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Natural DIY Fabric Softener

September 18, 2015 Updated on January 28, 2020 By Beth K 22 Comments This post contains affiliate links.

955 shares

Did you know conventional fabric softeners and dryer sheets leave a residue on your clothes? That’s what makes them “feel” softer. Chemical fabric softeners can also cause skin irritation or breathing sensitivities. Get your clothes fluffy, soft, and smelling fresh without toxic chemicals using our Natural DIY Fabric Softener.

Natural DIY Fabric Softener from RecipesWithEssentialOils.com

Our laundry routine changed when we began cloth diapering. You have to be very careful not to use detergents that will leave behind any build-up or residue. That build-up can lead to serious stink! Even though we no longer cloth diaper, we’ve been glad to not have that continual expense of buying dryer sheets and fabric softeners in our home supply budget.

Here’s the washing routine that we use to get our clothes fresh and clean with natural ingredients in a regular load of laundry in our HE washer:Natural DIY Fabric Softener from RecipesWithEssentialOils.com

New to essential oils? Learn more about how we use them and why you should use them as well.

Natural DIY Fabric Softener

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup Dr. Bronner’s Organic Lavender Pure Castile Soap
  • 5 drops Lavender essential oil
  • 5 drops Bergamot essential oil
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar

Directions

  • Add soap and essential oils to normal washing machine soap dispenser.
  • Sprinkle 1/2 cup baking soda over the clothes in the washer.
  • Pour 1/3 cup of vinegar into the fabric softener dispenser (or add during final rinse).
  • Wash color loads and towels on cool water as normal.
  • Dry laundry and enjoy freshly scented, soft laundry with no harsh chemicals!

That’s it. It’s an easy routine for us and it keeps our clothes clean and soft without adding harsh or dangerous chemicals.

A Couple of Extra Laundry Tips:

  • DO NOT add the vinegar to the beginning of the washing cycle. It will react badly with the Castile soap and you will not like the results. Find out the details about this reaction here.
  • For a load of whites, we would add 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide to the normal place assigned for adding bleach. Then we wash on a hot water setting.
  • And, of course, if you’re having big, stinky trouble with your laundry you should try this simple laundry trick that really works.
  • Try some of these other tips to remove additives from your home cleaning routine!
955 shares

Filed Under: Cleaning, Household, Recipes Tagged With: bergamot, lavender

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karri says

    March 3, 2016 at 7:34 pm

    My HE washer has no liquid fabric softener dispenser. Normally you are supposed to use one of those Downy balls. Could I put the vinegar in a Downy ball so it will be released during the rinse cycle?

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      March 14, 2016 at 11:14 pm

      You could try that! I’d love to hear how that works for you.

      Reply
    • Jane says

      March 8, 2018 at 9:49 pm

      I put vinegar in my downy ball all the time when I put it in with my towels. Works fine ..

      Reply
  2. Terry says

    June 15, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    Can the vinegar be added at the beginning of the wash cycle in the Fabric Softener dispenser?

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      June 17, 2016 at 3:25 pm

      That’s exactly what we do, Terry! Just don’t add it to the wash basin at the beginning of the wash cycle. It doesn’t play well with the Castile soap.

      Reply
  3. Tracy says

    August 18, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    I’m new to oils and trying out some recipes ~ I did have a question, the above says that you add the soap and oil in detergent dispenser, so this is in place of the other reciepe you posted for liquid detergent?

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      September 4, 2016 at 3:59 pm

      You’re exactly right. If you use our liquid detergent recipe then the essential oils are already mixed into the formula. This version posted above helps with people who want to use Castile soap because of sensitivities or personal preferences about gentler, natural cleaners.

