
It really does, it’s a lovely scent for fresh clothes!
Thanks, Natalie, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this post!
I’m glad this could be helpful with giving you the idea to give it a try if you’d like! It really does help boost the fresh scent of clothing with such a natural scent compared to store-bought scent boosters!
Fresh air-dried laundry is one of my favourites too and this summer has been too humid to do it! I hope if you give them a try you enjoy using them Jenny!
I’m glad this was an informative post for you Giulia! I totally get it, and am very particular too about my detergents – if sunlight works then that’s great for having him be comfortable with no allergies!
They don’t as you’re adding it into the detergent (or dryer balls) in such a small dose it doesn’t linger at all as it washes away like any other detergent! I’ve been using them for years with zero scents ever being in my machines, and even when I lived in an apartment with shared machines it never left a scent! Just make sure you’re adding a very small amount to liquid detergent and mixing it up well so it’s incredibly diluted!
Amazing to hear Riyah – if you do give it a try make sure to really dilute the oils and I hope you enjoy it!