She'll Tumble For Ya

Umbra on dryer sheets 11

Dear Umbra,

You mentioned toxic dryer sheets in your recent column on clothing, but without a reference to how they are toxic, etc.

Lisa Milligan
Fayetteville, Ark.

Dearest Lisa,

I appreciate the brevity and directness of your query. I'll strive to meet the same standards herein.

Fresh air beats faux fragrance any day.

Photo: iStockphoto

As I mentioned parenthetically in my previous column, the contents of mainstream dryer sheets can indeed be rather toxic. Unfortunately, we don't actually know everything that's in them, since the contents are treated as trade secrets by the manufacturers. But a few ingredients that have been identified in some formulations are benzyl acetate, limonene, and chloroform. Individually, these chemicals have been linked to cancer, and it's not likely they've been studied much in combination.

As you've probably noticed, one feature that fabric-softening-product companies like to brag about -- and compete on the basis of -- is fragrance. To distract you from the chemicals behind those fragrances, they come up with eco-evocative names like April Fresh, Soft Ocean Mist, and Mountain Spring Tryst (OK, I made up the last one). While the companies get full marks for doublespeak and (occasionally spooky) marketing gimmicks, the use of petroleum-based fragrances is questionable and reason for concern.

The good news is that dryer sheets and their cousins, fabric softeners, are not at all necessary. They're marketed as doing three glorious things: reducing static cling, making fabrics feel softer, and making things smell all fragrance-y. Dryer sheets especially were invented for use with synthetic fabrics that tend to get electrically charged when they rub together in the dryer. The softeners do their stuff by releasing the fragrance and also by coating the fabric in a chemical lubricating agent that both reduces static cling and makes clothes feel slicker or softer.

Natural-fiber clothing typically doesn't create much static electricity while tumbling about in the dryer, making the static-fighting function of dryer sheets and fabric softeners unnecessary. And you can soften clothes yourself at home or at the Laundromat with natural alternatives. While you're washing, try adding baking soda during the rinse cycle or white vinegar during the wash cycle (but don't use vinegar if you're also using bleach, another toxic favorite).

If dousing your clothes in vinegar sounds like too much of a stretch from your current routine, there are much-less-scary natural varieties of fabric softener widely available.

Finally, recall that clotheslines, drying racks, and the like are the best eco-options anyway. Or try a combination: getting your clothes mostly dry in the dryer and then hanging them up to dry the rest of the way can reduce static cling while simultaneously decreasing both the energy used during drying and the necessary hang-drying time. And who knows, Arkansas Autumn might be the loveliest fragrance of all.

Clingily,
Umbra

 

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Send your green-living questions to Umbra.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

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  1. Roz Cummins Posted 6:54 am
    18 Oct 2006

    Those spiky rubber balls for the dryer...I have never used dryer sheets because they smell so fake. I simply made peace with the fact that I occasionally leave the house with a sock or two clinging to my butt. Then I saw ads for those spiky rubber balls that look like a cross between a Medieval instrument of torture and a child's toy. I wasn't enthusiastic about using them at first since I never like the idea of doing anything that involves heating plastic, but I finally broke down and ordered some from one of the environmentally conscious-type catalogs.  Now that I have them I really love them. They seem to make the clothes dry faster and more thoroughly. They beat the laundry into submission, thus softening it, and they don't make your laundry smell like some powerful-smelling yet nonexistant flower. If anyone ever asks me "So, what's your washday secret?" I'll be able to smile sweetly and say "I've got balls."

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  2. kmp Posted 7:27 am
    18 Oct 2006

    Mrs. Meyer'sI'm pretty addicted to Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products.  While I don't use dryer sheets (I am allergic to Bounce, and so have always avoided the things) Mrs. Meyer's makes both liquid and dryer sheet varieties of fabric softener.
    As you can tell, I am partial to the lavender scent, but it also comes in geranium and lemon verbena.  Supposedly all Mrs. Meyer's products are all natural, biodegradable and not tested on animals.
    Happy drying!

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  3. WendyOZone Posted 8:03 am
    18 Oct 2006

    partial drying techniqueI've been using my dryer only to de-wrinkle for years, just warming up the wet clothing for a few minutes to relax it. Secret to drying T-shirts and other light knit tops is using extra-large hangers---they're about 2-3 inches wider than the usual ones, so a large-size T-shirt can hang gracefully thereupon without getting shoulder bumps.

    Haven't used dryer sheets since I got rid of my last polyester dress in 1986. Yuck.