      Reply
  4. Leslie says

    August 27, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    I’m sorry if this is a silly question- you place the 1/4 cup of liquid fabric softener into the soap dispenser with the laundry soap, correct? Or you use this in place of laundry soap? I usually place 1/4 capful of thieves detergent into the dispenser and was going to add 1/4 of your recipe. Is that what you would recommend? I have teenage boys who play sports so laundry can be pretty gross!! Thanks for clarifying 🙂

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      August 29, 2016 at 1:22 pm

      Here’s where everything goes:
      Add detergent and essential oils to normal washing machine soap dispenser.
      Sprinkle your baking soda directly over the clothes in the washer.
      Pour the vinegar into the fabric softener dispenser (or add during final rinse).

      Teenage athlete smell is the worst. LOL

      Reply
      • Debbie says

        October 29, 2016 at 7:28 am

        So I’m using Thieves Laundry detergent. That would go into the bottom of my machine. Then clothes. On top of the clothes sprinkle the baking soda and put the vinegar into the liquid fabric softener dispenser, it that correct?
        So the baking soda and vinegar are the liquid fabric softener , and you like the way this works?
        Thanks for your help, I’m trying to get rid of chemicals in our house and our laundering style needs revamping, this sounds like a great way to do it.

        Reply
        • Beth K says

          November 3, 2016 at 2:52 pm

          The baking soda will mix with the detergent during the wash/agitation portion of the cycle to add extra cleaning power for stains and odors. The vinegar acts as the liquid fabric softener after the detergent has been rinsed. This helps reduce odors and also helps rinse away any starch or detergent residue leaving your clothes softer.

          Reply
      • Becky says

        April 25, 2017 at 7:09 am

        I don’t have a fabric softener spot in my washer and has no agitator in in with a spot for soap. It also locks until it is done washing. How would I add this fabric softener to my washer? Any ideas?

        Reply
        • Jenny says

          March 8, 2018 at 2:26 pm

          You could get a Downy ball and just put the vinegar in that. I use at least 1/2 cup because I do large loads though.

          Reply
  5. gLORIA says

    January 23, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    Could I put the vinegar in a Downy ball so it will be released during the rinse cycle?

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      January 23, 2017 at 11:02 pm

      Sounds like a great idea if you already have a ball designed to release during rinse cycle! Let us know how that works for you.

      Reply
  6. Xana says

    May 18, 2017 at 12:24 am

    Can this be safely used with cloth diappers?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Beth K says

      May 19, 2017 at 10:13 pm

      I used cloth diapers on my littles for years and OH how I miss those precious days. With that in mind, I used cotton, mixed fabrics, and laminated diapers and I would NOT use this recipe on any of those. It is possible that the Castile soap in this (because it’s a soap and not a detergent) could leave a thin film on your diapers that will make them less absorbent (and I know better than most that less absorbent means LEAKY!). I hope this helps. ~Beth

      Reply
  7. Dona says

    April 19, 2018 at 9:20 am

    So, is the castile soap in place of laundry detergent? If I have another homemade laundry detergent can I use that in place of the castile soap?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Diana M says

      August 27, 2018 at 10:04 pm

      Exactly! You can follow this recipe or use our liquid detergent in place of the Castile soap. The vinegar is acting as the fabric softener.

      Reply
  8. Carol Balbiani says

    July 28, 2018 at 11:42 am

    Do I understand this correctly? The vinegar is the actual fabric softener and the rest of the ingredients are another form of laundry soap for the clothes washing? We could just use the other laundry recipe for washing and the vinegar for the rinse? I already use vinegar for rinsing in my HE front loader. Can EOs be added to the vinegar in the dispenser for the rinse?

    Reply
    • Diana M says

      August 27, 2018 at 10:06 pm

      Hi Carol! Yes, you got it. People with sensitive skin can use Castile Soap as a washing agent, or another detergent in its place. You can add the essential oils directly in with the vinegar to help soften your fabrics.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 25+ DIY Cleaning Recipes Using Essential Oils - Thrifty NW Mom says:
    January 4, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    […] DIY Fabric Softener from Recipes with Essential Oils […]

    Reply

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