Homemade Natural Fabric Softener
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As I posted earlier this week about line drying your clothes without a line. Well there is one drawback to doing this. Your clothes don’t always come out as soft as they would if you put them in the dryer or hung dry them outside where the wind can blow the around. Well on that note I bring to you 2 recipes for homemade natural fabric softener.
1. You could always use 1/2 cup of vinegar and add it to the washing machine during the rinse cycle. Lots of bloggers seem to go with this one, but personally it was not my favorite. I don’t think it worked well. But it wouldn’t hurt to try this.
2. This recipe is all over blog land and I struggled to find one that was natural without toxic ingredients. So I did a little thinking and thought why not just change the condition to a more natural one! So simple. Sure it costs a little more but it is still cheaper then buying fabric softener.
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Homemade Fabric Softener
Ingredients: Can double this recipe
- 3 cups warm water
- 1.5 cups white vinegar
- 1 cup natural conditioner (you could use non-natural conditioner too to save money)
- essential oil (optional. I accidentally bought a conditioner that smelled terrible! But with some orange essential oil it smelled fantastic. Just add enough drops till you can smell it)
Direction: Pour all ingredients into a half gallon container and stir. Don’t shake or it will make an extreme mess! Add essential oils if desired and stir again!
To use: Add the same amount you would the store bought kind about 1/4 cup during the rinse cycle.
Ive been using a homemade conditioner I found I love. 2 cups vinegar 6 cups hot to point of boiling water a large bottle any scented suave conditioner. Mix well I use a large bottle n mix w a wand mixer and then transfer to gal jug adding water to it tip its a few inches fr top lid tight n shake well. It works wonderful. Plus so inexpensive
I don’t know if using vinger in the washing machine is a good idea. I had the Sears appliance man at my house a few weeks ago(just the scheduled maintenance to my machine), and I asked him about using vinger in my front loader(that way I don’t have to buy the monthly washing machine cleaner tabs). He said not use vinger because it’s so acidic it will eat away the seal on the door shorting it’s lifespan. Just wanted to pass this along to all of the DIY ladies out there trying to save a buck(just like me) since this will end up costing you in the long run. It’s still great for lots of other cleaning though!
Here’s a useful tip for those of you who use a dryer from time to time. To save energy, throw a dry (yep, dry!!) towel into the dryer with your load of freshly washed clothes. The towel helps to absorb some of the moisture and the drying time is reduced by almost 1/2. A member of BC Hydro (our province’s power supplier) told me about this trick, and it works. In the winter, where I live, it rains almost non-stop… so this was very useful info for me!
Conditioner…..hair conditioner for the fabric softener? Also Norwex makes rubber balls to put in the dryer as fabric softeners. They work really well.
I love this! Thanks! Going to make my husband to take on a trip , If I love making laundry soap, I’m going to love making this! Jazzy
For the DIY fabric softener…what is conditioner? The kind I would use 4 my hair? Thanx in advance!!
I feel so ignorant…what “conditioner” do you use? Hair? Sorry, and thank you! Love your blog!
I add baking soda to this and do not use conditioner- I add a few drops of lavender oil-smells good. be careful mixing the soda with vinegar-it will run over. SLOWLY is the word.
Another great tip! There are so many ways to make natural fabric softener its great!
I generally put a load of wash in before I head out to work….then when I get home I put it in the dryer. I am never usually there during the rinse cycle. Wonder if there is anything I can add to the wash cycle that will do that same job
You can check out my fabric softener crystals you add them right to the wash when you put in the detergent
Can your recipes be used in he appliances? I am very excieted and anxious to use your products, but I am concerned about this. Thank you!
I am not sure I don’t have an HE washer. I don’t see why not… but can’t guarantee anything sorry!
Tin foil rolled up into a hard ball – shiny side out works for about 10 dryer loads. I am very sensitive and this is all I use. No chemicals on me or in my home.
I’ve heard of that before but didn’t know if it worked or not! Thanks for sharing!
I have been making this for years, it is great stuff!
This is a nice alternative. We have a link party called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop and would love to have you share this and any other posts with everyone. It runs from Tuesday night through midnight Sunday. Here is the link to the party.
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/02/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_26.html
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
I haven’t had a problem using vinegar, although it mostly serves to cut static, not soften clothes. My worry about using a recipe with hair conditioner is that there’d eventually be buildup on the clothes? But maybe that’s just my imagination.
I’d love if you’d come join my How To Tuesday link party, too.
http://housewifehowtos.com/link-party-2/how-to-tuesday-link-party-9/
Ops I forgot to add, fill the bucket to full and either essential oil or some organic fabric softener to make extra soft feeling.
I have been making my own homemade fabric softener to save extra money in my budget. I have my own recipe which works very well. I use a big box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda which can be found in laundry aisle at any stores, pour whole box of it in the empty 5-gallon bucket. I highly suggest to boil the water first so the baking soda can dissolve completely in hot water after you pour the boiling water in the bucket and stir until the baking soda dissolve completely then add any scent of essential oil of choice. It smells so fabulous and even makes clothes including towels so super SOFT.
O thats a great idea and havent tried that way yet! Maybe that will be my next project! Thanks Heather!
Heather,
How much boiling water do you use in this recipe? I didn’t see the amount listed.
I just use about a 1/2 -1 cup of Baking Soda to the wash water, it softens the clothes, takes out any ‘odors’ on socks and work clothes and makes my homemade laundry soap more efficient. My clothes are softer. I make sure I use the Baking Soda in the towels as we, just to make sure, baking soda is good for all kinds of cleaning, it sanitizes , too.
Cool site, I wish I had the wherewithal to have a blog site that functions like yours does. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve heard you can just use baking soda but haven’t given it a shot yet! Thanks for sharing and thank you for your kind words!
I’m going to make this I Have conditoner just waiting to be used up since I only use it when I color my hair with Henna. Can I copy this to my notes on Facebook so I can share and write this in my journal I do write whom it’s from and who created this:)
Sure! Thats really flattering! Thank you
I make the homemade laundry soap that I found at. My merry messy life. And I have been using it for a couple wks now and I am so very happy I tried it. As far as fabric softener I use Mrs. Meyer’s clean day. Is that considered all natural?? As that is way I am using that brand.
Judy, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day fabric softener doesn’t get good ratings (it gets a D on an A-F scale) on the Environmental Working Group database: ewg.org. Some of her other products do, but in the case of fabric softener, I would seek out a substitute. That said, neither does borax (It gets an F!), which is used in most DIY laundry detergents. You have to make the decision that’s right for your family, but an informed decision is preferred in my book. Just be aware that “natural” or “organic” does not always mean healthy to wash your babies diapers in. 🙂
Thank you, Amy, for all you do to make things easier for us frugal gals!
Thank you for that helpful information and for the compliment!
For softer line dried towels just tumble them in your dryer for 2 min with or without heat. They’ll be much softer and lots more absorbant then when you use a fabric softener.
I wanted to know if I could use this for my HE washer…I noticed some of the people posted to use more vinegar?? please advise
Other people have commented and said that it can be used in an HE washer. Personally I have never tried this myself since I don’t have one