Cruelty free. Sustainable. Fair Trade. Plastic Free. Zero Waste. All The Things. Friendsheep Wool
- Renee Diaz
- Jan 1, 2020
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 2, 2020
Partnership: I worked with Friendsheep Wool and received product at a discount or for free in exchange for an Honest and Unbiased review. They also supplied product for the giveaway. Throughout this blog post there are also some affiliate links. I may receive a percentage for your purchase if you use the affiliate links.
If for the rest of my life, I could only work with companies like Friendsheep Wool, my life would be complete. There is something that makes my heart swell with gratitude when I find a company that works hard to take care of their employees, goes the extra mile to make their products sustainable and just makes good products. A lot of companies I learn about try to do at least one of these things but this company checks all the boxes that make me want to spend all the money I have, to support their business. Enter; Friendsheep Wool.
I don't remember how long I followed Friendsheep Wool until I worked up the nerve to reach out to them to review their product and also ask them to help me with the "Grateful For" list and giveaway. I would say probably close to a year. I did a bunch of research and the more I learned about them, the more I loved.
I was initially interested in them because they make Wool Dryer Balls with cute little faces on them. I'd never seen a panda dryer ball but it was so cute I just couldn't not want them. Then the pigs and bears caught my attention and I was in love.
Aside from being cruelty free, sustainable and zero waste, they also support the people that matter most when it comes to needing jobs, the needy and disabled. There is a shoppe on the site called Unique Project. This is specialty merchandise that is made by women who have disabilities so they can get out from under the stigma of being disabled and provide for themselves and contribute to society. There is so much pride in being able to contribute when nobody else will even give you the time of day, much less a job. To be able to make something with love, by hand, and earn a wage is life affirming and soul quenching.
When I reached out to Friendsheep Wool they were really happy to hear about the giveaway and absolutely wanted to partner with me to help give away one set of dryer balls to a person who wants to make a sustainable change or gift to someone they know that would love them. I also have an opportunity through this partnership, to review these dryer balls and essential oil as well as view the quality of the ornaments the Unique Project makes.
Review of dryer balls: I've used these dryer balls for every load of laundry the first week I received the dryer balls. I'm ashamed and proud to say that total was more than 7 loads. The claim with dryer balls is that they, when all used at the same time, will cut your drying time by 25%-40%. I was not sure that would work but I was excited to see. Could it really dry my reusable diapers in one 90 minute session? Could it be less? Whatever the time, as long as it helped to soften my clothing without dryer sheets being wasted, it is worth it. I tried 3 different versions of drying for the dryer balls. The times were adjusted a little but the loads were adjusted a lot.
First Load:
For the first load, I used a small amount of laundry. Maybe 1 or 2 pairs of jeans, some shirts and other cotton items. I lowered the drying time to about 60 minutes, that includes a 20 minute cool down. All of these items were fluffy and dry. There wasn't much in the load but I never thought to lower the drying time until I tested out the 6 dryer balls. I was hopeful and glad that they worked to improve my dry time with this smaller load of laundry. This is the type of load my husband would usually do. He prefers smaller loads because he is concerned about wet clothing and having to restart the dryer, when we usually have another load set to dry.
Second load: I added a few more towels to this load and again lowered the drying time to 60 minutes with a 20 minute cool down. Everything was dry. No issues. Not one piece was cold or wet. And I made sure that all pieces were dry dry and didn't keep them in the dryer passed the cool down. Everything came out immediately to check for true accuracy within this little experiment. I don't typically do this close of a watch on my clothing but I was home all day and did these loads back to back to keep any variables out of the mix.
