Do Laundry Balls Actually Work? 4-Way Test! 

Oh wow, imagine that, sticking random plastic in the laundry doesn't work better than detergent. I'm glad you made this video, James, since a shocking number of people buy into this kind of psuedoscience and BS products that do nothing, and sometimes they really just need to see it tested from a source they can trust. Also, your test was more scientific than your usual, so I wouldn't worry about the whiners.

These items are on the market to prove a fact! A fool and their money are soon parted!

I like the level of testing you do. I think it's just right for my needs and my desire to watch. Keep doing what you do and don't change a thing. I'd love to see a comparison of store brand detergent vs Tide, and with and without oxyclean and then borax.

Imagine all the people out there who fell for this scam and are walking around wearing dirty underwear. 😧

They have some balls, charging $57 for that.

Maybe I should use soy sauce as detergent since it seemed to come out in all of the tests lol

$57 holy cannoli

Imagine selling someone a $57 piece of plastic to put in water and do nothing

Awesome review! Proving to a friend that swares by these things. I told him that they don't work. Can't wait until he watches this!

Have been watching your channel for a long time. I wanted to let you know I really appreciate what you do. You have helped me many times when deciding whether to purchase something or not. Kudos ❤️

Dude. This is totally scientific. It repeatable, you clearly defined your parameters, and you had 2 different controls. Um. Science. This is science, dude.

I do however like the reusable wool dryer balls. 2 for $5 at Walmart. Eliminates static. Keeps light clothes from clumping. And I feel like it does make laundry softer

Wow! Do more with “Question titles” like this! I had to see this right away! There’s probably many questions like this, and you’re the guy to answer them!

My wife and I have been floored by Zout, a stain remover that seems to get EVERYTHING out. Got out a grease stain from a shirt that I'd already accidentally set by washing and drying. If you ever do another stain remover comparison, give Zout a shot.

Wow what kind of sane person would willingly pay $57 for 2 laundry balls? Looks exactly like just washing with water did. Pure scam.

Would have been interesting to see if putting $57 in the washing machine alongside a shirt did any better than the laundry balls.

"They work by changing the pH". Would it kill those that make these scam products to at least get the basic workings of soap/detergent correct?

Can't believe they are allowed to sell this snake oil. Thanks for yet another fantastic freakin review! Love all of your videos!

Snake oil would probably work better than these laundry balls.

i love how honest and objective are you, there are biased reviewers but fortunately we have a good perso like you.

Freakin' Reviews gets ripped off so you don't have to. Thanks again! 👍

Let's put plastic stuff in the laundry to add friction on the coth fabrics and reduce the lifespan of our clothes...

The detergent actually dyes your clothes slightly blue which makes white fabrics look whiter. It's the same optical illusion as LED lights looking slightly blue when they're completely white

The very first thing that I noted when you did the test was that you did not rinse the wine stain with cool water, which is standard treatment for wine stains. If you put a wine stain in warm water, yes, it's going to become very deeply ingrained in the fabric, warm water sets wine stains! Other than that, it's a great test and you did a good job. I am using an inexpensive version of these balls, I paid less than $10 for a set of two balls with the ceramic beads at Ollie's. Honestly, it does a fantastic job! If I have a very bad stain I have to pretreat it, of course. Like blood or chocolate or, of course, wine! Other than that I've had absolutely no problem and my laundry comes out great. Now the caveat: I have no little children at my house, I am retired and disabled so I don't get my clothes as dirty as someone who's out gardening every day or fishing or doing any of the other fun things I would love to do. I'm not washing anyone's clothes but my own most of the time. However, my everyday coffee spills, (often), food spills, (often), and average soiling of clothing all comes out with the balls and warm water. I rarely use hot water unless it's something that I personally prefer washed in hot, like towels or sheets. I'm not a fan of the cold water wash, because I don't feel like it's completely clean. Thank you!

Might not have been a great advertisement for laundry balls, but I'm sure Tide will be grateful!

I bought an air fryer after your air fryer video! Keep up the great work!!!

