Bounce Dryer Bar Review

First of all, the main reason I bought this was because I received a coupon for $2.50 off any size (2 months or 4 months). I was also mildly curious because it sounded really interesting but it wasn't something I thought I NEEDED. I'm so cheap that I probably wouldn't have bought it without the coupon. I ended up buying the 2 month size - it was regularly $3.74 and with the coupon it was $1.24 - not bad.

How I Installed It

From other reviews on other websites (I haven't read any of the reviews on this product on this site yet) I noticed that a lot of women were having problems with the bar falling off while their clothes were drying and also some women had problems with the bar breaking a apart, making a huge mess, and staining clothes. So I decided to take a few extra precautions - just in case.

When I went to install the bar, instead of just slapping it on the dryer drum, I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol to remove any residue left over from previous loads. It didn't look like there was anything there but I wanted to make sure.

Also, after installing the bar, I didn't wash any laundry for a few days. I didn't really need to as there are only 3 people in my family so we don't produce a lot of laundry. Maybe the fact that the adhesive on the bar wasn't exposed to heat for a while helped it stick in place - not drying/washing any clothes for a few days gave it more time to adhere. *Also you should note that washing your clothing after every time you wear them is NOT good for your clothes. It weakens the fabric causing it to wear out faster. So if you didn't get anything on them, didn't sweat in them, and didn't wear them in a stinky or smokey environment - hang them up and wear them again, possibly twice, before you wash them again.

Another thing that could affect the adhesive is the heat factor. Do you set the heat setting on your dryer to high? For one thing, heat isn't good for your clothes either. Washing them and drying them in hot water isn't going to make them any cleaner, it uses a lot of energy, it will cause the colors to fade drastically and possibly run, and it will weaken the fabric and cause more wear and tear. Also using the high heat setting will cause the adhesive to weaken causing the bar to fall off the dryer drum. The heat could actually even cause the bar itself to weaken causing it to fall apart in the dryer. I always set my dryer on the low/warm/cotton setting.

I also tried the bar for the first and second times on some old sheets (1st load) and old towels (2nd load) that I didn't care about much - if they'd gotten stained or something it wouldn't matter much. The bar worked fine with both loads - I even left the towels in overnight by accident. They had sat on top of the bar the whole night and none of them were stained.

How It Works For Me

I really enjoy the dryer bar. It doesn't make things a whole lot easier for me since I still insist on using liquid softener as well. But, it does make our clothes/sheets/towels a lot softer and better smelling than if I used liquid alone or even liquid with dryer sheets. I also love how if I leave the clothes in the dryer, after they've dried, too long they still smell good! Sometimes they won't really have any scent and sometimes they will smell a little musty - but with the dryer bar, they always smell good.

For me, this doesn't really simplify my life enough that I notice at all. But it does make my laundry softer and it does help the clean, fresh smell last longer - so it's worth it to me. It's also not too expensive for what it is.

Conclusion

Don't buy this thinking that it's going to be a magic wand that will make your life better - like how they portray it on the commercials.

In my opinion, on it's own it's not as softening as liquid softener. It's better than the dryer sheets though. It works best if you use liquid softener in the wash and the dryer bar in the dryer.

If you only use dryer sheets, this will definitely replace them. If you use liquid, it won't.

The really good thing about it is that if you forget to add liquid softener, you have this as a backup. It won't be as good, but it's better than dryer sheets and it will make your laundry smell fabulous.

Now - if they only made it in a few more scents!

UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 13th, 2009

The Bounce Bar fell out of its' holder today when I did a load of laundry. I haven't done many loads since I installed it and it was nearly depleted - I wonder if that's why it fell off? Mind, it wasn't the HOLDER that fell off. The holder was still very firmly attached. It was the bar which fell out of the holder. It didn't fall apart but it was irritating. I've only done maybe 8 loads since I installed it and it was a 2 month bar - so if you do more loads than that (and I doubt I've even done 8 loads this month) in 2 months, I doubt it will last that long.

I ended up removing the bar holder because I was irritated and I don't really need the thing anyway. 

All in all, I've kind of changed my mind about this thing. It's not really worth it unless you constantly forget to use fabric softener.