Our Founder James, (Nellie’s son) has fond memories of his household being zero waste and planet friendly. Nellie was going green long before it was “cool”!  He remembers removing labels from cans for recycling, re-using household goods and cleaning with homemade solutions. Nellie was a minimalist and bought only what was needed. She bought quality goods, meant to last.

No matter how you go about it, laundry is a regular part of life. Even more so if you have kiddos running around and getting dirty! While many might hang our clothes on a line to dry, the majority of us choose the convenience of the dryer. One of the most toxic things we do on a regular basis is use fabric softener or dryer sheets. These products are full of nasty chemicals! Exposure to such toxins is linked to skin irritations, neurological disease, cancer, hormonal imbalance. Yikes!
Chemicals infiltrate the clothing we wear, which in turn gets on to our skin and is absorbed by our bodies. There are reports that show the occurrence of brain disease is growing, as well as the levels of industrial chemicals being found in human bodies. Some suggest the two are linked! Using alternatives to these products is a great way to avoid increasing the amount of chemicals being absorbed by your body.

Soft Laundry with no Toxins

Don’t worry, you can still have super-soft and scented laundry, without subjecting your body to horrible toxic chemicals thanks to Nellie’s Lamby Wool Dryerballs and Nellie’s Flyerballs! Both are made with 100% pure New Zealand wool, so no nasties! They reduce drying time by helping dry your clothes faster, so you’re saving energy and money. They also reduce wrinkles, all while softening your clothes. Plus, they’re chemical free and will last about 2 years. What’s the difference between the original Lamby Wool Dryerballs and the Flyerballs? The wings on the Flyerballs are designed to help float through your dryer to separate fabrics, shortening drying time and reducing static.
If you prefer your laundry to have a fragrance, the Scented Wool Dryerballs are infused with pure essential oils and available in Citrus, Lavender, and Simply Fresh. The scent will last about 50 loads, so you can enjoy the chemical-free natural scent. We recommend tossing one scented wool ball with your four unscented wool balls to enhance your drying experience.
 

One sheep, two sheep, three… Introducing the brand-new Flyerballs! Sheep all over New Zealand are lining up to strip down for the newest addition to the wool dryerball family.
Soft, silent, and undeniably adorable, Flyerballs are the wool dryerballs you know and love, reinvented. Made of pure New Zealand wool (as always), Flyerballs have added wings to float through your dryer and help separate fabrics, cutting down on both static and drying time – saving you money and looking cute while doing it!

How to Use

After washing with Nellie’s Laundry Soda, place three Flyerballs in the dryer with your fabrics. Nellie’s Flyerballs shorten drying time, soften fabrics, and reduce wrinkles, all without the use of nasty chemicals. Separate natural fabrics from synthetics to help reduce static.
No sheep are harmed in the making of the Flyerballs or Lamby Wool Dryerballs.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh laundry. But did you know traditional fabric softeners and dryer sheets contain ingredients that have been linked to cancer and organ disease? Yikes! Thankfully, Nellie is here to save the day with the Lamby Wool Dryerballs. Made from 100% pure New Zealand sheep’s wool, the Dryerballs act as a soft and silent fabric softener that lift and separate clothes, cutting down on static and drying time. Still want a scent for your load of laundry? Keep reading for our guide to our Scented Wool Dryerballs!

Lavender

Scented with 100% pure lavender essential oil, the Lavender Scented Wool Dryerball is perfect for your sheets and towels. Studies have shown that the scent of lavender calms the nervous system, lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature, as well as alters brain waves to a more relaxed state. Lavender can also help with mild insomnia and provide a better quality sleep. Ideal for bedding and your favourite pajamas!

Citrus

A blend of lemon, lavender, pine, lime, geranium, and rosemary, the Scented Wool Dryerballs in Citrus are perfect for your work clothes to help keep you going through the day. Citrus essential oils have an incredible balancing effect, as they can both calm and boost your senses, as well as aid in greater focus and alertness. Citrus can also stimulate creativity, settle a racing mind, and uplift your spirits. Work stressing you out with a big presentation to the boss? The smell of citrus will help to calm and ground you.

