Scented laundry without FS??

[matthewza]

Hello all!

Been a long while since I last posted, but have been reading posts as often as I can.

As the title suggests, I need a way to fragrance laundry without the use of FS.

I don't use FS at all, but my partner loves it - not for the softness (he tumble dries everything so that does the softening anyway)but he loves the smell. His mother never used FS, so even now at 28, he loves using it because they never had it as kids and when he discovered it after he moved out of the family home, he was hooked.

However, we are moving in together in a few months, and because I dont like using FS, we need a new way of getting the laundry to smell nice. I generally buy washing powder that smells good, but that sometimes dries away on the line or in the dryer.

Unfortunately a Miele tumble dryer with fragrance dos is out of our budget at the moment (I did consider just doing that, hehe)

So, in all of your professional opinions, what are my options? I'm keen to try (almost) anything. Spray FS onto a rag and put it in the dryer with the laundry? Essential oils either in the washing machine or dryer? Spray linen spray into the dryer before adding the wet washing?

Also, here in SA we don't get the in wash scent boosters, and importing would just be a bit too expensive for my liking.

All suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Matt

 

[mralex]

Do you have dryer sheets over there? those are a good alternative to FS

 

[matthewza]

Dryer sheets...

Hi Alex

We do, but they're not great at all. We have 1 brand and they don't smell great and when I tried them, I couldn't smell their scent on the laundry either. And dryer sheets can also leave a residue on the sensor bars of my dryer, so not a fan of them either.

Matt

 

[mralex]

Hmm.. Maybe some sort of fabric refresh spray then?? scented dryer balls? (I use those all the time)

 

[foraloysius]

Scented oil perhaps? You just need a few drops to get laundry with a perfume. Lavender oil comes to mind as something you could use.

 

[mralex]

foraloysius - Lavender is excellent! Few drops with vinegar in the softener, add some to woollen dryer balls in the dryer! should do the trick!

 

[mrb627]

In Wash Scent Booster Beads

In the US, we have several brands of scent booster beads that you pour into the wash tub. They provide no cleaning of softening benefit, just scent.

Malcolm

 

[matthewza]

Woollen Dryer Balls...

Liking the idea of essential oil on woolen dryer balls. How does 1 make a woolen dryer bal? cover a tennis ball with wool? or any other ball? Does the wool not give off lint onto dark clothes?

And for essential oils in the wash - I take it you mean I should fill my FS dispenser with vinegar and add a few drops of essential oil to that? Would that vinegar not over power it? Should I not just put a few drops of the oil into the FS dispenser by itself?

Unfortunately we dont have scent boosters in SA. I know I can order online but the cost is just a bit high for me. Hoping that after a few months of us living together I can slowly ween him off scented laundry and just get him to like the way I do laundry, hehe... or just save up for a new Miele HP dryer!

 

[mralex]

The vinegar smell disappears but softens clothes pretty much the way FS does so then you have the oil as the "Perfume"! I use vinegar most of the time and when I want more scents I use some essential oils and yes! I meant that you just pour it into the FS compartment on your machine

You can actually buy woollen dryer balls online, they're just made from wool and doesn't transfer to clothes and every time you use it it'll become even more "Solid" to the touch

 

[matthewza]

Thankx Alex! I know vinegar is a great alternative to FS. I use it when I was my gym clothes to get them fresh again but normal washing and bedding and towels I don't add anything to the rinse just detergent at the start and then just the fresh water rinses.

I'll look for woolen dryer balls, otherwise I'll just MacGyver a pair of them.

 

[earthling177]

Matthew:

I think my advice will not go over well at first, but I hope you consider it anyway.

Stay out of it -- do your laundry to your tastes, let him do his laundry to his. Or do his laundry to his tastes.

Maybe it doesn't sound offensive to you when you say you want to "wean him" off something he likes and enjoys, but I think that if we were talking about weaning you off your preferred ways of cleaning house, doing laundry or favorite foods, you'd be pretty pissed off.

There is something in both of you that attracts you both to each other. Revel in that. Enjoy each other's companies, the differences and similarities. If you were talking about how the budget is tight and this is an easy to live without expense, I might side with you. But if you can afford the expense, just do it.

Fabric softener is not just for scent. In fact, in many countries, they are offered in unscented versions too.

And it's not just for adding scents or just to make things soft either.

I am one of 6 brothers, and that's not what a "large family" was back then in the 60's either, there were people with 12 kids just around the corner.

I hope it's not necessary to say that now that we are all grown up and living apart, we all have very different ways of doing things and seeing the world. Some of my sisters-in-law think that fabric softeners are yucky ("made with animal fat", which is not true or not true anymore), or that they are unhealthy or expensive or unnecessary.

