Why People Are Adding Lavender Essential Oil To Their Laundry

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If you're looking for laundry hacks that will leave your clothes smelling fresh without too many harsh chemicals, you might consider adding essential oils to your cleaning routine. While there are some natural laundry detergents, such as Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Laundry Detergent and Seventh Generation EasyDose Laundry Detergent, use essential oils to add a fresh scent to their products, you may prefer to choose your own scents. Then you can also control the concentration and choose which essential oils to use for different laundry items. If you're new to using essential oils at home, there's a go-to essential oil that might be a good place to start: lavender. Adding it to unscented laundry detergent, dryer balls, or spritzes lets you take advantage of the benefits of lavender essential oil without worrying about ruining your laundry.

Essential oils won't clean your clothes. However, they can impart a fresh scent. These oils may help eliminate odors naturally, without the use of harsh chemicals that can cause skin irritation or break down fabrics more quickly. Lavender essential oil has also been researched for its calming effects. For example, a study published in a 2017 issue of Nursing in Critical Care found that aromatherapy using lavender essential oil relieved anxiety and improved sleep in hospitalized patients. That's as good a reason as any to add a few drops of this scent to a load of bed linens or nightwear. If you're convinced that lavender essential oil is great for cleaning tasks, an easy way to use it is to add it to your washing machine.

Is lavender essential oil really the secret ingredient that'll make your mattress smell fresh and your clothes, too? Before you pour it into your washing machine and hit that start button, heed these warnings. Number one: do not add it directly to any fabric item. Oils of any kind can leave greasy stains on textiles, particularly if they're not washed off quickly. While lavender essential oil is typically clear to pale yellow, it can still stain fabrics, especially if they're lighter in color. What's more, essential oils may be flammable if not diluted, used in excessively high quantities, or placed in a dryer running on a high heat setting. Then there's the possibility that this expensive oil may simply wash away during rinsing, wasting your money.

If these warnings have made you rethink using essential oils in your laundry but you've already invested in a bottle of lavender essential oil, don't worry. There are still ways to incorporate the oil into your laundry routine. Instead of pouring the oil into your washing machine, add a few drops to an Asakuki Essential Oil Diffuser in your laundry room. Another option is to scent a wool dryer ball, a reusable cotton round, or a washcloth with two to three drops of lavender essential oil and put the item into the dryer with your clothing or linens. (If you're using a cotton round, pop it in a mesh laundry bag to keep it from getting lost.) Set your dryer to a low- or no-heat setting, like air fluff, for safety. Finally, you could add a few drops to unscented laundry detergent or mix the oil with distilled water and rubbing alcohol to create a spray for clean, dry linens and clothes.