Review on 🐧 Organic Fair Trade Friendsheep Wool Dryer Balls, Extra Large 6 Pack, Black Penguin - Cool Friends, Reusable Fabric Softener by Kristy Powers

I've been thinking about buying wool dry balls for years. Now that I've used this set for my first loads of laundry, I'm sorry I didn't take a drastic step back! At the time of writing this review, the US Southwest is suffering from strong, warm, and dry Santa Ana winds. Terrible fires are raging in California and Mexico. It's so dry the lip balm goes away in less than 30 minutes, and my oily skin soaks up a thick layer of castor oil overnight so I don't feel like a mummy. I can't drink enough water it's so dry. As such, I wasn't sure if this was the best time to give those dryer balls a fair shot. My expectations were low low low. Surprisingly these amazing penguins (I have adorable penguins!) survived and really impressed me. The static is so bad here and we have terribly hard water. Clothes come out static and rough. I usually load 5 dryer sheets to keep clothes soft and static-free, but when the weather is dry, like now, we often use liquid fabric conditioner AND sheets. While some people might think – oh, she used a sheet. this is a scam! - You'll have a better idea of where our underwear begins before moving on to those balls of yarn. In the few downloads I did this weekend I didn't use liquid but a sheet + those 6 dryer balls and the clothes came out. softer than I've ever felt and not an ounce of static. Walking around the house - not in stockings - I shock my cute friend every time I touch him or we hug, but these piles of laundry came out with no static electricity! I'm excited! Let's go through the pros and cons: Pros: 1. It's a good deal - $15-$20, and you'll have these reusable balls for hundreds - maybe thousands - of laundry loads. Leaf boxes are probably a few dollars a box for the smallest cheap leaves! Get your money back and save money FAST with these dry balls. Depending on the size of your family and the weather - this may be quicker than other people's, but I know ours will "pay off" in a few months at most2. Good performance! If I can see these results in the weather we have here in the southwestern desert. I'm assuming other people can easily do without a fabric softener sheet - in fact, I'm about to try that too! (and I will update my review) 3. Feel Good - Environmental Factor: We all know the more we do, we don't buy disposable items, we don't keep buying things wrapped in packaging, we pull them off Don't constantly throw away things that cannot be broken down properly - so much the better for all of us. This material is reusable, naturally sourced and although there was a little plastic wrap on the packaging, I think I'll be using these all-natural, chemical-free penguins for years to come. No smoke, no residue, less waste, fewer trips to the grocery store, fewer online orders, it's a win-win.4. This set comes with a great bag to store your balls in and protect them from dust in the laundry room. Our laundry is in the garage. Our garage, out here in the country, with the critters roaming the grounds, is often open and covered in red dust. This bag keeps things clean in a place where we don't leave anything we don't want covered in red dirt for more than a few hours. I appreciate it.5. Let me use my essential oils. Over the years I've come to love my oils and so does the rest of the family. We drive away insects, freshen up carpets, spray air for relaxation/recreation and are happy to carry it into the laundry room. I put some lavender oil on each scoop and everything smells nice and real. I like it very much.6. Well well well! I love that they are penguins! I mostly wear dark clothes so I like the dark color to keep white fuzz from appearing on my dark work clothes but I also love how cute they are. If you work late, you drive hours to work every day, well. sometimes it's the little things. I smile every time I see these penguins, even though I do household chores in my free time. That's a nice bonus for me. Cons: I haven't had any issues other than hearing a muffled *thump* from the garage as these guys bounce around with the laundry, but I'm very good at updating my reviews whenever I do. The only scam I can think of right off the bat is that you tend to pay around $20 upfront compared to $4-8 for a box of sheets. Since most of us have budgets and bills to pay, this should be taken into account. So bottom line: I'm in love with these guys! I'm very excited to try it WITHOUT towels (again, just now in this weather I used a +6 skein) and also a little inspired to try some more natural laundry soap. I will update this review to see how they perform long term and after trying more things. Also, please note that I always update my reviews when something goes wrong. However, I definitely think these guys are 110% worth it because they save you money, make your clothes look nice, and avoid chemicals. Try it! :-) And good luck! Note: I usually use Aura Cacia and NOW essential oils, but I used them with Woolzies oils as they were less expensive and I thought they would do for washing. They smell good and I've been happy so far. I've tried two: Woolzies Jasmine Blend 100% Natural Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil and Woolzies Lavender 100% NATURAL Pure Essential Oil - 2 Packs - 1 fl oz per bottle and they smell great when washed. I consider Jasmine to be a blend, so I wouldn't recommend any of these for your skin - always be wary of using "therapeutic" oils - but for the wash, especially compared to dryer sheets, it's a great healthy upgrade and very affordable to. Use your common sense though, and if these oils make you itch or anything - avoid it! Much luck! UPDATE 12/24/2017: I've been happily using these little guys for washing over the past few weekends. I love them but I'm still playing and learning how to use them. Didn't try the tumble dryers - clothes were soft but with our weather it was static. I tried Frau Meyer's dryer sheets for the first time - they smelled amazing! - Unfortunately they made nada for the statics. I even tried using 2 per boot and it didn't help. I can try more, but I'm not sure if it's much better than just throwing a chemically charged hand + 6 balls in each charge. Balls and 1 sheet is my method for now, but I'll keep testing new things and come back when I have news to share. Good luck fellow washer! :-) UPDATE 01/30/2018: I've been using them for a while now and still love them. I haven't found a compromise between using a sheet along with balls to fight the static we experience, but it's still Santa Anas every now and then all winter. This week in January it was 80 degrees and very windy. However, these balls help. My laundry dries faster and has fewer wrinkles. In particular, ceilings that used to clump together dried faster. And small pieces of laundry, or very light pieces that get caught on the edge of the dryer — sort of perpetually snuggle together and actually wrinkle in the dryer — seem to come out wrinkle-free because the balls fling lightweight clothes up, holding them up. from sticking. I oil them every weekend or so - when I wash them - and they smell nice, although I can't say the clothes smell strong, they smell clean and fresh. I am very satisfied and fully recommend them and will be ordering more when they die but for now they still look like new no pills or anything. :-)