Third load: This was the largest load and this was the load that made the difference. I am a lazy launderer. I don't care about laundry as much as I care about dishes and like to cut corners when I'm doing laundry. This was the most honest load I did. I over filled the washer, over filled the dryer and used a little bit of the essential oils for the dryer. I kept it at a regular time of 90 minutes with the 20 minute cool down. This is the type of load my husband hates. It's the load where he says "You over filled it. Don't do laundry. I had to put the dryer on again. Please stop doing laundry." I can't even tell you how many times that phrase has been spoken to me. His eye twitching a little bit every time I do it. This load seriously had about 4-5 pairs of jeans, tons of shirts and a few towels. I thought if I did the honest load, I would be able to gauge better, if the Friendsheep Wool Dryer Balls really work. I'm not really planning to change who I am or how I do laundry so it only made sense to just do what I normally do. No amount of dryer balls is going to change me so, here it is... they worked. Absolutely dry. Everything. Not even a denim belt loop was wet or cold. I didn't think they would work this well. These 6 wool dryer balls actually had me excited to do laundry. I was excited to see if it would work. If things were dry, I could fold immediately and then put away like Marie Kondo want's me to.
Since these 3 experiment loads, I also did cloth diaper loads. These loads are heavy and consist of about 30 diapers, 60 charcoal or bamboo inserts that just love to hold on to water. I used the same 6 dryer balls and again, everything was dry. We usually have to run the dryer twice to get these babies completely dry but dude, that wasn't the case and we are saving and entire drying cycle. This is a huge time saver and I would even say life changer. We used to have to wait to do diapers until our more "important" laundry was done because they always took so long. Now, we are doing them more regularly, whenever we want to. Nobody wants to do stinky diaper laundry but nobody wants to hold on to stinky diaper laundry. This is probably the biggest help these dryer balls provide.
Aside from the generosity of the dryer balls, Friendsheep Wool also sent me some peppermint ornaments (which were a hit with my kids and my son's teacher whom I gave one as a gift) and the Friendsheep Sun is Shining essential oil. The essential oil is meant to be added to the wool balls and to see how my clothing would come out smelling I tried did only one trial for this experiment. Opening the bottle it smelled like sweet oranges and lavender. I added 3 drops to each ball for the heavy honest load mentioned above.
Thoughts: The scent has a heavy citrus smell but I didn't find it overwhelmingly Orange. I liked the scent but either my load was too heavy or I needed to add more. I use an allergen free unscented detergent which is why I was excited to add some fragrance to my dryer cycle but I didn't really notice the scent when it was dry. I think I'll be happier to use it in a diffuser or with one of those bracelets that you add essential oil to. I'm at almost a half a bottle and although $15 wont break the bank, I'd rather smell the scent throughout my home and feel like I'm using it in the best way for our budget. Plus, it's a nice scent and we have a pup and apparently endless amounts of laundry to mask.
Overall I really like these Friendsheep Wool Dryer balls, ornaments and essentail oil, even if used outside of laundry. I love the colors (I chose the neon set because I love color but miss the cute faces of the pandas!) and the company's integrity. I love how these products work and I love that they are sustainable. I also like that my money goes towards people who want to work for this company. The dryer balls work best when it's the set of 6 used all at once. I noticed some dampness when I did heavier loads and only had one or two so keep that bag near by and store them there or within arms reach because using them all the time will render the best results.
As always, this review is honest and unbiased. This is the legit way I do laundry. I found these dryer balls to be so great that I am even happier to work with Friendsheep Wool. The dryer balls are fun but what I care about is when I spend my money the company I purchase from care about the environment but most of all, they treat people with love, dignity and respect. It starts with one small step. Do something manageable like changing out your dryer sheets or ordering a set of handmade ornaments. It takes no time to place the order and even less time to give a gift that is both thoughtful as well as life impacting. Also, just in case your purchasing for a gift, these items shipped super quick. Oh, and the way EVERYTHING was packed, remarkable. Everything was sustainably packaged with nothing going to a landfill. And if by chance something made it into a landfill, it would breakdown. It was all compostable or something like cotton that breaks down easily. I've never seen a company with such attention to detail that even their packaging was on par with their beliefs.
Giveaway: Friendsheep wool sponsored a giveaway for 1 set of dryer balls and allowed the winner to choose their favorite set from the Friendsheepwool.com site. The winner was pulled from Instagram and was excited to win because her cat had destroyed the ones she was using.
Affiliate link alert:
1. Will get you $5 off your order
https://www.friendsheepwool.com/discount/HONEST5 2. Will get you 10% off your order
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