Are Dollar Tree Dryer Balls Any Good? Here's What TikTok Is Saying
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
In recent years, dryer balls have become incredibly popular additions to many folks' laundry routines. The purpose and benefits of dryer balls can vary from product to product, but in general they are meant to help fluff laundry as it dries, prevent fabrics from tangling and clumping, eliminate static as a result of keeping the fabrics from creating friction during the dry cycle, and even reduce the drying time. In a lot of ways, they work as a reusable, chemical-free, eco-conscious dryer sheet substitute.
There are a ton of great dryer balls on the market, and Dollar Tree is selling one version of the product for just $1.25. The Dollar Tree laundry balls appear to be made of plastic and come in a two-pack. Considering these balls are reusable and seemingly meant to last indefinitely, this is seems like a great deal. For comparison, a 4-pack of a similar product from Amazon can be purchased for about $9.00, a 6-pack of wool dryer balls from Amazon go for $11.99, and a pack of generic single-use dryer sheets from Walmart costs $5.12, for comparison. But do these super affordable dryer balls actually hold up? We turned to TikTok to see how creators rated them — and for the most part, reviews were positive.
The pros of these laundry balls
For the most part, TikTok creators said that after tossing these laundry balls in with their items, they saw good results, especially in the case of towels. That's great, because if left matted down, the fibers of towels can become itchy and rough. This is why many turn to fabric softener, but it turns out that you should avoid traditional fabric softener because it coats the fibers and weakens towels absorption, and it can irritate those with sensitive skin. The Dollar Tree dryer balls manage to produce the same positive results in fabrics, without all of these downsides. One TikTok reviewer said that they recommend them, noting their towels were fluffier than usual, but only gave them a 3.5/5 and did not clarify why they didn't receive a perfect score.
On the Dollar Tree website, reviews were generally positive. Many customers said that their clothes were left static-free and that the balls kept items from tangling up in each other, which made for less wrinkles overall. Another reviewer wrote that their dyer time was significantly shorter when they used these laundry balls, which is likely thanks to the increase in air flow, one of the main benefits of any dryer ball, and something dryer sheets and fabric softener do not offer.
The downsides of Dollar Tree's dryer balls
One thing that House Digest noticed while analyzing TikTok reviews of the laundry balls is that very few people used just one pack of the items. Most often, we saw creators add four or more to their laundry. As these balls are quite small, they likely wouldn't be able to do much good as a set of two against heavier, more packed loads of laundry like towels and bedding. In that case, you'd likely need to buy a few packs of them, meaning they'd be over $1.25 in the end. However, if they last for a very long time, they'd still be a far better, thrifty investment than liquid fabric softener or single-use dryer sheets if you're looking for a solution that leaves fabrics wrinkle-free and well-fluffed. One review on the Dollar Tree website said that these balls broke down in a matter of weeks, though this wasn't widely reported.
Another issue that some reviewers had is that these hard dryer balls are very loud when they are initially rolling around during a dryer cycle. For the most part, folks said that they became quieter because they softened as the dryer heated up, but if you have a hard time with loud noises or aren't able to shut the door to your laundry room, you may want to skip adding this Dollar Tree laundry product to your cart.