Essential Oils for Laundry : Complete Guide

May 10, 2025

If I was ever given an option between choosing a regular smelling laundry detergent or the one that smells like oranges, I would always choose the latter. But alas, growing up essential oils were not a mainstream thing. People were only aware of the use of essential oils for aromatherapy and to some extent their use as DIY skincare ingredients. But now essential oils have made a comeback! You can use essential oils for laundry, for making designer soaps, for pet care to name a few.

Let’s explore the various ways of including essential oils for laundry through Aromachology’s complete guide.

Benefits of Using Essential Oils in Laundry

Frankly putting, essential oils give a cleaner and crisper scent than synthetically formulated scents of regular laundry soaps and detergents.
There are just an endless number of scent options to choose from. Whether you prefer the delicate whiffs of lavender essential oil or the herbal magic of tea tree essential oil, there is a little something for everyone.
Essential oils can effectively pull out dirt and bacteria from your favourite linen cloth without compromising on gentleness.
If you’re worried about your fabrics looking dull and washed out faster, switching to pure essential oils can be helpful.

Why Use Essential Oils in Your Laundry?

I would say why not! Essential oils are used to serve the same purpose as other cleaning agents, but better. They are mild and much less toxic to the environment and add a really nice touch to your overall cleaning routine. In fact, once you wash your laundry with essential oils you may even forgo wearing perfume because your clothes already smell of elegance and luxury.

Looking for the best essential oils for cleaning for home cleaning solutions? Check out our post on 10 best essential oils for cleaning.

Best Essential Oils for Laundry

Here’s a compilation of the best smelling essential oils for laundry.

Lavender Essential Oil

Due to its calming and non abrasive nature, lavender essential oil can be used for almost everything. So it shouldn’t be surprising that this oil also tops the list of best essential oils for laundry. Lavender essential oil is perfect for people with sensitive noses, who might find the smell of commercial cleaners harsh and headache inducing.

Lemon Essential Oil

Lemon is widely known amongst skincare enthusiasts for its skin brightening and odor controlling properties. Now, it can be used for laundry too! Especially if your wardrobe is made of white shirts and pastel clothes, lemon essential oil is a must have.

Tea Tree Essential Oil

Cleaning your towels and bathrobes in tea tree essential oil infused soap water can give them that luxurious aroma and deep cleansing that can make you feel like you’ve just been to a high end spa.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil

We recommend adding a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil for washing your kids’ clothes during this monsoon season. It not only acts like a sanitizer for the clothes but the heady fragrance of eucalyptus might deter the mosquitoes and bugs from harming your child.

Lemongrass Essential Oil

Make your homes smell guest-ready all the time by washing your bedspreads and covers with lemongrass essential oil. It will diffuse an airy and pleasant scent in each and every room of your house.

Rosemary Essential Oil

If you also suffer from some sort of seasonal allergy, check if your laundry cleaning product is making things harder for you. If yes, a minor tweak of including rosemary essential oil in your laundry routine can help. The subtle, herbaceous fragrance of rosemary won’t upset your senses any further and will eliminate any other dis-ease causing germs.

Orange Essential Oil

The sweet and light scent of oranges can energise your mind during a snoozy summer day. Plus, washing your smelly socks or gym wear with orange essential oil can remove any signs of nasty odor.

Cedarwood Essential Oil

Woody and grounding, the lingering scent of cedarwood essential oil in your clothes will evoke a feeling of nostalgia and remind you of the happy memories. It can help induce a sound sleep and erase the feeling of restlessness in the user.

How to Use Essential Oils in Your Laundry Routine

Whether you want to use essential oils for a quick cleaning spell or it is just the first step of your cleaning routine here is how to use essential oils in laundry.

Create a textured paste of lemongrass essential oil and baking soda. Carefully apply it on the yellowed and stained fabric of your shirts and then wash it off using water.
Make your very own bar of essential oil laundry soaps that suit your expensive tastes and fabrics. Lather the soap and scrub it with a coarse cleaning brush. To buy best essential oils for making soaps, visit our website.
Spritz the essential oil onto the dryer balls and pop them in the dryer.
Add 3-4 drops of essential oil to ready made scentless fabric softeners and detergents.

DIY Essential Oil Laundry Recipes

For making a soothing fabric softener-

Take a new glass bottle. In that bottle, pour a blend of lavender essential oil, lemon essential oil and cypress essential oil. Carefully add white vinegar to the mix and lid the bottle. Shake well and place it in a dry place away from sun exposure.

Tips for Safe Use of Essential Oils in Laundry

So, how can you add essential oils to laundry in a safe manner?

In the case of essential oils less is always more. By this, I mean only a few drops of essential oil is needed and that too should be diluted.
If your baby hasn’t reached the threshold age of 2 years, don’t use essential oils for them because they might be sensitive to the smell of the oils.
Make sure to wash out the laundry properly, leftover soap and essential oils are skin irritants and can cause intense itching.

Do essential oils damage washing machine?

Essential oils are flammable substances which is why there is a very specific way when using them in a washing machine. Check with your washing machine and dryer companies if they are compatible with essential oils. Use a very little amount of the thoroughly diluted essential oils, do not overdo.

Eco-Friendly Laundry with Essential Oils

Essential oils can now be used to formulate zero waste solid laundry bars that can be used to clean clothes, surfaces and more. This pocket sized bar is cost friendly and you don't dirty the environment with the plastic packaging each time you go for a trek or a touristic adventure.

Plus, buying pure essential oils from a trusted wholesale essential oils supplier (like Aromachology Oils) eases the need for frequent reordering and lessens packaging wastes. In this way, you can be a part of more ethical and sustainable DIY laundry projects.

Final Word

Essential oils are like nature imparting a gift to many of your everyday problems. They are cost cutting, easy to use and seamlessly morph into any product you want.

Whether or not you want to add essential oils to your laundry routine is your choice, But there is certainly no harm in trying something new.

All suggestions and information mentioned in this blog should be evaluated by the individuals for safety. Aromachology is not responsible for any damage caused by it.

FAQ

How to make fresh laundry scent with essential oils?

Use orange essential oil, grapefruit essential oil or lemon essential oil to make a fresh and zesty laundry scent.

How to use essential oils in washing clothes?

To use essential oil while washing clothes either add a few drops of essential oil of choice to a dryer ball or directly add a tiny amount of essential oil into scent neutral detergents.

Is it safe to use essential oils in the dryer?

Yes, it is safe to use essential oils in the dryer. Take a wool dryer ball, enrich it with diluted essential oil and then cast it into the dryer.

How many drops of essential oil to put in laundry detergent?

Essential oils are powerful and concentrated cleaning agents. Needless to say, you should only put 5-6 drops of essential oil in the laundry detergent for one wash cycle.

How often do you put essential oils on dryer balls?

You only have to put a few drops of essential oil on the dryer ball just before you start drying your laundry. Refer to the list above to know the best essential oils for dryer balls.