So, it's been fun and funny to me to watch some of the reactions. They visit me and I do their laundry, or I visit them and do their laundry -- are you sensing a pattern here that I *like* doing laundry and most of my family hates it? So anyway, I do laundry and they can't get over how clean and nice and soft things are. They ask. Yes, *hot* water, *good* detergent, fabric softener. Then every once in a while, they go "OMG!, you *still* have that t-shirt I gave you from over 5 (or 10 or 15) years ago, how?", and the answer is the same.

Then we have the slightly more complicated cases. One of my brothers used to have extensive skin allergies -- of course, his dermatologist told him to stop using scented detergents and stop using fabric softener. Mind you, I think it might be a perfectly fine thing to say to a patient, I'm willing to bet that, statistically speaking, that will cure most patients. Not him, he got worse. After a few times of bad skin rashes, I visit him or he visits me and I do laundry and the skin clears out *pronto*, he and his wife learned the lesson -- *good* detergent, *hot* wash, rinse well and use fabric softener.

What you and many others don't ever think about is that fabric softener is in fact a product that is supposed to (when manufactured appropriately and dosed accordingly) bind and remove from the fabrics all the enzymes, remaining soil and detergents.

If you dosed it right, there'll be very little left behind, just enough to keep the fabric soft. If the fabric is "limp", or "greasy" or the towels are not drying you properly, either you used too much fabric softener or too little detergent.

Please consider the fact that there is no "right" or "wrong" here. You have been happy with the laundry you do, he's been happy with the way he does his laundry. If you can't see yourself putting fabric softener on your laundry, consider how he might feel if you remove it from his laundry. Not the ideal way to start living together, right? If person A loves chocolate ice-cream and person B loves vanilla ice-cream, we don't usually think "we'll move in together and need to find a way to do without our preferred ice-cream and possibly even moving everyone to mango ice-cream so no one has their favorite".

My personal opinion here is that you can *offer* to do laundry your way and then his way then decide what to do.

But I'd strongly advise not trying to change the person you love right away or even ever. If one of you starts looking too much like the other, you might end up breaking up and searching for someone new.

Good luck!
   -- Paulo.

PS: before someone asks, I will add that when I do other people's laundry, I *ask* if they have any preferred ways or things to do or not to do. I find it *very* silly that some of my female friends do not want their bras in the dryer at all, giving that my dryers use such low heat, but hey, it's their bras. The thing with a lot of friends and my family though, is that more often than not the answer is "I don't care, as long as I don't have to do it, do what you want or the way you prefer, thanks!", which is exactly what I do. Invariably, they end up preferring my way too. For what's worth, and your mileage may vary.

 

[ea56]

I have been using Wool Dryer balls for the last six mo. with a couple of drops of essential oil on each ball. I use 6 balls with each load and a apply the essential oil each time I do laundry, ( so if I do 3 loads I only apply the oil once for that laundry day). I really love these dryer balls! They are much better than using FS. The towels are more absorbent and the laundry has a pleasent, faint scent, nothing overpowering. I've found that I like either mandarin orange or lavender scent best and sometimes I'll use both. The laundry dries faster and large items like a bedspread or blanket don't require as much rearranging to prevent damp spots, the balls seem to keep the loads moving more freely. I'l probably never use FS again. I got my dryer balls on ebay.

I would highly recommend giving them a try.
Eddie

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wool-Dryer-Balls-6-Pack-Natural-Organic-Reusable-Laundry-Softener-Alternative-/401238762917?hash=item5d6bb1a5a5:g:Lv0AAOSwtGlZLwYc

 

[matthewza]

@Paulo - Thanks for your words of wisdom. Like I said, my partner likes the smell that FS leaves on his clothes. He tumble dries everything and knows that tumble drying gives you softness anyway. And after the tour we took of the Miele showroom a few days ago, and him seeing the frgrance dos dryers, and the sales lady telling him why FS should be used very sparingly, he is now happy to go off FS but he now wants a new way to fragrance his laundry. I would never try and chnage the man I fell in love with, and I agree with what you said about us falling in love with each others differences and I would definitely not want him to becomes a replica of me! So again, thank you!

@eddie - Thanks for the tip- I am seriously going to try woolen dryer balls!

I found a local online store that sells them, so will order a set asap, go essential oil shopping with Carl, and see how it goes! Very keen to try this

Thanks for all the help everybody!

 

[mralex]

Aww how sweet! Good luck and let us know how it goes with the dryer balls and essential oils!