There is something about a pleasant scent that projects confidence and attractiveness in a man. However, for some men, making clothes smell good constitutes a voyage into the vast unknown. Luckily, I am here to give you tips for achieving this with little effort.
To make your clothes smell good, consider infusing them with the scent of your favorite cologne using a cotton ball or tissue paper. Alternatively, eliminate bad smells using coffee grounds, or add your desired scent by using fabric conditioners, natural fragrance detergents, or rose water.
This article will provide some solutions to give your clothes that delightful scent. Read more to learn how to set yourself apart from the rest by making your clothes smell good.
Can You Add Cologne To Clothes?
You should not spray cologne on your clothes. Cologne is much more effective when applied to your skin because this allows it to mix with your natural oils.
If you want to smell good, investing in a good cologne is a good idea. But if cologne equals a good smell, doesn’t this mean you can also make your clothes smell good by spraying some cologne on them? The answer, surprisingly, is no.
Spraying cologne on your clothes is ill-advised. It wastes your cologne and can also damage your clothes.
Most colognes have a mixture of oils and alcohol. Therefore, spraying these colognes directly on your clothes could result in hard-to-remove stains.
Most men unwittingly spray their colognes on their clothes because it is often an afterthought. However, this is the worst way to apply your cologne. The best way to apply cologne is by spraying it directly on your skin when you come out dry from the shower. This enhances the scent’s absorption.
Spraying cologne on clothing will prevent it from mixing with the natural oils on your skin for a signature scent. It also prevents the cologne scent from going through the various scent stages while also risking damage to some fabrics.
So if you cannot add cologne to your clothes, how can you get the smell of cologne or perfume on your clothes? Here is one handy tip.
Spray a Piece of Tissue With Your Favorite Eau de Toilette
If you want to get the smell of your favorite perfume on your clothes but are afraid to ruin the fabric, I have a handy hack to get around this challenge. Instead of spraying perfume on your clothes, you can infuse it into your clothes instead.
Follow these simple steps to infuse your clothes with perfume:
- Spray your favorite fragrance on a piece of tissue paper or cotton balls.
- Wait for the cotton balls or tissue paper to dry.
- Line your dresser drawer with the dry tissue paper of cotton balls and place your clothes on top.
This will infuse your clothes with your favorite scent. Read our article on how to preserve a scent on clothing to learn about other ways to give clothes your favorite scent.
How To Make Your Clothes Smell Good
Let’s look at some additional ways to help you keep your clothes smelling good.
1. Introduce an Air Freshener Into Your Dresser or Closet
Air fresheners are commonly used to give your home a beautiful scent. With so many options available to choose from, it is not difficult to find one that tickles your senses.
You can give your clothes the smell of your favorite air freshener by placing an air freshener into a closet or drawer. In most instances, these spaces are small and not well-ventilated, which provides ideal conditions for your clothes to absorb this scent.
You can even use your car air freshener for this purpose. Simply tuck it at the back of the dresser drawer or hang it in the back of the closet and let the magic unfold. To prevent this scent from being overpowering, I recommend using an air freshener that has lost most of its smell.
2. Get Rid of Cloth Odors Using Ground Coffee Grounds
Part of your clothes smelling good is eliminating any unpleasant smells they can get during storage. One of the ways to eliminate these smells is by using ground coffee beans. There are different ways you can approach this situation.
First, you can place the ground coffee beans in a small basin and then tuck the basin at the bottom of your closet.
Alternatively, you can fill a container with these coffee grounds but drill a few holes in the lid. Then place this container in your closet.
Absorbing bad odors can go a long way in keeping your clothes smelling great.
3. Seek Laundry Detergents With Natural Scents
While mild detergents are ideal for use with fabric softeners and conditioners, you can achieve a fresh scent by using a detergent with a natural fragrance on its own. Cleaning detergents have changed over time, and many options in the market feature natural fragrances, such as summer verbena or lavender.
You can save yourself some additional costs of fabric softeners and conditioners by using detergents with a natural fragrance. However, remember to select products that don’t contain harsh chemicals that may harm your skin.
My favorite gentle detergent option is Earth Breeze Laundry Detergent Eco Sheets.
4. Try Adding Lavender Water To Your Laundry
Another option worth trying to keep your clothes smelling good is to spray some lavender water on your laundry before you place it in the washer. Don’t worry—just a little spritz of this lavender water will leave a fresh scent on your clothes even after drying them.
Alternatively, you can add your favorite essential oils, rose water, or homemade citrus oils to your laundry before washing for an amazing lasting scent.
5. Scented Fabric Softeners/Conditioner
Scented fabric softeners and conditioners come in handy when you want to remove unwanted smells from your clothes when doing your laundry. In addition, these fresheners and conditioners also keep your clothes smelling fresh and nice, especially if they are scented.
In fact, washing your clothes with a mild detergent mixed with a fabric softener or fabric conditioner is one of the ways that you can deliver lasting fragrance and freshness to your clothes.
For the remainder of this article, I want to focus on the fabric softeners I have found to have the best scents for men.
Best Fabric Softeners for Men
Men and laundry have a complicated relationship. When your laundry comes out of the washer stain-free but smells awful and frayed at the edges, chances are you’re not using the right fabric softener or maybe no fabric softener at all.
Fabric softeners protect the clothes against snags and the harsh chemicals in laundry detergents. The more you wash your clothes, the quicker they fade and get that old look about them.
A fabric softener for men has two objectives:
- It should keep the clothes looking fresh and fluffy coming out of the dryer
- And it should infuse them with a delightful scent that stays in the fabric even after you have folded and stored the clothes.
