Have you switched to dryer balls yet? I used to use dryer sheets for years, but I’m so glad I discovered wool dryer balls.
They have none of the toxic chemicals found in dryer sheets, are significantly less expensive to use, and reduce drying time (which saves me even more money because we’re using less energy to dry our clothes)!!
You can make your own dryer balls using yarn and an old pair of nylons (check thrift stores for some if you’re like me and haven’t worn nylons in at least 20 years), or you can take the even easier route and buy wool dryer balls like I do. I love almost every DIY essential oil craft, but for some reason, making wool dryer balls is not my thing.
But what I do love making is this scented dryer ball spray. It’s a very simple DIY. Just mix water, witch hazel, and essential oils in a spray bottle. That’s it. Couldn’t be easier.
What Are Dryer Balls & What Do They Do?
Dryer balls are felted wool balls a little larger than tennis balls. You add them to the dryer along with your wet clothes.
- They bounce around in the dryer with your clothes. This creates pockets of air between clothes which helps clothes dry up to 25% faster.  Faster drying times means that you save energy, money, and time.
- Your clothes get less wrinkled. More movement and more space between items, means clothes don’t get pressed against each other or the sides of the dryer as often. That means fewer wrinkles.
- Additionally, dryer balls smooth rough fibers on fabrics. This means you get noticeably softer clothes.
- And when you add essential oils to dryer balls, they also lightly scent clothes. Which means that you can ditch toxic, chemical-laden dryer sheets.
- And lastly, when used properly, dryer balls can also help reduce static cling. More on that later.
How Do You Scent Wool Dryer Balls?
You can simply add a couple drops of essential oil to each dryer ball before putting them in the dryer. But this uses a lot of essential oil. If you use just 2 drops of essential oil per ball, that’s 12 drops for a large load of laundry. If you do 2 loads of laundry a day, over the course of a month, you’d use more than two 15ml bottles of essential oil — just on your dryer balls.
That’s too much for me.
So instead, I make a simple DIY spray to scent my wool dryer balls.
What Is Dryer Ball Spray & Why Use It?
It’s a simple blend of water, witch hazel, and essential oil. That mixture is then sprayed on wool dryer balls before they’re added with the laundry to the dryer.
This has several benefits:
- The dampened dryer balls add moisture to the dryer which helps to reduce static cling and wrinkles.
- Because it’s diluted, dryer ball spray is a more economical way to scent wool dryer balls than just using straight drops of essential oil from a bottle.
- You can easily combine several essential oils to customize the scent to exactly what you want.
What You Need to Make Dryer Ball Spray
-
4 oz spray bottle
-
small funnel
-
witch hazel
-
essential oil
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distilled water
How to Make Dryer Ball Spray
step 1:Â add 2 tablespoons of witch hazel to 4 oz spray bottle
tip: Choose a spray bottle that’s made from materials safe to use with diluted essential oils. Glass, stainless steel, and certain types of plastic (plastic #1 HDPE or plastic #2 PET) work well.
tip: Use a small funnel to make it easy to pour in the narrow bottle opening without any spills or mess.
step 2:Â add 20-25 drops of essential oil
See below for my favorite essential oil blends for dryer ball spray at Christmas:Â Candy Cane Lane, Sweater Weather, Let It Snow, Christmas Cheer, Tree Farm, Christmas at the Cabin, and more.
step 3:Â fill bottle with distilled water
tip:Â Instead of distilled water, you can substitute boiled and cooled filtered water.
tip: Don’t fill it all the way to the top. Leave a little room so that it won’t overflow when you add the sprayer.
step 4:Â put spray top on and shake to mix
step 5 (optional):Â Â add a label
tip: You can print this label on full-sheet label paper, or do what I do and print the label on regular printer paper and attach it to the spray bottle with packing tape. It’s cheap and easy to do. Plus, I find that the labels stay on better using packing tape than with regular label paper, and the packing tape protects the label really well, which keeps the labels looking great for a long time.
Christmas Essential Oil Recipes for Dryer Balls
There are 12 variations below. Choose the one that you like best for your dryer ball spray.
