Scenting Laundry With Litsea Cubeba, the Cool Way
There is little nicer than opening a linen cupboard and catching a bright lemon note. Litsea cubeba is a natural for that job. The trick is to get the scent onto the cupboard and not into the dryer, and the reasons are worth a minute.
Litsea Cubeba Essential Oil
Our own Litsea Cubeba Essential Oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $12.99
Shop Now →Why we leave the dryer out
Dryer manuals take oil on fabric seriously. The Samsung dryer manual we read says not to dry clothes with traces of any flammable substance, such as vegetable oil, cooking oil or machine oil, because they can catch fire by themselves (Gas and Electric Dryer user manual (Samsung DV48H7400E, document DC68-03170J)). The City of Madison Fire Department describes a real case, a dryer fire that investigators attributed to spontaneous combustion of oily rags, and advises washing soiled items more than once and hanging them to dry where possible (Spontaneous Combustion Caused East Side Dryer Fire | Fire | City of Madison, WI). Both sources are about cooking and vegetable oils, not essential oils, and we found no dryer maker or fire authority that tested litsea cubeba on fabric. So we take the cautious reading: heat plus oil on fabric is a combination to avoid, and we do not suggest putting our oil in a dryer, on wool balls or otherwise.
Three easy ways to scent linens
- A scented pad in the drawer. Put two or three drops on a cotton pad or a small piece of plain cloth and tuck it into a drawer, linen cupboard or shoe closet, keeping it from touching clothes directly. The fabric never meets dryer heat with oil on it, and you can swap the pad out whenever you like.
- Air-dry anything that has met the oil. If you ever add oil to a wash, hang that load to dry in the air instead of using the dryer.
- Refresh, do not saturate. A pad scents a drawer for a while and can be replaced; there is no need to treat the fabric itself.
Cotton pads, plain cloth and sachets are things a supply shop, pharmacy or grocery sells; we only sell the oil.
The sum, drop by drop
The Certificate of Analysis we publish gives a relative density of 0.883 for the batch it covers, so 1 mL weighs about 0.883 g. At about 20 drops per millilitre (droppers vary, so weighing is more exact), one drop is around 44 mg.
- Three drops is about 0.15 mL, or around 130 mg.
- A 1 oz bottle holds about 590 drops, enough for roughly 195 three-drop pads. A 0.5 oz bottle holds about 295 drops, or about 98 pads.
That is a very small amount of oil spread over a lot of cupboard, which is why a pad goes a long way.
Staining and skin
Neat essential oil does not mix with water, so a drop that lands on cloth can leave a darker mark, particularly on pale or delicate fabrics. Test a hidden hem, or simply keep the oil on the pad. Citral is a recognised skin sensitiser, so we keep dilutions modest and suggest a small-area trial before wider use. Fabric against skin all day is a leave-on situation. In the fragrance industry's guidance, machine laundry detergent with skin contact sits in Category 10A, while dryer sheets and fabric softener sheets sit in Category 12 as non-skin-contact products (GUIDANCE FOR THE USE OF IFRA STANDARDS (June 30, 2023)). Those are industry categories for people formulating products, so they show how regulators think about the question but do not give a home amount for a pad. If you notice a reaction to scented linens, stop using the oil there and ask a dermatologist or doctor.
Keep the bottle and any pads away from children and pets; in the US, Poison Help is 1-800-222-1222. If you enjoy making your own home fragrance, you may also like our articles on a scented cleaner and a room spray. A fresh pad in the linen cupboard is a small pleasure, and one that stays well away from the dryer.
Litsea Cubeba Essential Oil
Litsea Cubeba Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $12.99
Shop Now →