Fabric softener is a product that you use on your clothing to soften its fabric. It leaves residue on your clothing, which then is worn by you. The residue then gets on your skin and gets into your body.
Fabric softener can contain harmful ingredients that can have an impact on your health. It is best to find alternate products and avoid these harmful ingredients.
Let’s look at a common fabric softener and see how well it is rated on ewg.org to see if the ingredients are harmful for not.
Are there harmful ingredients in fabric softeners?
We are going to look at Downey ultra fabric conditioner mountain spring.
This product has a rating of F which is the worst possible grade that you can get.
The ingredient concerns are moderate for skin allergies and irritation.
For the ingredient scores there is one F, some D’s and a ton of C’s.
The F score is called polymer and when I look at it, it is a nonspecific ingredient.
I wanted to use this product to show how ewg.org can miscalculate the scores of products.
There are other downy fabric softeners that have a much better score. Although I recommend finding alternative products than the most common brands. 
It may be difficult to find a better more natural fabric softener and than common brands on the market. But let’s take a look and see if we can find something better than Downey.
Action steps to avoid harmful Ingredients in fabric softeners
Attitude Fabric Softener, Pink Grapefruit is rated with a B on ewg.org.
All the ingredients are not included on the ingredients scores page. For example, is missing the ingredient perfume and perfume is a known cream disruptor, which would surely change the score of this product.
Perfume or fragrance is a known endocrine disruptor and is usually rated with a D rating on ewg.org.
This information is probably not factored into the overall rating for the product. But nevertheless, this product uses plant-based ingredients and maybe a better choice.
I recommend using alternative method for softening your fabric than a common fabric softener product.
For instance, branchbasics.com has an article about natural fabric softener alternatives which I will list below:
- Wool dryer balls
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Essential oils
- Soap nuts
- Epsom salts
- Vegetable glycerin
Conclusion
Fabric softener can you certain ingredients that are used to soften fabric.
Is ingredients may be harmful when they get onto your skin because they can be absorbed into your body when they are on your skin.
How much of the chemical do we absorb into our body that are on our skin?
Well, it could be quite a bit.
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health looked into the skin’s absorption rates of chemicals found in drinking water. It showed that the skin absorbed an average of 64% of total contaminant dosage.1 Other studies found the face to be several times more permeable than broad body surfaces and an absorption rate of 100% for underarms and genitalia.2 And another peer-reviewed study showed 100% absorption for fragrance ingredients.3
https://www.downtoearth.org/articles/health-tips/667/your-skin-it-absorbs