Wool Dryer Balls
Wool dryer balls are made of natural materials, and will reduce
static and speed up drying times by 25% or more to save you time and
money. Dryer balls will gently soften your cloth diapers, but why stop
there?
If you’re looking for ways to eliminate harmful chemicals routinely used
in your laundry, look no further! These all-natural dryer balls can be
used with all of your laundry as an eco-friendly and cost-effective
replacement for fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Best of all, they
will last for years!

Wool dryer balls will gently soften your cloth diapers, reduce static, and save you money on your electricity bills, too!
Fabric softener and dryer sheets can create major problems with cloth
diapers. Both contain chemicals that will build up in your diapers,
creating residues that reduce absorbency.
If you’re using cloth diapers, it’s best to quit using dryer sheets
altogether. Even if you don’t use them with your diapers, if you use
them for other loads of laundry, they can cause residue to build up in
the drum of the dryer, and this can rub off on your diapers during the
next load.
Microfiber inserts can be especially prone to static in the dryer, so
dryer balls (either PVC plastic or wool) are a must! They're also great
for natural fibers, as they do a great job softening up stiff cotton
and hemp.
Your clothes dryer is the second largest energy hog in your house
(after your refrigerator). If line-drying your clothes isn’t possible,
using wool dryer balls will speed up drying times, by 25% or more,
depending on the size of the load and how many dryer balls you use.
How Many Dryer Balls Should I Use?
For small loads, add 2 to 4 dryer balls. For big loads, the more you
use, the better! For loads of towels and jeans, I add upwards of 6
(when my son or pet ferret haven’t taken off with them!) Did I mention
that they make great toys, and they’re safe to throw in the house?
You may be familiar with plastic dryer balls. I used these for
several years before I discovered the wool version. If you’re already
using plastic dryer balls or tennis balls, you’ll be familiar with their
benefits. Both versions reduce static and separate layers of clothing,
increasing the circulation of warm dry air. So why switch to wool?
Wool is Much Quieter
I’m sure you’ve noticed how noisy plastic balls are as they bounce
around in your clothes dryer! We have laundry on our second floor, and
once we switched to wool, I was so glad to be able to dry diapers during
nap time again!
Save Money and Time
Wool dryer balls will save you time and reduce your energy costs.
Unlike the PVC dryer balls, the wool ones will absorb water from your
clothes as they tumble around, speeding up your drying times.
Non-Toxic
Wool is completely natural and non-toxic. If you’re like me, before
your baby came along, you may not have ever given much thought to the
unseen chemicals those plastic dryer balls emit when heated.
Much Easier on Your Clothes
As an added bonus, wool dryer balls are much gentler on your laundry...
did you ever have to pull one of the spiky PVC dryer balls from your
clothes after it got tangled up in the dryer? I’ve found them caught in
the sleeves of my shirts and could clearly see the spot where it got
stuck even after the shirt had hung in the closet for a week.
Wool dryer balls are usually 5-7 inches in diameter, ranging from
roughly the size of a tennis ball to the size of a softball.
Personally, I prefer bigger ones since they are much easier to sort out
of the laundry!
Wool dryer balls can be made using several different techniques:
No matter how they are constructed, dryer balls that are made from 100% wool all offer the same benefit to you. My personal favorite dryer balls are those that are felted using wool batting, because unlike most of the alternatives, they are nearly impossible to to destroy, and will not unravel over time.
Woolzies Dryer Balls
I was recently given the opportunity to test out six Woolzies Dryer Balls. Each of these dryer balls is about 4" in diameter (about the size of a tennis ball), and is hand-made in Nepal with 100% New Zealand wool.
I have been using wool dryer balls that I made myself from wool
batting, so I wasn't sure how different the ones from Woolzies, which
are also felted from wool batting, would be.
So, How Did Woolzies Compare?
Since
we line-dry a lot of our laundry during the summer, I tested the
Woolzies Dryer Balls for almost a month with a variety of different size
loads. These balls are firm and hold their shape well, and they do a
wonderful job of reducing static in microfiber diaper inserts, and
softening up towels, jeans, and other items, too!
I like that they are a natural white color that makes them easy
to sort them out from the rest of my laundry as I unload the dry clothes
into a basket.
I found that over time, these wool
dryer balls started to show some pilling, but this doesn't affect their
function at all. Woolzies offers a guarantee on their dryer balls for
1,000 loads of laundry! If you dry a half dozen loads each week, that
means your dryer balls will last for more than 3 years!
Helpful Tips from Woolzies
Woolzies recommends using
all 6 dryer balls for small, medium, and large loads of laundry, and 8
or more for extra large loads. They offer a few helpful tips:
- For
scented laundry, you can add a few drops of essential oils to your
dryer balls before tossing them into the laundry (My little boy has
sensitive skin, so I'm used to unscented laundry and didn't try this)
- To
further reduce static, create a ball of tinfoil the same size as your
Woolzies dryer balls and add this to your laundry (this does work!)
- If
your wool dryer balls are no longer reducing static effectively, put
each in a sock, and run them through a wash cycle (I haven't tried this
yet!)
Buy Them
We found Woolzies was one of the most affordable wool dryer ball options available. You can pick up a set of 6 dryer balls from the Woolzies website for $35.99 (S&H including in the US and Canada, and flat-rate international shipping), or check out Amazon.com.
Do it Yourself
They’re also very easy and affordable to make yourself. If you’d like to make your own, check out my tutorial on how to make wool dryer balls.
More in Our Laundry Series
Go to top of Wool Dryer Balls
You may also like:
Cloth Diaper Sprayer
If your biggest concern with cloth diapers is handling poop, the cloth
diaper sprayer may become your most essential cloth diapering accessory!
Perfect for easy clean-up and to extend the life of your diapers!
For more cloth diaper laundry information, return to Washing Cloth Diapers.
At Thinking About Cloth Diapers, we offer reliable, up-to-date cloth
diaper research to save you time so you can get on with the other things
you want to do.
Return to Thinking About Cloth Diapers homepage.
Sponsor Love
New! Comments
What do you think? Leave a comment in the box below.