Did you know you can make your own Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals like the ones Purex makes? All you need is 2 ingredients too – Epsom salts and your favorite essential oils.
If you have ever used those fabric softener crystals in the store you will know one little container of these will cost you upwards of $5.00-$6.00 depending on the size. My own homemade laundry recipe costs around $20 for a year of detergent and one of the ingredients I use is the Purex crytals. The Purex Crystals in the recipe is the most expensive ingredient, so I attempted to make my own fabric softener crystals recipe to save money. And I was able to save $4.12 off the recipe.
How to make Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals
First I turned over a container of Purex crystals to read what was inside of them.
Sodium Chloride, PEG Distearate, Bentonite, Sodium Silicate, Fragrance, Silica, Liquitint Red ST, Liquitint Blue HP.
Okay – so Sodium Chloride is salt. The rest of the ingredients are basically fragrance, colorants and thickeners. Stuff we don’t really NEED, right? The more natural the better I say, because I have a little girl who has very sensitive skin.
Epsom salts + essential oils for fragrance are all you really need!
Just take your Epsom salts, and pour them into a bowl. A 2 lb. box (a little over 4 cups) of Epsom salts only costs $0.88 at Walmart!
Then add about 40 drops of your favorite essential oils.
Order (my favorite brand) essential oils here.
My favorite scent for my homemade fabric softener crystals is a combination of 20 drops of Lavendar and 20 drops of Lime. The combination is heavenly. But you can really just add whatever scent you love the most. In fact you could probably have it be non-scented if you wanted to as well which would save even more money. The salts alone would soften your clothes.
After you add in the oils, mix it all up until thoroughly blended. It took less than 2 minutes of mixing to be totally incorporated.
And Voila!
You have homemade fabric softener crystals!
Store them in an air-tight container or just pour the whole 4 cups into your homemade laundry recipe. If you use store bought laundry detergent you can just add a small scoop (1-2 tablespoons) of these crystals to your wash to soften your clothes.
Oh and try not to sit and just sniff your jar all day long. I know it’s tempting…. I know.
While the smell is strong in the jar, it’s not as strong on my clothes coming out of the dryer. Purex crystals were stronger, but they also had a lot of strange fragrances, mine are pure essential oils that I know are good for me to be breathing in. My clothes do smell lovely still and they are so soft using this recipe.
The next time you make homemade laundry detergent make sure and also make this homemade fabric softener crystals recipe along with it to save you money. This takes the price of my detergent down to just around $16.89 vs. $20.21. Sweet!
Recipe for Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals
- 4 Cups Epsom Salts ($0.88 for 2 lb. box at Walmart)
- 40 drops Essential Oils (about $1.00)
- Mix them together and you are done.
Final price $1.88 for homemade vs. $6.00 for Purex Crystals at the store!
Homemade DIY Fabric Softener Crystals
Like Purex, but much less expensive.Print Pin RateServings: 4 cupsInstructions
Thoughts? Have you tried to make your own fabric softener before? Have any other great homemade recipes you would like to share?
Here are more DIY recipes you might be interested in:
- DIY Burt’s Bees Chapstick copy cat recipe
- DIY Homemade Greek yogurt
- DIY Making Homemade Mozzarella Cheese
- Making Homemade Butter
- Learn to Cut your little boys hair with my tutorial
- Using Coconut Oil as a Moisturizer
- DIY Homemade Soap making
- DIY Homemade Natural Deodorant
- Making your own Homemade Baby Food
Find more frugal living recipes and DIY ideas here.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Adrienne says
You do have a great idea here. Did you know you can buy the epsom salt with the essential oils already in them?
Thats what I am using.
Stephanie says
I hang my clothes to dry so when would I use the crystals?
Karrie says
They dissolve in the wash so you would still add them to the washing machine.
Stephanie says
Thank you so much! I absolutely love the scent of the lavender and lime essential oils
Sadhana says
Wonder if you can just use the same in your bath tub as well -epsom salts can be -then perhaps this would work well?
Do we need a solubiliser then ?
SD
Karrie says
I have no idea, so sorry!
DurangoMom says
The previous commenters are right. The minerals in Epsom salt make the water harder rather than softer and will make your soap ineffective at cleaning. You can use rock salt.
Brook says
I just wanted to throw this out there for those wanting your clothes even softer…you can actually take a decent size square of aluminum foil and throw that in the dryer with your wet clothes to add softness and eliminate static cling!
Brook says
I forgot to add that you need to ball up the piece of foil…sorry!
Samantha says
Hi, Karrie,
One of the reasons your fabric softener crystals didn’t smell as strong when you took your clothes out of the dryer is because heat lessens the smell of essential oils. I would suggest not putting any oils at all in the Epsom salts; just use as is. However, once your clothes are dry, add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice onto a clean, dry washrag and run your clothes on air dry or low for about 5-10 minutes. Problem solved! That’s what I do (my favorite scent is orange/grapefruit/lemon for towels and sheets in the summer; in the fall, I like clove/cinnamon/orange).
Samantha says
Darn, I meant to also suggest using Kosher salt rather than Epsom salt. Sorry.
Sally says
I know this is a hard question, but would take a guess on what essential oils I should use to actually replicate the “well Being” crystalls from Purex? Is there a oil combination you can recommend?
Karrie says
Hmmm… I’m not sure, anyone else out there have any ideas?
ashlie says
Hi Karrie, little late to the green party on fabric softener! I always hand wash with laender castile, is this Epson salts safe for a gray water hole? IE no running water, we use the lake and some buckets… I really need a softener so tried of prickly towels!
Kim says
Can you add the Epsom salt to the detergent recipe?
Lavonne says
Also, I would not use bentonite clay if you have a septic system. It is used to settle particles out of wine and that means it will lie on the bottom of your septic tank and eventually have to be pumped out.
Joyce says
Wow! I did not know this about bentonite clay! I make my own toothpaste with it. Yikes!
Lavonne says
I use this all the time to fragrance my laundry. BUT you can’t call this fabric softener. Epson salt is a water hardener.
Traci says
I am not sure where you get your info, but I think it is incorrect. We have alot of hard water in FL. The water systems uses salt to soften the water. Another way to see how the salt softens is soaking your tired feet in Epson salt water. Your feet feel softer after you soak them.
Traci says
Correction, I should not of used the Epson salt example. Instead wash your hands with salt & you will feel the softness. Warning do not put salt on an open wound, it hurts.
Melissa says
Hello! Just whipped up my batch. I am going to add some to my homemade powder laundry soap. The recipe I used to make my DIY laundry soap called for only 1 cup each of Borax and Washing Soda, and one bar Fels Naphtha. So how much of this DIY Fabric Softener should I add to my laundry detergent? One cup..? Certainly not all four cups 🙂 Thanks!
Jill says
Epsom salt is not salt at all, it’s magnesium chloride, which makes water harder. Your detergent won’t work as well in hard water. Do not use epsom salts in your laundry.
barb says
I use ice cream salt with essential oils………love it………………