New one on me. I use the plastic ones with short porcupine quills sticking out of them.

Probably not. From what I've heard, it's very trendy to use them but not everyone is convinced that any of the ball devices accomplish what they say they do.

I tried them and they did zero for me. They're now balls for the dog to fetch.

Nope....worthless. As sjerin noted, they are good dog toys!

I just bought a set of 6 from Amazon a couple weeks ago. I use them with my towels. They don't make as much noise in the dryer as the plastic ones

There are also really cute hedgehog shaped ones that I saw in a catalog today. :)

I didn't find that they reduced static, but I think it depends on the source of static. If it's from the dryer, it might work. When it's from the wind, it doesn't, at least for me. I didn't find them any more helpful than throwing in a small bath towel when the load needs bulk.

Then hedgehogs are cute though. Ooops! They're plastic, not wool:

I understand you can also use a ball of aluminum foil, but wasn't sure if it was as a softener and/or for static. But in the world of laundry science..... Static is an issue due to over-drying and synthetic fabrics. Remove lightweight articles containing synthetic fabrics before the drying time has expired, while the load is still slightly damp. If you over-dry the load, give the clothing in the dryer a light spritz with plain water, tumble for a few seconds, and that should discharge the static.

On the rare occasions I use the dryer, I have a pair of dryer balls (probably 15-years old). They reduce wrinkles and shorten drying time (we did our own tests years ago), but diddly squat for static, even with the version of the balls that had the special pink substance for just that purpose, so I follow my own advice as posted above.

-Grainlady

I made some a few years ago. Fun project, and they worked ok. Dog enjoyed playing with them, as well. Found one in the yard yesterday. Had been wondering what happened to them!

They must not work all that great - I see them in the thrift stores frequently.

I think I'll try to make some. When washing the down comforter, directions are to tumble dry with tennis balls, which I do. Maybe they would work as well as wool balls but I'm not so sure about the rubbery smell they might impart.

I have some. They do seem to help with static for me since I won't use dryer sheets.

I bought some last year at a Cost Plus in San Francisco...they work great!

I don't doubt that what Grainlady said is true, but since I have very few synthetics in my laundry (most loads, none), and none of them lightweight, and I only dry things to barely dry, because they wrinkle less if that last bit of damp goes as you hang them up, I will say that static can accumulate in cotton that isn't 100% dry, let alone overdried. The oily laundry aids (whether fabric softeners or dryer sheets) do work, but I don't like the way they make the fabric feel. The wool balls didn't work on static for me.

Why mess with success? My laundry is fine. I use half a dryer sheet if some of the load is synthetics. I don't overload the dryer.

Detergent buildup is the most likely cause of laundry troubles. A quarter-cup of white vinegar INSTEAD OF SOFTENER' works for me. (Along with just enough detergent to suds a little bit. Detergent is a case where "more" is not "better" -- and actually much worse.)

Why would you ADD WATER to the wet laundry in the dryer? Hmmm?

plllog-

Interesting.... Most thread used for sewing is made with some nylon in the blend -- I wonder if that is enough to generate static in your dryer even with cotton fabrics?

Besides the water spritz/tumble treatment, you can also toss a damp washcloth into the dryer at the end of the cycle and that's also supposed to discharge the static.

I found another "interesting" method in my laundry file, and that was to pin two large safety pins to something (an old washcloth or small piece of fabric) - add it to each load and it's also supposed to discharge the static.

Editing to add for chisue: You spritz the water at the END of the drying cycle (OOOOOHHHHH!), not the beginning, because the water will discharge the static.

Personally, I haven't used toxic chemicals from softener sheets or liquid softeners for decades. I can't even be outside when the neighbor's second-hand softener scent fills the air - it's dangerous for me to breath the toxic stuff. The particular type of laundry soap I use, Charlie's Soap, it's suggest you not use softeners because it will affect the cleaning ability of the soap. I line-dry my clothes and they are as soft as any that has been treated with softener or dried in a dryer. And I never have to contend with static - plus all the money I've saved over the years, as well as the total waste from the sheets, boxes they come in, and plastic containers from the liquids. Not to mention how using softeners will increase the flammability of fabrics.

-Grainlady

I've always wanted to try the wool ones, but I am cheap and we already had some that we were given, some of the plastic ones with all the little points. Because I don't use any type of fabric softener, we gave them a try. We hang all of our clothes but use the dryer for sheets and towels. I do feel they shortened dryer time, especially for the towels. We eventually lost one and had two left; one split and fell apart, so I'm limping along with just one at this point. Not sure it's doing anything at all, all by itself, to be honest.

I made the wool dryer balls last year. I have 5 of them in my dryer at all times. I have not noticed any difference in using them. I still have them in there hoping they help.

You can find out how to make them here: Dryer Balls

Grainlady, I hadn't thought about the thread. Silk fabric with silk thread (protein) and rayon fabric with rayon thread (rayon being a synthetic but made from wood, not petrochemicals), both accumulate static. My hair accumulates static. I don't know about pure cotton. Interesting. I can't remember static in something I know for sure was pure cotton, no synthetic thread, so maybe it doesn't!

There are some plant based fabric softeners that don't build up residue, and aren't earth toxic (I don't know about people toxic--soap can be people toxic if ingested). Before our water improved I used small amounts--only without scents. More recently, it's fine and I don't use any such additives. And a towel suffices for drying light loads.

Socks - I do put tennis balls in the dryer when I dry my down comforter and I haven't noticed a rubbery odor. Maybe that would happen on high heat, but I use medium to low.

I don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets and I seldom have static. Every now and then I'll accidentally put a microfiber cloth in the dryer and that does develop a little static. But I just shake it out and the static disappears.

Why would you add something that retains water longer (wool balls)? Why not just stop drying before the laundry is too dry? I have added a dampened a wash cloth to rescue an over-dried load of wash. I do understand the concept of using tennis balls to keep redistributing a bulky comforter as it dries.