Thank you for actually testing this against water. There are so many videos claiming that they work, but they don't test them against using nothing but water in the wash.

You are really suppose to use stain removers on the really tough stains if you read the recommendations on theses balls. Also, the instructions state placing the balls out in sunlight to recharge to ionize.

I love how you review things like the average person. Thank you for review.

Would be interesting to put the balls in a container of water and test the before and after with pH strips to see if it even changes the pH of the water.

RU-vid stopped notifying me about your new videos until today! So glad I found your channel again, you and your product tests are awesome!

This was a good review! I've always wondered if laundry balls work. Well, now I know! Good job!

Thanks for doing this, now I won't waste my money. I have been a big fan of the oxiclean since I dumped half a bottle of betadine on my lab coat and it got it all out!

Laundry balls: what are you? warm water: I'm you but Better!

I just love your reviews, you are SO thorough! 👍🏽😊

The level of testing you do is unmatched. Love it. Definitely got ya a subscribe ❤

The pH explanation for how these things "work" is hilarious. You can only change pH of water by dissolving something in it, so you either have a ball that can only be used once, or it doesn't change pH at all, meaning that the marketing (infinitely reusable and altering pH) is lying either way

Should have done one with OxyClean

Woot oxyclean... I saw the face of Billy Mays in one of those stains! Another great video sir, I love these kind of honest reviews!

Wow! These videos are great for consumers! Thank you for taking the time and spending your own money. Very helpful. It’s pretty unbelievably bad when plain water cleans better!, how do they explain that one!?? That other one you tested with the plug in gadget in the sink was way worse than I would have thought yet the counter top dishwasher was fantastic. The wine glasses had zero spots and was washed with sticky dirty dishes. That was impressive. I won’t buy anything until you’ve tested it. Thanks again.

As far as I listened to my mom, you've first have to soak with detergent (oxiclean of tident) in cold water overnight and after that do the washing. Hot temperatures fixed colors into the shirts.

I'd love to see a soap nuts vs. laundry detergent!

Oh man this is going to be great to watch!

Thanks so much man! This is super helpful🙌🏾

Nothing like good old soap and water. Thanks for all your reviews. You save me from myself...lol

You had a control(plain water) and multiple(2) iterations of the product put up against the average choice. How did this not follow the scientific method? I think you did a great job, keep it up man.

Thank you so much for doing these 😆

I think your review process is quite comprehensive and shows a good level of critical thinking. Reading all those reports shows you clearly do your research too. Amazing job, its greatly appreciated!

Great product review. Try on your next video using hydrogen peroxide as a pre soak before washing. Try hydrogen peroxide immediately after using and then letting the hydrogen peroxide to dry prior to washing. I believe that water sets the stain.

As someone who is looking into making their own cleaning products, I would love if you tested homemade laundry detergent and cleaning products vs regular!

Keep it up, love your reviews, thank you!

Thanks, James!!! I won't waste my money on those laundry balls and stick with my Tide. Give a hug to Bailey from me.

Your review are like no other! Brutally honest and little sponsorships

The balls didn't work ? I'm shocked and appalled ......... *********Waving Hi to Bailey !!*********

7:41 "I can't see the difference, can you see the difference?'" lol

one of the best reviews i have seen. Great work.

No soap equals no clean

Would you mind checking the dryer balls too sometime? I'm curious if they work vs dryer sheets

Great test design, well thought out ! Results were not surprising lol 😆

THANK YOU! That was one of the most thoroughly done comparisons EVER! Especially when so many of us might actually consider buying these. I'm giving them a consumer vasectomy.... because they exist but have no junction.

Thanks for doing this testing! In Canada, we have ones called 'Eco Balls" - likely the same thing. I've been so tempted to get them. Even though there's a 30 day return policy on our Shopping Channel, I don't think I'll go through the hassle. Thanks for the testing!

IMO it looks like the balls would ware out your clothes faster rather than clean them.

