Do Wool Dryer Balls really work?

Can a couple of balls bouncing around in your dryer actually do anything? Let's take a dive into the world of dryer balls.

Over the last few decades, dryer balls have been sold to us as a natural alternative to both dryer sheets and liquid fabric softeners. Many promises abound as to what this product can do, which is primarily reducing drying times, softening laundry, and reducing static.

Laundry Tips How to use Wool Dryer Balls

Because they need room to bounce and play with wet clothes and linens, dryer balls do their best and fastest work when the dryer is not crammed full. You’ll find that two large Luala Eco Wool Dryer Balls loads will dry faster and more efficiently than one gigantic load. Any Dryer balls need room to work.

Static cling may occur when you use wool dryer balls, it is  due to over-drying clothes. You are definitely going to notice static if the dryer is allowed to run too long, with or without wool dryer balls.

Over-drying wastes gas or electricity and wears out your clothes prematurely as evidenced by all that lint, and as you are learning causes static cling—especially on low-humidity, dry winter days.

Another cause of static is synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, rayon, and acrylic. Try to separate synthetics to keep the rest of your laundry static-free. Then either dry the synthetics by hanging them on a line or in the dryer, making sure you end the drying cycle before they are totally dry. That's why when you wash silk clothings or silk bedding, read Luala Silk silk caring instructions to wash them in  separate batches for different materials

Solutions to over drying issue

Here’s what you should do if you don't want to stand in the laundry room watching and waiting for things to not become over-dried: I spray my Luala Eco wool dryer balls with water (dunking them in a container of water works as well), getting them quite wet. Now the laundry dries faster than the wool dryer balls because they are so dense, elevating the humidity level in the dryer. Works like a charm and does not harm the dryer balls in any way—and does not increase the drying time.

Why there is White lint transfer? 

If you use white wool dryer balls for a long time to the whilte batch of clothing, you will notice some small bits of white lint showed up on dark-colored clothes even though there were no white items in with that dryer load. It is because dryer balls were harboring those bits and transferring them to the dark load. So you need to use right ball color for different laundry batch.

Luala Eco Dryer Balls Set of 6 includes 3 balls for white clothing and 3 balls for dark colored clothing. It’s easy to see which ones you need to throw into the dryer. Now any white lint stays with the white dryer balls, dark link with the dark set.

How do you remove lint from wool dryer balls?

Lint build up shouldn’t affect the effectiveness of your wool dryer balls. To get rid of it, you can wash them or (gently!) shave the surface with a light razor or sweater depiller.

(Quality dryer balls may also pill after use, which is normal and increases surface friction, which can make them even more effective.)

When not in use, what should I do with these wool dryer balls

Here are some ideas:

• You can display them in a bowl or basket on the table for a beautiful, tactile ( and nonbreakable!) accent. 
• Freshen your air: Apply essential oils and you have a lovely, soft scent diffuser.
• Sweeten your linens and silk sheets: Add oil to the dryer ball and tuck it into a closet.
• Play indoor catch: favourite toys for kids and adults alike
• Practice juggling.
• Cover it with fabric and use as a doll head.
• Offer them to your pet — they make great toys! Just make sure any essential oils you've previously used are animal-safe.
• Throw them in a bucket in the kid's room, and they’ll be rolling these soft, bouncy balls under the couch in no time ;)

The uses are (almost) endless. Once you’ve decided to retire your used wool dryer balls, you can toss them in your compost. Or, you can keep them around.

How to clean your wool dryer balls?

You can freshen up Luala organic wool dryer balls before it’s officially time to retire them, don't toss them yet. Let's try some caring instructions for the balls

• Hand wash in a mixture of mild gentle soap and warm (not hot) water.
• Avoid machine-washing in hot water because the heat will eventually relax and speed up the unraveling process, damaging the felted wool.