How To Get Rid Of Annoying Static Cling Without Toxic Products

Although fabric softeners and dryer sheets help remove static electricity from your clothes, they are filled with toxic chemicals known to trigger central nervous system damage, cancer and asthma.
Dr. Joseph Mercola,
Toxicfreelaundry

Photo©Kasper Ravlo/123rf

A dry climate or cold weather increases the amount of static cling you find in your clothes. While this can be a nuisance in your sweaters, suits and shirts, common over-the-counter treatments trigger damage to your health and the environment. Fortunately, there are alternatives that are both less expensive and safer.

Manufacturers take advantage of two of your senses to boost sales when they develop dryer sheets and fabric softeners — smell and touch. Your sense of smell is a primal and powerful ability, allowing you to recognize and remember up to 1 trillion different smells.1

Psychologists understand that scent has the power to evoke a positive or negative reaction within milliseconds.2 When manufacturers combine positive feelings about the softness and scent of your clothing with their product, you’re more likely to buy it.

However, while static cling is frustrating, there are other natural, less expensive and less hazardous ways of treating your clothing during the wash and dry cycles.

How Does Static Cling Develop?

An explanation of how static cling develops on your clothing, or how you get an electric shock after walking over carpeting and touching a door handle, quickly gets complicated. The short explanation is that static is a buildup of negative or positive electrical charges in your hair, clothing or in your body.3

When you touch someone or something, you can feel the surplus electrons being discharged as static shock. The same thing happens when you pull your winter hat off and your hair stands on end. When your clothes come out of the dryer they are also charged.

The clothing will cling to itself when a positively charged portion of the material comes up against a negatively charged portion. The same is true on your body. When a negatively charged portion of your clothes comes close to protons on your body, the clothing clings.

It is much more difficult for this transfer of electrons to happen if you walk on wood floors since wood does not acquire or get rid of electrons easily.

What’s Wrong With Dryer Sheets And Fabric Softeners?

Using fabric softeners and dryer sheets to get rid of static cling or adding fragrance to your clothing is dangerous to your health.

Manufacturers of these products are not required to disclose the ingredients, and are self-regulated through the International Fragrance Association (IFA). A 2015 report exposed where this self-regulation has failed.4

Manufacturers develop their fragrances by mixing a chemical cocktail to produce a scent, without regulation for the long-term consequences of exposure to those chemicals. The company must only identify “fragrance” on the label without listing the ingredients used to make the fragrance.5 Alexandra Scranton, lead author of the report, commented:6

“The safety of fragrance chemicals is not determined, monitored or safe-guarded by any governmental agency globally in any comprehensive fashion. Allowing the fragrance industry to self-regulate, and establish itself as the sole authority on fragrance safety, simply does not serve the public health interest.”

Researchers have looked at the chemicals released by dryer sheets and fabric softeners. A study published in 2011 found over 25 different air pollutants, including those known to cause cancer, such as benzene and acetaldehyde.7 

How To Get Rid Of Static Cling

Fabric softeners work by leaving a residue on your fabrics that never really completely washes out. More natural options are safer, less expensive and less toxic to your family and the environment.

  • More static cling occurs during the winter months as humidity in the air helps to reduce the number of charged protons and electrons. By spritzing a little water on your clothing or rubbing moisturizer over your skin you can dispel the static immediately. Try also spritzing your clothes with distilled water when they are removed from the dryer to prevent static when you wear the clothes.
  • Keeping a humidifier in your laundry room may help reduce static cling in your clothing as they are removed from the dryer.
  • If your clothing has a static charge, slip the clothing over a metal hanger to discharge the unbalanced protons and electrons, and reduce or eliminate the static cling. Hold the hanger with a towel if you are passing many pieces of clothing through the hanger, and wipe it with water between every two or three pieces so it continues to discharge the electrons.
  • You may also try removing your clothes from the dryer before they have dried completely. The extra moisture in the clothing will help to reduce the static, and you’ll reduce your electric usage. Wooden drying racks or hanging your clothes will help them to finish drying quickly.

Sensible Alternatives For Your Washer And Dryer

  • If you don’t want to hang dry your clothes, or are looking for a more natural way of discharging the static using your dryer, you may try using paper clips on the hems of your garments in the dryer to discharge the static.
  • Alternatively, crumple a ball of aluminum foil and add it to the dryer.
  • Use moisture inside your dryer to discharge the static by adding a moist towel in the last 10 minutes of the drying cycle. If the dryer finishes before you add the towel, add the towel and dry on the lowest setting for another 10 minutes.
  • Launder your natural and synthetic fabrics separately since nylon and rayon fabrics develop the most static electricity. There are several ways of making your own fabric softener or dryer sheets at home with natural ingredients, and still enjoy a fresh scent on your clothing.

DIY FABRIC SOFTENER Combine 6 cups of white vinegar, 1 cup of baking soda and 15 to 20 drops of essential oil in the scent of your choice in a large bowl.8 Once the combination has stopped foaming, the oil won’t be floating on the top of the liquid and won’t stain your clothes. Pour the liquid into a glass container and use up to 1 cup in your fabric softener dispenser in your washing machine with each load.

DIY FABRIC SHEETS If you prefer dryer sheets, or want to use both, use the same fluid to make reusable sheets.9 Simply soak clean washrags in the fluid and wring out the excess. Next hang the washrags until they are completely dry. Toss one in the dryer with your clothes; use up to 10 times before you have to get a new one.

DIY FABRIC SOFTENER CRYSTALS You can also make your own fabric softener crystals at home by combining essential oils of your choice with Epsom salts in a glass jar.10 Once you’ve made the crystals, add ¼ cup along with your regular laundry detergent.

Sources and References

This article was brought to you by Dr. Joseph Mercola, a New York Times bestselling author. For more helpful articles, please visit Mercola.com.

Find holistic Energy Healing And Medicine in the Spirit of Change online Alternative Health Directory.

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