I went shopping for fabric softeners online and shortlisted the best 6 fabric softeners for men that smell great.
Below are my top three favorites, but keep reading to find more information and more options.
Types of Fabric Softeners for Men
Fabric softeners come in two varieties. They can either be in liquid form or as dryer sheets. Each type has its own advantages, applications, and drawbacks.
While they both have the same goal, to make your clothes softer, less frayed, and smell good, they differ in the approach each type takes to achieve this goal.
Liquid fabric softeners work best with washable clothes. You add the softener to the washer during the washing cycle.
There’s usually a separate place in the washer to add the fabric softener that keeps it away from the laundry detergent. Some washers mix the two together during the washing cycle, while other more sophisticated washers will keep the fabric softener until the rinse cycle starts.
Dry fabric softeners come either as dryer sheets or pods. They are more suitable for dry-cleaned clothes such as velvet, suede, and silk garments.
As the name implies, you add this type of fabric softener for men to the dryer. While it doesn’t protect the clothes during the washing cycle the way liquid softeners do, it still manages to minimize the damage of the detergents and infuse the laundry with a good smell.
Best Fabric Softeners for Men
1. Best Manly Scent: Clutch Men’s Dryer Sheets, Fabric Softener for Men
Clutch is a brand that specializes in top-quality men’s products. This dry fabric softener fulfills the company’s mission to offer men products that are affordable while instilling self-confidence.
These dryer sheets infuse your clothes with the right scent that suits your personality. But they also reduce static, reduce wear and tear, and keep the clothes looking fresh and crisp when they come out of the dryer.
Unlike other fabric softeners in the market, Clutch uses a manly scent that you would be proud to wear. Simply add two sheets on top of the laundry in the dryer and let the fabric softener rejuvenate the clothes and preserve their colors. It’s safe to use on whites as well as colors.
2. Best Aroma: Downy Infusions Liquid Fabric Conditioner
If Downy Infusions had to be summed up in one word, that word would be the aroma. The subtle and sophisticated scent of this liquid fabric softener was meticulously designed from birch water and botanicals to transform your mood and give your senses a jolt that kicks your brain back into high gear.
It’s the kind of scent that surprises you no matter how many times you use it. The way it sneaks on you is refreshing.
But there’s more to Downy Infusions than just its odor. The fabric conditioner protects the clothes during the washing cycle to minimize the damage to the fabric before it happens.
It’s also safe to use with all washers and both colors and whites.
3. Best Plant-Based Softener: Botanical Origin Plant-based Fabric Softener
- FRESHNESS AND SOFTNESS POWERED BY NATURE: Our plant-based fabric softener (71% USDA bio-based) gives your clothes the feeling of intense softness and provides long-lasting freshness. Reduces static cling, too! (Enough for 48 loads of laundry). FREE FROM DYES AND PARABENS: and no chlorine, brighteners, phosphate or artificial preservatives.
Fresh jasmine and wild lavender give this liquid fabric softener from Botanical Origin its distinct scent. But it’s not all about scent with this product. There are more practical and compelling reasons that give it a place on this list.
The first reason has to do with the plant-based ingredients. This product is 71 percent USDA bio-based. It doesn’t have any dyes, brighteners, chlorine, artificial preservatives, or phosphates.
The other reason that I recommend Botanic Origin is that it’s a hypoallergenic fabric softener. For men with allergies or skin sensitive to chemicals and toxins in regular fabric softeners, Botanical Origin is a safe fabric softener that softens the clothes with its purely plant-based ingredients.
4. Best for Wrinkles: Gain Dryer Sheets Laundry Fabric Softener
While the unique formula of Gain works on the laundry in the dryer, it softens the fabric and reduces wrinkles considerably. Whites and cotton fabrics tend to wrinkle and crease in the washer and dryer and, more often than not, get entangled and knotted.
But Gain keeps the garments wrinkle-free and soft.
The scent that the dryer sheets infuse the laundry with is far from feminine. It’s a gender-neutral scent that has a lasting effect and can stay on the clothes weeks after the washing.
5. Best for Sensitive Skin: Snuggle Liquid Fabric Softener
Many men prefer a liquid fabric softener since it neutralizes the impact of the chemicals and toxins in the laundry detergent before it can damage the clothes during the washing cycle.
If you have sensitive skin and struggle to wear the clothes fresh after washing them, the Snuggle is right for you. It’s free of dyes and toxins, and the concentrated package gives you 200 loads.
6. Best for Delicates: Dropps Fabric Softener Pods
- ENHANCED SOFTENING EFFICACY: Dropps In-Wash Fabric Softener Pods work from the start of the wash cycle. Pair with your detergent to infuse a subtle, pleasant scent while deeply conditioning fibers. These pods distribute evenly, ensuring consistent softening without the hassle of additional steps, simplifying your routine while delivering superior fabric care.
Dropps offers pods that you can use as a fabric softener with delicate fabrics such as silk, satin, and velvet. The dye-free softener prevents static and contains natural mineral-based ingredients.
It has the scents of lavender and eucalyptus that work together to bring a calming effect to your mood.
Next, you can check out the best-smelling laundry detergent for men. But realistically, having a nice-smelling fabric softener and a neutral-smelling detergent should be a great combo. Less is more.
I’m an expert wardrobe organizer and a bit of a clean freak. I created this website and its YouTube channel to share practical guides about laundry and organizing. My teachings have been featured in multiple large news publications, and I’ve self-published two wardrobe organizing books and an entire course on the subject.