Sue, I'm another one who can't handle the strong perfumy smells. I use a liquid, tho ... Downy makes an unperfumed fabric softener which I love.

I quit using dryer sheets for that very reason years ago. Now all the laundry detergent is so overpowering it gives me a coughing fit just to walk by that isle in the grocery store. I buy All Free-Clear most of the time now because it has no scent to it. Sorry can't help you with the dryer sheets.

I use the free ones too. not just bounce, but any others i can find!

I used Downy, Bounce, or Snuggle (whatever was on sale) in liquid and sheet form for years. Now i use white vinegar, works great, especially for the towels. I do have some Mrs Meyer that is Lemon Verbena scented liquid that i use only occasionally. not an overpowering scent at all.

I use those spiky rubber balls in the dryer......no odor and they work very well.
And no worries about allergens from the dryer sheets.

Would the off brands not smell as strong?
I like Bounce and to me the others aren't as good cause they don't smell! LOL

I use the Bounce Free dryer sheets. I think I got the box at the grocery store, not long ago. There must be sold somewhere in your area, don't you think?

I use the fragrance-free liquid detergent from Costco for most of my laundry.

The smell itself doesn't bother me that much, but I don't want my clothes to compete when I choose to wear perfume.

I also use Bounce Free. I get them at my grocery store, but I thought WalMart has them, too. I've bought them there before, anyway. I think Snuggle has one that's free of perfumes, etc.
I use Cheer Free for my laundry.

Leslie/KS

I see I'm not the only one that doesn't like the perfumy stuff.

The first one I took back I had gotten ar WalMart. They didn't have BounceFree. The second one I got at Kroger. They didn't have BF either. Those stores are where I shop, mostly at Kroger. We don't have a Costco. We do have a Food Lion, and Martins but they are off my beaten path and I rarely go there. Guess I'll just look around (or smell around) at the off brands. Since some of you are using BF that means it is still available so I'll have to search for it.

Thanks for the replies.

Sue

I just want to second the use of vinegar to make your clothes soft and nice smelling. Vinegar will rid your clothes of any soap residue....which contributes to the stiffness. The smell is gone by the time things are rinsed.
It also helps remove the "body odor" smell that some polyester fabrics seem to attract and hold on to.

Nanny

Sue: I am, also, bothered by all the perfumy smells in cleaning products and used Bounce Free sheets for years. Then about a year or so ago, the Free were no longer "free" of scents, although, the box claimed they were. Thinking they had just messed up a batch or two, I continued to buy the Bounce Free in different stores, but I always ended up bringing it back, because of the perfumy smell. Now I use Downey Free in a spray bottle diluted with a little water. I spritz it a few times on the clothes when they go in the dryer.

Sue, the web site shows in my area (Virginia Beach) that Rite Aid, Walgreens and Kmart sells them. I have never looked for them so not sure if they do or not. If you can't find them and I come across them, I would be more than happy to send you some. I am going to the Commisary today and will look there.
Susan

I would have to go out to the motor home, but I believe what I have out there is All Free brand. Truly unscented. So is the detergent. I bought both when we were going to be traveling for a month. DH & I both have problems with perfumy things. I am waiting to run out of my box of bounce from Sam's Club so I can start buying the All. When I run out of the Ohio made laundry soap that I have, probably in a couple of years, as it is VERY economical and I have a case and a half of it, I will switch to the All detergent, also. I do like what I am using now, but the formulation will take the color out of fabric if it is not diluted enough. I once had to go to the laundry mat, used my usual soap and forgot the last quarter. 20 minutes later, another customer mentioned that my washer hadn't started. I ruined a new shirt of mine and a pair of DH's pants. It looked like bleach stains. I have taken red sharpie marker stains out of a pair of jeans my mother hadn't worn in several years after an marker came uncapped in her pocket while packing and marking boxes with it. Great stuff but with traveling more, I don't want to take something that powerful in the motor home in case it leaks.

Good luck.

Tami

I stopped using the sheets years ago. Got sick and tired of finding used sheets all over the basement and having to search inside my sweaters and underwear when folding laundry for that lost culprit that could fall out of your clothes in an embarrassing moment. LOL

I use Gain, both detergent and softener. I could do a commercial for them. First time I used Gain was about 3 years ago after it was finally introduced to us in Canada. I pulled my laundry out of the dryer and it smelled so good, I had to comment on it out loud. Nobody was home. LOL I don't think they make a scent free Gain, but I've used both the green bottle and the reddish bottle and love them both. Haven't tried the Lavender one yet.

Hi have read here for years, but never post. I must say, though, that the vinegar suggestion has worked for me today! Thanks for the tip. My clothes came out brighter and smell like spring! I did my light colored clothes with it. Will it also work on the dark clothes? They are in the washer right now. Thanks

I got the Bounce Free last week and I definitely agree that it is NO LONGER fragrance free even though it says no perfume and no dyes. It has certainly changed. I need a replacement brand, too. I use it to eliminate static cling, not for softness. My grandson was over today and as he was sitting on my lap reading, I almost couldn't stand the overwhelming smell of whatever dryer sheets their family uses.

Our Walmart carries Bounce Free off and on. Try Target, Kmart and even the stores like CVS.

The Shoppers Drug Mart (Canadian store, so that may not help you) sells the big boxes of the Bounce free sheets. I just saw them today.

renie50.... i use the white vinegar in all my laundry, towels, sheets, darks, everything.

I'm making notes as to the suggestions of other non-perfumy brands. I'll be going shopping one day this week, depending on the weather, and will check out those stores I haven't looked at yet. Luckily, I don't have an allergy etc., I just detest all those loud smells. (This includes women in church or the movies who must bathe in their perfumes. Can't they smell them?)

About the vinegar...do you use it in the wash or just the rinse, and how much in a large size load?

Susan, (sueque67), thanks for the offer. If I can't find any, I will let you know.

Redcurls, are you saying that BF is perfumed now? If I do find some I will most definitely check it out before I buy it, even if I have to open the box!

Sue

Bounce Free is still made and I saw it at Kmart last time I was there. I don't use any fabric softener anymore either. I have a top loader and occasionally if I feel I need it, I'll fill a Downy ball and toss it in the wash. It's released for the rinse cycle supposedly.

I can't stand the perfume smells. When clothes stink, that's when know I need to I wash them! And I choke going down the laundry and cleaner aisles in the stores.

I've used vinegar for the past couple years. I don't like the smell of anything perfumy. I almost choke walking down the laundry aisles, and literally hold my breath.
I recently walked thru a baby aisle to go somewhere and the smell there is strong too. Yuck.

Anyway, just pour some vinegar, a glub or so in your final rinse. I use it for all my clothes.

Use a Downey ball for the vinegar. Make sure you use white vinegar, not the cider vinegar. A quarter cup in the Downey ball will do fine. And you don't have to remember to catch the rinse cycle!

Tami

The vinegar comments intrigue me. I see that some of you put it in the Downey ball (I don't really know what that is), but for those that don't, when do you put it in? Do you put it in along with the detergent? Do you just put about 1/4 cup right in? I, too, use dryer sheets primarily to elminate static cling. Am I right in assuming that vinegar won't help that?

Thanks!

Suzieque