Homemade Laundry Softener with Lavender

Want soft clothes, sheets and towels without the harmful chemicals? I love green ideas for natural living, and I try to switch out all my chemical loaded products, with pure and natural ones. Conventional cleaners are filled with toxic and polluting substances so I encourage you to try this homemade lavender and vinegar laundry softener, with white vinegar as the key ingredient. Vinegar is a a natural softener, a great disinfectant as the natural acid is tough on bacteria. It keeps whites white, darks dark and colors vibrant as well as cleaning your washing machine and removing any soap residues from your fabrics. It’s easy and affordable to replace your conventional laundry softener with a more natural alternative in addition to being much safer for both you and the environment, totally free from harsh chemicals, perfumes and other harmful substances. 

Check out my homemade cleaning spray for other green ideas. 

Why make your own laundry softener?

Laundry softener sounds innocent enough, but it’s far from it. The artificial scents and fragrances that make laundry smell like a field of flowers contains toxic substances and hormone-disrupting chemicals that can harm your health and pollute the air inside your home. The chemicals washed into your laundry can be released over time and absorbed into your skin as you wear clothes, sleep on sheets and dry off with a towel, leaving a lot of opportunities for your skin to absorb these dangerous chemicals. 

These indoor chemicals and air pollutants can cause both immediate and long term health problems like asthma, allergies, hormonal imbalances, cancer, headaches, eye irritation and nausea. 

A recent study revealed that many of the top-selling commercially scented cleaning products including air fresheners, laundry detergents and softeners, disinfectants, dish washes, all-purpose cleaners, soaps, hand sanitizers, lotions, deodorants and shampoos contains more than 100 different chemicals, including some that are classified as toxic or hazardous by federal laws. 

Ingredients

White vinegar 7%

Lavender essential oil 

Glass bottle

Instructions

1. Pour vinegar into a glass bottle. Add approximately 10 drops of esssential oil per liter of vinegar. Experiment with using different types of essential oil, like rosemary or peppermint. 

2. Shake well before each use.

3. Pour the blend directly into the laundry softener dispenser in your machine.