Candy Cane Lane
15 drops peppermint
10 drops vanilla
Merry & Bright
10 drops fir (or substitute spruce or pine)
7 drops grapefruit
7 drops frankincense
‘Tis the Season
8 drops spruce (or substitute fir or pine)
4 drops cinnamon bark
7 drops orange
5 drops vanilla
Sweater Weather
12 drops eucalyptus
8 drops juniper berry
4 drops sage
Let It Snow
10 drops lemon
7 drops bergamot
7 drops peppermint
Christmas Cookies
14 drops vanilla
7 drops orange
4 drops ginger
Silver Bells
6 drops spruce (or substitute fir)
6 drops wintergreen
6 drops bergamot
6 drops peppermint
Christmas Cheer
8 drops peppermint
6 drops bergamot
6 drops orange
4 drops cypress
Holiday Kitchen
4 drops cinnamon bark
8 drops orange
4 drops clove
4 drops cardamom
Tree Farm
8 drops fir
8 drops spruce
4 drops cypress
4 drops cedarwood
First Snow
8 drops fir (or substitute spruce or pin)
6 dops orange
5 drops peppermint
4 drops wintergreen
Christmas at the Cabin
8 drops cedarwood
8 drops juniper berry
8 drops fir (or substitute spruce or pine)
How to Use Wool Dryer Balls with Dryer Ball Spray
- optional: If you live in a dry climate (or it’s winter), to help with static cling, start by soaking dryer balls in water and squeeze out excess water. This will help keep enough humidity in your dryer to prevent static without increasing drying time. If humidity is not low in your home, then you can skip this step. It’s only needed in dry climates.
- Put wet clothes into the dryer.
- Pin a safety pin to a couple of the wool dryer balls. This will help discharge electricity in the dryer and reduce static cling.
- Spray wool dryer balls several times with mixture.
- Add dryer balls to the laundry in the dryer.
- small load= 2 balls
- average size load= 4 balls
- large load= 6 balls
- Take clothes out of the dryer when they are still slightly damp or just barely dry. You don’t want to over dry laundry; this leads to static cling.
How to Reduce Static Cling Naturally
Dryer balls help reduce static cling, but they likely won’t entirely eliminate static cling on their own. Here are some additional things that can help reduce static cling:
- Use vinegar as a fabric softener to keep clothes soft. Soft clothing creates less friction. Less friction means less static cling. Make your own fabric softener using vinegar and essential oils. Get the recipe here.
- Use wool dryer balls. They help maintain a more humid environment in the dryer. This helps to soft the fibers of clothes (which helps reduce static) and reduces drying time (which also helps eliminate static).
- Soak dryer balls in water and squeeze out excess water. This will help keep enough humidity in your dryer to prevent static without increasing drying time.
- Pin a safety pin to a couple of the wool dryer balls. This will help discharge electricity in the dryer and reduce static cling.
- If you opted to not soak the dryer balls in water before using them, then try adding a damp rag to the dryer about 5 minutes before the cycle ends.
- Reduce time in the dryer. A common cause of static cling is over drying. When clothes are completely dry and there’s no moisture left, then static electricity is much more likely to develop.
- The fiber of clothes plays a role in creating static electricity. Synthetic materials, like nylon and polyester, tend to be more of an issue in creating static than cotton, for example. So try to run clothes made from synthetic fabrics through the dryer in a different load from cottons and other natural fibers. And if you can, skip the dryer all together for synthetic clothes; hang or lay them flat to dry instead.
- As a last resort, if you have certain pieces of clothing that are especially vulnerable to static cling, then hang those to dry instead of putting them in the dryer. While this isn’t always practical, if there are just a few items that always create static no matter what you do, this can be a good solution.
If already washed-and-dried clothes have static cling, then here are a few things to do to get rid of (or at least lessen) the static:
- Spray clothes lightly with water. The added moisture should help lessen the static.
- Use a humidifier in your home to make the air less dry.
- Moisturize your skin. Rub some homemade whipped body butter (recipe here) on your arms and legs before getting dressed.  This will help break the charge and cut the static cling.
Dryer Ball Spray as a Homemade Christmas Gift
This dryer ball spray makes a great Christmas present.
Simply put a few dryer balls in a cello bag along with the spray bottle and a handwritten note with instructions for how to use, then tie with some cute ribbon to finish it off.
It’s a practical present that they’ll actually use.
And, of course, their laundry will smell fantastic!
Where to get supplies?
This website contains affiliate links. This means that should you click on certain links, and then subsequently purchase a product, I will receive a small commission. The price is exactly the same for you as it would be without the affiliate link.Â
distilled water – find it in grocery stores, pharmacies, or Target/Walmart in the bottled water aisle.
wool dryer balls – penguin ones that I used here or I also love these plain ivory dryer balls
cello bags (I used 7″x14″ bags)
click here for free printable of dryer ball spray recipe and label
Looking for more? Click here for the 11 Best Essential Oil Recipes for Laundry – – includes detergent, stain treatment, natural bleach alternative, fabric softener, and moreÂ
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Please note: Products mentioned in this article have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products and information on this page are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This website is not a substitute for professional care. Always consult your medical doctor regarding your medical care. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
Disclaimer: Please know that this website contains affiliate links. This means that should you click on certain links, and then subsequently purchase a product, I will receive a small commission. The price is exactly the same for you as it would be without the affiliate link. Â
