This cheap household pairing is my secret weapon for soft, fluffy towels – I've never had so many compliments from guests

When my friends and family stay overnight at my house, I always get compliments on my soft, fluffy towels smell luxurious to boot. My secret? Wool dryer balls and essential oils post-wash.

These household items ensure that my guests and I have a hotel-style experience in the bathroom. Laundry and cleaning pros agree that they’re the best way to maintain towel texture and add fragrance without using fabric softener. In fact, it's helped me ditch softener altogether.

This is one of my top laundry tips that I’m always happy to spill. Having scratchy towels is an absolute no-no for me, and these two nifty items ensure mine always feel ultra-luxurious.

Why dryer balls and essential oils are a dream combo for fluffy towels

Wool dryer balls and essential oils work wonders together when cleaning towels, as they’re a lovely, non-toxic and natural laundry solution.

Muffetta Krueger, cleaning expert and founder of Muffetta's Housekeeping, says, ‘Wool dryer balls fluff your towels by creating space in the dryer, reducing static and leaving them luxuriously soft without chemicals. This helps reduce drying time and naturally fluffs the fabric.’

Using essential oils around the home is something people with nice-smelling homes always do – and this laundry hack is a great way to do just that without harsh or synthetic chemicals.

‘Adding essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus, or citrus to your dryer balls will give your towels a delightful, spa-like scent that you can customize,’ Muffetta adds.

These can also be incredibly budget-friendly – for example, the Mayjam essential oils set from Walmart is under $20 and comes with 20 different scents. Just be sure to slightly damper your wool dryer balls before adding essential oil to avoid a fire risk when they're busy in your dryer.

How to use this combo at home

• Step 1: Before you dry your towels, make sure to wash your towels without fabric softener, using the best washer and dryer settings for softness. ‘Add a splash of white vinegar to your laundry during the rinse cycle for natural softening,’ Muffetta suggests. If you don't have a bottle at home, Lucy’s distilled white vinegar from Amazon is the site’s top pick and has an all-natural formula.
• Step 2: Use at least 3-4 dryer balls for a standard load of towels. James Joun, laundry expert and co-founder of Rinse, says, ‘For larger loads, increase the number to ensure better airflow and faster drying.’ 
• Step 3: Dampen your wool balls with a tiny spritz of water to avoid a fire risk. Then add 3-5 drops of essential oils onto the dryer balls: ‘Allow the essential oil to dry on the dryer ball for ten minutes before adding it to the dryer to avoid oil stains on your towels,’ he continues. ‘This method provides a subtle, non-overpowering scent that feels luxurious.’
• Step 4: After you’ve done this, add your clean towels and prepped dryer balls to the dryer. 'For extra fluffiness, shake them out before placing them in and again after they’ve dried. This helps to maintain their texture and absorbency,’ James suggests.
• Step 5: Finish off by taking them out and putting them away. I always like to put mine on a drying rack (the Brightroom drying rack from Target is highly-rated) in order to ensure they’re fully dry before hanging them back up in the bathroom.

Why I love this dryer sheet swap

My partner has eczema, so I’m always looking for laundry tips for sensitive skin. I asked experts what they’d recommend using instead of regular detergent, and essential oils came up as a solution.

I then did some further investigating and found that you can add drops of essential oils onto wool dryer balls to add extra softness.

I use The White Company Spa essential oil on mine, as the scent has soothing eucalyptus and neroli notes. Once I’ve used them on my dryer balls, I then use them to top up my essential oil diffuser. I like to have a few of these around the house, and I currently have the ASAKUKI essential oil diffuser on Amazon on my wish list, as it has over 60,000 five-star reviews and comes with a remote control making it easy to operate.

One of my favorite things about this dryer sheet swap is that the wool dryer balls reduce the wrinkles in my towels. James Joun explains, ‘The dryer balls prevent the towels from rubbing up on each other, which reduces static.

‘Static charges can cause clothes and towels to ‘stick together’ during the drying process. As water dissipates during drying, these items can form creases and wrinkles. Dryer balls can prevent the build-up of static electricity by dissipating charges, which can prevent sticking,’ he adds.

I make sure to clean my dryer balls after every use. ‘Your dryer balls will collect visible debris that you should remove prior to their next use,’ James says. I do this with a clean microfiber cloth – I like the Homexcel microfiber cloths from Amazon, as they’re lint-free, durable, and brighten up my cleaning supplies.

Plus, I refresh the essential oils on the dryer balls every 2-3 cycles, as this ensures the towels have a beautiful scent that’s not too strong.

How it compares to other methods

I’ll be honest – I used to use fabric softener on my towels. Then, I went on a luxury furniture brand tour and was told that it was a big laundry mistake, as the waxy buildup can deteriorate the material and reduce absorbency. I vowed never to have hard, crinkly towels again.

After this, I tried cleaning with white vinegar as a natural solution to help my partner's skin. While it did remove the dirt, this didn’t help the feel of the towels and left my bathroom with an unpleasant scent.

I then upgraded to adding essential oils along with the vinegar while washing. This is a great way to make a bathroom smell like a luxury spa, but didn’t solve the poor texture issue.

Finally, I discovered sprinkling essential oils on wool dryer balls and adding them in to the dryer. This makes the towels smell amazing and keeps them feeling fluffy and fabulous.

I also like the fact dryer balls are a more sustainable alternative to single-use dryer sheets – although you can get reusable ones, such as the Purecosheet Dryer Sheets from Amazon .

My verdict

The wool dryer ball and essential oil towel hack is a method that is the best of everything in my opinion. No nasty chemicals – just natural materials that are gentle on the towels and gentle on skin. I’ve been doing this for over a year now and I can’t imagine myself using any other towel drying technique.

What to shop

Making sure your towels are soft and freshly fragranced is one of the best ways to make your bathroom more relaxing to use.

Not bothered about dryer balls and just want to improve your towel scent? You can try using the essential oil dryer hack instead, which Homes & Gardens’ head of solved Punteha van Terheyden swears by.