We recommend fabric softeners with a CHOICE Expert Rating of at least 70%. While we advise against using fabric softeners at all, if you must use one these are the ones worth getting.

This overall score is made up of softness (60%) and water absorption (40%).

Based on International Standard ASTM D5070, 90 cloth nappies (100% cotton) are conditioned with 5 cycles of a regular wash with just laundry powder. Then we run the top loader machine on a rinse and spin cycle with the fabric softener product, nappies and ballast (sheets and pillow cases). The nappies are then dried and the softness is evaluated with a panel of 10 people.

Fabric softeners tend to reduce the water absorbency of towels as a side effect of the softness, so we also measure water absorbency. 

This is the price we paid for the pack size listed.

Based on the price we paid.

Based on the price we paid and the manufacturer's instructions for usage. 

Softeners generally come in a range of fragrances across a product and are generally the same formulation across that product range apart from fragrance. The fragrance listed here is the fragrance we tested.

Whether the fabric softener comes with a measuring cap or lid for dosing.

For the liquid concentrates, we state how much it makes as the bottle size, to make it comparable to the rest.

From the labelling on the container. Most commercial products don't show their ingredients. From the sample group we tested, only fabric softeners which claim some green credentials disclose their ingredients list.