Although they may make your clothes feel soft and smell fresh, fabric softener and dryer sheets are some of the most toxic products around. And I believe that the staggering 99.8 percent of Americans who use common commercial detergents, fabric softeners, bleaches, and stain removers would think twice if they knew they contained chemicals that could cause cancer and brain damage.
Here is a list of just some of the chemicals found in fabric softeners and dryer sheets:
- Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer
- Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant
- Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
- Limonene: Known carcinogen
- A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage
- Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's Hazardous Waste list
- Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders
- Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic
- Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders
- Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled
The chemicals in fabric softeners are pungent and strong smelling -- so strong that they require the use of these heavy fragrances (think at least 50 times as much fragrance) just to cover up the smells. Synthetic fabrics, which are the reason fabric softeners were created in the first place, do not smell good either when heated in a dryer or heated by our bodies, hence the need for even more hefty fragrances.
In other words, remove all the added fragrance that people love in fabric softeners and the real smells of the chemical-laced fabric softener and the synthetic fabrics they were designed for may prompt people to think twice!
Are "Soft" Clothes Really Worth It?
Fabric softeners are made to stay in your clothing for long periods of time. Chemicals are slowly released either into the air for you to inhale or onto your skin to absorb. Dryer sheets are particularly awful because they are heated in the dryer and the chemicals are released through dryer vents and out into the environment. Health effects from being exposed to the chemicals in fabric softeners include:
- Central nervous system disorders
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Dizziness
- Blood pressure reduction
- Irritation to skin, mucus membranes and respiratory tract
- Pancreatic cancer
Even if you don't feel the effects of these chemicals today, they can affect you gradually over time. Particularly children, whose systems are still developing, are particularly at risk. There's really no reason to expose yourself to these risky chemicals when natural alternatives exist. Not only are they safer for you, your family and the environment, but they're much more economical too:
- Add a quarter cup of baking soda to the wash cycle to soften fabric
- Add a quarter cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle to soften fabric and eliminate static cling
- Check out your local health food store for a natural fabric softener that uses a natural base like soy instead of chemicals
- Try wool Dryer balls!!! (My personal choice)
For my family, not only was the health benefits worth the switch, but we also save roughly $150 a year on fabric sheets and softeners! Our Solution? We use wool dryer balls! I've made a few myself (maybe a future post on how to make them??) and I bought a few of these babies from Bouncing Woolies (NOT a paid opinion!) They are awesome! They are scented with essential oils and very easy to re-scent ( I bought inexpensive fragrance oils off Amazon for a rescentings but Bouncing Woolies does sell their own rescenting kits).
Stay fresh!
Teresa
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