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Living in the beautiful North West where heat during the winter months produces low humidity in homes and results in static electricity on clothes and other textiles, I needed help. Because of allergies I was unable to use fabric softener or dryer sheets and StaticGuard which I was using added chemicals to the garment and to the air I breathe. I had read about plastic dryer balls but this wasn’t the answer either as it distributed fabric softener to the clothes and the inside of the dryer drum. Enter Wool Dryer Balls.
I had read about wool dryer balls on other websites but before I recommend a product, I like to test to see if the product performs as advertised. I ordered the Wool Dryer Balls from Stoney Mountain Farms who recommended washing the dryer balls inside an old sock in a regular wash load every few months to recharge. Neither chlorine nor oxygen bleach should be used when washing the wool dryer balls because each of these products will damage wool fibers. After drying the dryer balls, I pinned two small safely pins to one wool dryer ball to increase the release of static electricity.
I LOVE PolarFleece by Malden Mills but the static electricity on these blankets can be pretty bad. Malden Mills recommends that no softener or dryer sheets be used on any of the PolarFleece fabrics as those products coat the fibers and change the characteristics of the fabric. I am happy to report that the wool dryer balls took the static electricity out of my PolarFleece blankets.
An added benefit of the wool dryer balls is that clothes dry faster and have fewer wrinkles because of the “fluffing” by the dryer balls. There are differing opinions about how many dryer balls to use. My opinion is that the number required would depend on the size of the dryer loads. Three wool dryer balls for small loads and 6 or more for large loads.
I love it when products perform as advertised!