Laundry beads are a relatively new option for your washing to leave a nice scent on your clothes during the washing process. While the products won’t soften clothing like a fabric softener, it can leave your clothing with a long-lasting scent, weeks after they were laundered.
In fact, scent boosting beads are often marketed as being compatible with fabric softeners and thus can be used to conjunction to improve the results for your clothing.
Laundry beads won’t damage your clothing and will simply add a scent to them after washing that can last for several weeks, even as you’re wearing them. Scent-boosting laundry beads won’t reduce static or soften clothes like a fabric softener but it also won’t leave a waxy film on your clothes as softeners do.
This last point is key since fabric softeners aren’t recommended on towels or anything that absorbs water since the wax film of a fabric softener can reduce absorbancy. You can use laundry beads on towels and other clothing without this concern.
Having used both laundry beads and various fabric softeners over my lifetime, I decided to take a closer look and detail my experience with both products and share my thoughts on why you might use one over the other, or use them together in your laundry.
Laundry beads vs liquid fabric softener comparison
Here’s an overview of scent-boosting laundry beads compared to liquid fabric softeners to see how they stack up and what each product offers.
| Laundry beads (scent booster) | Fabric softener | |
| Description | Small round beads that act as a scent booster for clothes during the washing machine cycle. | A liquid that adds a pleasant scent to clothes while also softening them during the washing cycle. |
| Brands | Numerous name brands like Downy, Persil, Arm and Hammer, Snuggle and Purex among others. | Countless name brands like Downy, Fleecy, Gain and plenty of lesser known cheaper brands too. |
| Cost | Generally more expensive than fabric softener. Brand name products can cost around $15 for a 1.65 lb bottle. Smaller bottles retail for a little over half that price of a larger container. | Generally less expensive currently than beads. While you can purchase a small bottle for several dollars, larger bottles of brand name softener that last up to 200 washing loads are also available. The bigger the package, the less you pay per unit so it can be beneficial to buy more volume. |
| Usage | You typically add the beads directly inside the washing machine drum before adding the clothes. You don’t place them in the detergent or fabric softener dispenser. | Fabric softener is poured into a specific dispenser in your washing machine and is released by your machine at the appropriate time automatically. |
| Benefits | Adds a longer-lasting (potentially) scent to clothes than softener without the wax associated with fabric softener. You may use them on towels and other items to avoid adding the waxy residue associated with fabric softener. | Combines a mild scent with fabric softening. May also offer protection against static cling while also preventing pilling, stretching and fading of clothing. |
| Downsides | Only leaves a nice scent on clothes with no other benefits. Brand name products are not cheap. | Leaves a waxy residue on clothes which is not good for towels as it can impair its ability to absorb water. |
| Considerations | Some reports of clothing occasionally being left with an oil-like residue on them. | Cheaper products don’t leave much of a scent if that’s what you’re looking for. |
| Innovations | New, unique scents and available are the beads are generally usable in both regular and High Efficiency (HE) machines. Often advertised that they can be used in conjunction with fabric softener. | Newer products include infusions of botanicals and other scent boosters to increase product appeal. |
My experience with both types of products
In my experience, both laundry beads and fabric softeners have pros and cons and in both instances is largely a case of you get what you pay for.
Here is my experience with both.
Laundry beads
I’ve used several brands and was pleasantly surprised at how long the scent lasts. Some products claim that the scent will last up to 12 weeks after washing which I found hard to believe. How relevant is this unless you wash clothing items and then not wear them for 4 months? Since it’s a newer product, there aren’t yet as many brands or options as fabric softeners other than 2 package sizes (a small one and a larger one).
But in my personal experience, I was pleasantly surprised at how long the scent lasted on clothes after using this product. I washed clothing using a sample pack of Downy Unstoppables laundry beads including a winter hat I like to wear. 2 weeks after washing the hat, I started wearing the hat daily. After a four week period had passed – 2 weeks after washing and then 2 weeks of wearing the hat – I could still smell the scent on the hat which I found amazing.
The scent was nice enough to notice but not overpowering. I was in my car driving by myself one day and could smell the scent of the hat as I drove. It was just enough to be pleasant but not enough to bother me.
Verdict: If you’re simply looking for an option to make clothes smell nice after washing them (and possibly even wearing them) a scent boosting laundry bead product might be worth looking at. In my experience with several brands, the scent boosting ability is real and lasts longer than I thought it would.
Fabric softener
Since this product has been around for decades, there are countless brands, styles and package sizes to choose from. This also means there are varying levels of quality.
In my experience, there are cheaper brands that might do the job with fabric softening but whose scent is weak and doesn’t last. So if you’re looking to walk around with clothes that give off a nice scent, you might be out of luck.
And who really knows if your fabrics are softer after using the product? The tv commercials show actors snuggling up to soft clothes after using the fabric softener that they’re being paid to advertise but do you, the consumer, really notice it? Perhaps you do, maybe you don’t.
Cheaper brands often offer large containers of product at lower prices but the scent you’re looking for may or may not materialize in any way that makes you happy with the result. You might have to test a few brands to see what works for you.
Verdict: You get what you pay for. If you stick your nose in a bottle of various fabric softeners, the scent is often not what you expect and perhaps not in a good way. In the bottle, some brands smell kind of odd. How does the scent translate and make your clothes smell? And how long does the scent last? Does it really soften your clothes? Unfortunately, since scent preference is a personal choice and “softer” clothing is subjective, you’ll have to find out for yourself for any brand you try.