Does anyone use dryer balls?

[TwinFoxes]

Do they work to keep down the static electricity? I hate dryer sheets/fabric softeners. Lately we've had lots of static. I've been look at dryer balls on Etsy but wonder if anyone uses them? (I'm assuming someone here does!) TIA for any opinions.

[lizzywednesday]

Yes, I use vinyl ones from Target.

They don't keep static down like a dryer sheet does (seeing as how the sheet coats your fabric's fibers & reduces friction) but they do make the laundry nice & fluffy.

I've seen wool ones before that I was considering at one point, but I never pulled the trigger.

[DietCokeLover]

I bought some from Target and I hate them. I felt like my clothes were glued to me.

[wellyes]

Wool dryer balls are supposed to be much better than the plastic ones. I'm not sure where you can buy them in a store, but I don't think they're hard to make. Or you can buy them from Etsy.

[abh5e8]

the kids and I made some wool dryer balls...we use those and also white vinegar in the fabric softener slot on the washing machine...no static at all on the clothes :)

the make the balls, i just used wool yarn and wound it into a ball, a little bigger then a tennis ball. then stuff them into an old pair of panty hose and wash in hot water (maybe twice) and dry on high heat. the yarns will felt together nicely.

[twowhat?]

I've wondered the same thing but from googling it doesn't seem like any dryer balls help significantly with static.

I do a couple things to help (I HATE static! Sometimes I make my DH separate stuck-together clothes because I just cannot stand that pop-pop-pop).

1) Dry only until JUST dry (a dryer with moisture sensor helps)

2) Take out the polyester/nylon/acrylic synthetic fabric stuff and line dry those - those are the big static culprits. If a load is all cotton, there's no static.

3) If there's still static, I rub a good amount of lotion on my hands and lightly run my hands over the clothes as I shake them out - the lotion does a really good job of keeping the static from popping:)

eta: I want to try the wool balls! I've tried white vinegar before - no difference.

[vludmilla]

I use vinegar in the rinse and for some reason I almost never have static cling in clothes coming out of the dryer.

[abh5e8]

is your air dry? a humidifier will help...dry air makes the static worse. and we do line dry most htings...just tough cotton stuff sees the dryer (towels, sheets, sockes/undies and dh's tshirts)

[TwinFoxes]

I use vinegar in the rinse and for some reason I almost never have static cling in clothes coming out of the dryer.

I hadn't been having a problem, until the past week or so. So maybe the air is suddenly lower humidity or something.

I am far too lazy to hang up all of our laundry...3 year olds go through a LOT of clothes! :)

If I decide buy some wool ones from etsy I'll report back. :)

[mom2baileys]

I bought a 4 pack of wool dryer balls from etsy to try it out. They definitely make the clothes soft and fluffy but they are still static-y. I too hate the static! Was contemplating buying another set of balls as using more balls is rumored to help with static. Although I love the set I bought (mostly bc of their color) they are kinda expensive for what they really are... balls of wool. However since I have little time to tackle yet another project I was ok supporting an etsy seller. But if you had some spare wool I think this would be fairly easy to make on your own as PP stated.

[Melaine]

We have the plastic ones, I've been curious about the wool ones. The ones we have work fine for me. I think we just have mostly cotton clothes so not much static regardless.

[newg]

I haven't used them yet, but after reading this baby gizmo blog about them, I'm considering giving them a try!

http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/02/add-wool-dryer-balls-to-your-laundry/

she doesn't mention anything about static, which you'd think Holli would do if it was a problem. So maybe like pp mentioned, you just need to use more.

[hellokitty]

I got some plastic ones a while back just to see if they worked. I didn't notice a difference. I use vinegar as a rinse and generally don't have too many issues with static to begin with. The only time my laundry is very staticky is when I do a load heavy on non-cotton fibers.

[TwinFoxes]

I use vinegar as a rinse and generally don't have too many issues with static to begin with. The only time my laundry is very staticky is when I do a load heavy on non-cotton fibers.

I noticed it after doing a big load of DDs clothes, which are pretty much all cotton. I'm trying to think what might have been in there that would have caused them to be staticky.

[94bruin]

the kids and I made some wool dryer balls...we use those and also white vinegar in the fabric softener slot on the washing machine...no static at all on the clothes :)

the make the balls, i just used wool yarn and wound it into a ball, a little bigger then a tennis ball. then stuff them into an old pair of panty hose and wash in hot water (maybe twice) and dry on high heat. the yarns will felt together nicely.

:yeahthat:

I made some when I was CDing. It's pretty easy. I'm sure you can google some specific directions. I bought the yarn at Joann's.

[3emm]

I started using them recently. Stumbled upon them on amazon, I think. They do Make the clothes fluffy and soft, also seem to shorten drying time by a few minutes. Lately I noticed a little more static but I wasn't sure if it was because of the flannel and fleece I was drying.

[jse107]

We have a set of 10 dryer balls we ordered from Etsy. While they aren't perfect at keeping static at bay (even with vinegar), I find them almost as effective as dryer sheets. We've been using them over a year now. I noly use dryer sheets when I know a load will be extremely static-y otherwise.