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  4. willa Posted 1:38 pm
    18 Oct 2006

    baking sodaFor anyone who has a graywater system, or is planning one:  Don't use baking soda or other alkaline substances (like borax), as apparently few plants can tolerate it.  I'd think vinegar, what with being mildly acidic, would be good, though, especially for rhododendrons and azaleas and other acid-loving plants.
    Personally, I don't have a dryer, which is a massive pain when it rains for two weeks straight,  but it should, as my mother said, be the worst thing that ever happens to me. As far as smelling good, you can't beat line-dried, especially with Sun & Earth detergent, which smells like liquid sunshine.  
    Oh, and if you're worried about odors as in bad ones, as opposed to wanting to create artificial good ones, it's all about the peroxide (Ecover non-chlorine bleach, or pharmaceutical peroxide if you find it cheaper--they're the exact same stuff).

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  5. clatteramy Posted 2:56 pm
    18 Oct 2006

    Line drying woesI've doggedly tried line-drying for years, even in spite of my less-than-adequate clothes line that sags to the ground when I hang a hanky on it then eventually snaps. I keep knotting it back up and trying again. But more disturbing than the frayed line is the fact that during the hot, humid Missouri summers our clothes never seem to dry, and often acquire a lovely mildew scent. If the moisture eventually does get sucked out of them, they take on a peculiar cardboard appearance. Our towels can practically walk themselves back into the bathroom.
    We use Ecover fabric softener in the washer which works nicely when we dry everything in the dryer. But for now, I feel like a moron because I can't do something as simple as get my clothes to dry in the sun. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to share that with the rest of the world.

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  6. willa Posted 9:46 pm
    18 Oct 2006

    humidityI totally feel your pain about things never drying, although I have managed so far with only occasionally feeling like I must get a dryer before the next time I do laundry.  If it makes you feel any better, Massachusetts is no better than where you are, and Ireland (where I lived for a while a few years ago) is significantly worse.  Plus, in Ireland no one has dryers, and the ones at laundromats totally suck at actually getting things dry, presumably because they're more energy-efficient than the ones we have here.  
    Here in MA, I hang things out, hope for the best, and often it rains before I can bring them in, so then they're even wetter, and they totally get cardboardy and funky-smelling.  If I can get them out on a sunny morning, I love the sun-dried smell, and they actually get dry during one day, but when that doesn't happen...ick.  I do sometimes dry things on a folding drying rack inside the house, which never makes them smell good but also never makes them smell awful.
    So I didn't mean to suggest that line-drying is perfect all the time, by any means.  Well, except where I grew up--In New Mexico you can hang stuff out and within a few hours even jeans are bone-dry.  I love it.

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  7. sarahbei Posted 12:01 am
    19 Oct 2006

    dryer sheets and drying methodologyUmbra didn't mention that dryer sheets and fabric softener make your sheets and towels less absorbent.  I always feel like I'm simply depositing lint on my skin when I 'dry off' with a 'softened' towel.
    i cut down on dryer use and clothes wear & tear by



    using the drying rack for all non-natural fabrics and only put cottons in the dryer.  

    ratcheting down the temp in the dryer:  1st 15 min are full blast 'normal', 2nd 15 min are 'low'.  



    I take out stuff as it gets dry, rather than leaving everything in till everything is done.  I find this keeps my clothes from getting cooked/lintbally and the remaining items dry much faster.

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  8. strawberryfields Posted 8:18 am
    24 Oct 2006

    Yay for the spiky dryer ballsI was happy to see the post for the Dryer Balls. If anyone is interested, the ones I use can be found here: http://www.dryerballs.net/
    I have been using them for quite a few years now and have no complaints whatsoever.

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  9. ffletcher Posted 6:28 pm
    24 Oct 2006

    Clothes LinesI understand how difficult it can be to use a clothes line east of the 99th meridian or up in the NW where it rains rather frequently, but in other parts of the West where one generally finds dry weather, putting the clothes out on a line or even indoors on a strategically placed line in the kitchen I find letting nature do the work the best policy.  Plus I like the way they smell, they smell clean.  Kind of a nice reward for washing your clothes that you don't get with a mechanical dryer.

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  10. bookerly Posted 4:27 am
    26 Oct 2006

    Indoors

      The folks where I live put the sheets and towels on the lines outside no matter what the weather.  I use indoor lines myself (since my schedule and laziness makes it easier to leave the stuff hanging).  Beijing is very dry so not much of a problem.  In San Francisco, indoor drying was a must! (The fog, the fog.)
      I have a small hallway with a few metal poles across the top, just inches from the ceiling.  I put my clothes on hangers, and then use a short pole with two notches which can fit the hangers to lift the hangers over the poles.  It works amazingly well (it was here when I moved in).
      The clothes are up high enough not to be a real nuisance (except perhaps aesthetically, but never mind).
    patrick

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  11. mdoleac Posted 1:07 pm
    01 Nov 2006

    downside of dryer ballsI thought dryer balls might be a great solution too until i saw what they are made of:  the dreaded PVC.

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