Good Question: How Do Dryer Sheets Work?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Mike from Mound uses dryer sheets when he washes his clothes, but he emailed WCCO wanting to know if he's just throwing pennies down the drain.
So, how do dryer sheets work? Good Question.
"They have two processes," said Patric Richardson, owner of consignment shop Mona Williams and self-proclaimed laundry expert. "They absorb the static and they lubricate the fabric to minimize the static on the clothes."
First, the dryer sheet neutralizes the positive and negative charges in our laundry by essentially acting like a lightning rod. Second, the waxy substance on that sheet also coats and lubricates your clothes with a material similar to fabric softener, which reduces friction.
"It actually just rubs on," Richardson said. "When the clothes toss in the dryer, it tosses with them and it tosses onto the clothes, like butter on your popcorn."
Richardson says people generally don't need to use fabric softener and dryer sheets at the same time. He uses dryer sheets for fleece materials, because fabric softener isn't recommended for fleece or towels.
In most cases, Richardson avoids using dryer sheets.
"It changes the feel and I want that crisp feel of cotton," he said. "I have a love of textiles, I can't help it."
Instead, he balls up aluminum foil and throws that in the dryer. The static fires into the little pocket of the foil ball and absorbs the static. He says he can use his aluminum foil creation up to 65 times in the dryer before making a new one.