Sick and Tired of Fabric Softener

Kick the fabric softener habit and save cash today

It’s easy to find the laundry aisle of any store: just follow your nose.  The chemical miasma of the laundry aisle is ubiquitous.  It permeates the store.  When the weather is right, it will even follow you down the street, wafting from the dryer vents on houses.  It sticks to your clothes for a long, long time.  And your skin absorbs it.

Innocent-sounding names like soft ocean mist, summer orchard, mountain sunrise, and April fresh — are just disguises.  Fabric softeners really do make you sick and tired. If that isn’t enough, the stuff is expensive.  Sometimes it seems like you need a loan just to do the laundry.

A laundry list of toxic chemicals

According to a recent Ezine article, the dangerous chemicals found in fabric softeners and dryer sheets include:
• Benzyl Acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer
• Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant
• Ethanol: Included on the EPA's Hazardous Waste List and can cause central nervous system disorders
• Limonene: Known carcinogen
• A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage
• Ethyl Acetate: Narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste List
• Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders
• Chloroform: A neurotoxic, anesthetic, and carcinogenic substance
• Linalool: Narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders
• Pentane: Known to be harmful if inhaled

Chemical fragrance, and plenty of it

The odors of the chemicals contained in fabric softeners and dryer sheets are so pungent that that manufacturers use heavy chemical fragrances to cover them up. Fabric softeners themselves were created to disguise the unpleasant odors of synthetic fabrics when they are heated in a dryer or by our bodies. If you could remove all the added fragrance that endears people to fabric softener, the underlying chemical odor of the fabric softener combined with the odor of heated synthetic fabrics would be unbearable. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Sick and Tired of Fabric Softener"