We Made A DIY Laundry Scent Booster For Our Pillowcase And It Put Our Dryer Sheets To Shame

However pleasant they might smell, dryer sheets actually contain a lot of synthetic chemicals. A 2011 study published in the Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health journal found that scented dryer sheets release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through dryer vents, including carcinogenic compounds like acetaldehyde and benzene. Dryer sheets aren't necessary if you use other items to control static cling, but many people still adore these static-reducers because they give laundry a nice, clean scent. What can you do to make your laundry smell fresh without harsh chemicals? Essential oils could be one of the best laundry hacks that will leave your clothes smelling as fresh as ever. 

To see if essential oils really transfer their freshness to laundry in the dryer, we decided to try out a unique trick that uses scented cotton balls inside a pillowcase. We then compared the DIY laundry scent booster hack to using regular dryer sheets and gave our final results a good whiff. Discover which one had the freshest and longest-lasting scent.

To make the DIY laundry scent booster, we used an old cotton pillowcase from our linen closet, but a pair of similar pillowcases can be purchased from Target for less than $20. In theory, you could use almost any essential oil or fragrance oil to freshen up your laundry. For our scent of choice, we used a natural lavender essential oil by Majestic Pure, available on Amazon for about $23 for a 4 fluid ounce container. Applying essential oils directly to the pillowcase or clothing could cause stains and may be unsafe. To circumvent this, we decided to use four scent-soaked cotton balls and place them inside the pillowcase to avoid any fabrics from coming into direct contact with the oils. A bag of 200 jumbo-sized Up & Up cotton balls from Target costs about $2, bringing the cost of the four balls used in our hack to about $0.04 total.

There are many types of dryer sheets available on the market, but Bounce is one of the most popular and best-selling brands. We already had these dryer sheets on hand, but a new 120-count box can be purchased from Walmart for around $13, roughly $0.11 per sheet. Of course, to know which scent method really works better, we also needed some laundry to test it with. To ensure that each method got the same treatment, we used four cotton T-shirts with the dryer sheets and four different cotton T-shirts with the laundry scent booster trick. 

After collecting our materials, it was time to put everything together and perform a quick test. First, we tossed all eight T-shirts into the washing machine with regular detergent on a quick-wash cycle. When they were done, we removed four of the wet T-shirts and placed them in the dryer on a low heat setting with two Bounce dryer sheets. After drying, we removed them from the appliance, set them aside, and prepared our laundry scent booster hack.

To make the scent booster, we grabbed four cotton balls and added two drops of lavender essential oil to each one. Essential oils are flammable if held near a source of ignition, so we ensured we didn't over-soak the cotton balls and used a heatless cycle setting to avoid an accidental fire. Essential oils are also highly-concentrated, so a few drops seemed like more than enough to fragrance our small load of laundry. We placed our scented cotton balls inside the pillowcase, then tied the open side into a knot so that they wouldn't fall out during the cycle. Finally, we tossed in the remaining four wet T-shirts and started the cycle on a heatless air fluff for one hour, then removed the scent booster pillowcase and finished drying the T-shirts on low heat. 

The shirts that were dried with the lavender essential oil successfully emerged smelling like lavender! One scent wasn't incredibly stronger than the other, and both smelled pleasant when inhaling against the fabric. However, the natural lavender was noticeable and soothing in a way that the basic dryer sheet scent just wasn't, and it lasted on the shirts for several days longer than the dryer sheet scent. While it wasn't overwhelming, the lavender smell was very recognizable, which is great if you're looking for that signature scent to infuse into your laundry. You can also customize the scent's strength by adding fewer or more drops of essential oil to the cotton balls. Some people may not want all of their clothes to smell like lavender or another essential oil, but we think this is a brilliant idea for bath towels, blankets, sheets, and other relaxing, spa-like items. 

Keep in mind that dryer sheets also serve a secondary purpose: reducing static cling. Dryer sheets contain positive ions, which attract and remove loose electrons churned up by your dryer. The essential oil trick will give your laundry a nice scent, but it doesn't combat static like a dryer sheet. You can put aluminum foil balls in the dryer or add wool dryer balls to reduce static without chemical-laden dryer sheets. It may require a little more effort to create the laundry scent booster, but we think it's worth it in the end to achieve that naturally-fresh and strong scent.