Don't listen to those comments saying your testing isn't adequate. You do the best real world scenario testing I've seen on the products that you possibly can. Some individuals just like to be negative. Keep up the great work

Absolutely one of my favorite reviews so far. I bet you had a opinion about these balls before, but still managed to review these balls really neutral (sorry, I'm Dutch, so English isn't my native tongue). I really love that!

So you don't have to waste the shirts just turn then into tye Dye the stains will just add to the design

When i saw the title i thought it was dryer related balls... The wool ones that help dry faster... Others help prevent rinkles. Gotta tey those. Those are not as seen on TV stuff tho

so happy of your honest review, as I just heard of these balls and decided to dig before buy. Thank you.

Cool comparisons. Those stains tell the story. Nice thorough review.

I think you created for yourself, another comparison video. That being, let's say the top 4 most popular laundry detergents. I would love to see that one!😁 Would anybody else like to see James do a comparison of the top for laundry detergents? I think that Tide, Gain, Arm & Hammer and Sunlight, would be the tops and four. Which do you think are the top four, can you predict the winner 😉 (I would choose Arm & Hammer as the winner, if James will do a comparison test 😊)

Don't waste your money, detergent is the cheapest

Great video, thanks! I have been wondering about these.

Your tests are real life tests. Those are the best kind. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for, first off, sharing past professional research, and also for doing the comparison video. Always looking to save money where I can, but don’t want to get suckered into something that doesn’t work as well as what I already use.

James is working his butt off to get those 15 dislikes to likes. Love your freakin reviews!

Watched the ads for Freakin' Reviews! Agree with you about the marketing being a total scam. However they also claim the balls alter the pH of the water, which is what water softeners do, and it increases the effectiveness of detergents. On the other hand, you only need water softeners if you have really hard water.

I appreciate you doing one with just water as a control, thank you !!

Seems a little scammy? Why fix what ain't broken

They work as well as taking a dump in your washer

🎶🎵Wash with... My Crystal laundry ba-aw-ww-lsss. ...Put 'em in your tub and wash 'em! 🎵🎶

I've always used detergent, usually Tide. Yep, not planning to change.

Your test does not need to be scientific, it is a real world test. The people who waste their money on these aren't going to wash them scientifically they are going to do what you did.

Why are they still selling/making these when they are so ineffective? Some kind of money-laundering scheme??

I am more surprised these things still exist. I remember all the heat you found that they got back when they had the audacity to have TV ads.

Keep up the great work!!

You should try Nellie's Laundry Soda products. It's eco friendly & comes w/ cute dryer balls w/ real lamb wool. 🐏🐾

Maybe not scientific results, but I'll take real life results any day.

I have always been curious how that’s would perform; thank you for confirming my suspicions. I wonder how many of these are returned to Amazon. Thanks for the review.

Your tests are the best one on you tube! Keep going!

0:04 “These balls supposedly gives you thousands of loads”. But both came out blank

You are meant to soak the balls for 30 mins before using them, I got a stain stick for tough stains but day to day washing it works well and is eco friendly. I’ve used them for years and like them. Those were expensive but you can get them a lot cheaper

Wow thanks for this review! Big difference!

Bada$$ brother keep up the good work. Love your channel!

Another scam bites the dust!

Kickstarter crap

@8:43 “ this was found to be LESS effective than just plain water” lol

I like that I could see the results. I am sold your test is good enough for me. Thanks for this video

Definitely passing on laundry balls! I already passed on dryer balls especially because they make the loudest racket lol! Thanks for this very thorough review 🌹❤️

Great effort for testing these! I can't believe after all this year's. They are still selling it in Malaysia departmental stores! My mum fell for the scam few years back.

Love your vids. They're so helpful in getting the most for my money

Love oxiclean! Yes I fell for the laundry ball in the 90’s. But I did get my money back. I think a consumer group busted one open and found it had colored water in it. Made me wiser and do my research. Your videos are awesome we don’t need to put a bunch of people wearing lab coats in a pristine white room with four brand new washers to see what works in real life!