Simply Fresh

Perfectly suited for your everyday items that you want to keep fresh without using toxic chemicals, the Simply Fresh Scented Wool Dryerball is a blend of rosemary, Tunisian neroli, and lavender. Legend has it that Greek scholars used rosemary to enhance their memory when taking exams, so this one is ideal for situations when you need to focus and use your memory, like school or work. Tunisian neroli essential oil is known for its antidepressant properties, and is great for managing all types of negative emotional conditions and states of anxiety. Launder your favourite work shirts or school uniforms with the Simply Fresh Scented Wool Dryerball for clarity and peace of mind through your day.

We wash our clothes to keep ourselves, our families, and our favourite items smelling and feeling fresh, but there is actually such a thing as washing too much or too little! There are downsides to both: laundering your clothes more than necessary can shorten their lifespan and ultimately wear them out more quickly, and washing them too infrequently can be unhygienic and lead to bacteria growth. Yuck! Here are our general laundry guides for you and your family:

For your clothes

Bras: After three to four wears

Underwear: After every wear, of course!

Stocks and stockings: After every wear

Sports and swimwear: After every wear

Jeans: five to six wears, although some advocate washing as little as possible

Tops: One to two wears

Dresses: One to two wears

Pants, skirts, and shorts: Three to four wears

Jackets and blazers: Five to six wears

Coats: Once every two months of wear, and before storing away for the season

Pajamas: Three to four wears

Get your clothes fresh and clean, but don't sacrifice your health and the environment! Wash clothes (and towels, bedding, etc.) with Nellie's Laundry Soda, and remove tough stains with the WOW Stick. If your clothes need some extra brightening or whitening, choose Nellie's Oxygen Brightener instead of toxic bleach.

For your kids' clothes

Washing your kids' clothes doesn't need to be a massive chore! Most experts say you can wash their clothing along with yours anytime you see stains or they don't pass the sniff test. The problem is that kids tend to get dirtier more often than adults do, so those stains and smells come up more frequently. Here's a handy guideline: the lighter and softer the fabric, and the closer it hugs the body, the more you need to was it. But as long as you don't notice dirty patches or stains, kids can wear clothes multiple times before they're ready for the laundry pile, just like you.

For your baby's washing

It seems like the hamper is constantly overflowing with onesies, blankets, burp cloths, bibs, rompers, and tiny adorable socks! Unlike grownups, who typically wear one or two outfits per day (not to mention wear an item of clothing more than once before washing), babies are mess machines with their spit up, drool, diaper leaks, or the dreaded blow out. Because of this, it's not uncommon to change their clothes as much as 5 times per day! So when it comes to washing your baby's clothes, there are two schools of thought:

1) Wash one load every day because it can be done quickly and won't pile up

2) Wash everything once each week so that you only have to spend one day dealing with laundry

Whichever one you choose, make sure you're washing with Nellie's All-Natural Baby Laundry Soda, which is formulated with baby's soft skin and messy mishaps in mind. Thanks to a concentration of sodium percarbonate for natural brightening, as well as the addition of pure vegetable soap, there is no need for an additional whiteners or brighteners. The stain-fighting formula is effective on cloth diapers and removes stubborn baby stains such as milk, baby formula, and spit-up. The formula is derived from plant-based and mineral-based ingredients and is non-allergenic, leaves no residue on fabrics, and contains no fragrance.

In the dryer

When drying your laundry, use the Lamby Wool Dryerballs to cut down on drying time, soften fabrics, and reduce wrinkles, naturally! Then, smooth out any remaining wrinkles and creases with the new Wrinkle-B-Gone.

Of course, these guides don't apply when excessive sweating or accidental spills occur, or to those that have different hygiene preferences.