How-to guide
Tip the beads straight into the empty drum before you add clothes, then add detergent as normal and run the cycle. Use about half a cap (10g) for a small load, a full cap (20g) for a standard load, and a heaped cap for towels or bedding. Never put beads in the detergent drawer — they can block it.
Reviewed July 2026 · By the Xtra Kleen team
Open the machine before loading anything. The beads need to hit the base of the drum so water dissolves them from the start of the cycle.
Use the pack cap: about half a cap (roughly 10g) for a small or lightly worn load, and a full cap (roughly 20g) for towels, bedding, gym gear or a full machine.
Pour them directly into the empty drum, not into the detergent drawer and not into a dispenser ball. Beads in the drawer can clog it and never reach the wash.
Add clothes on top of the beads, then dose detergent as usual. Scent beads are a fragrance booster, not a detergent, so they do not replace your wash powder or liquid.
Any temperature works. Warm water dissolves the beads faster, but they are designed to release fragrance across a standard cold or warm cycle too.
Dose by load size, not by machine size. The pack cap is the measure: a level cap is roughly 20g.
Front loader: open the door before you load anything and tip the measured beads across the base of the drum, then add the clothes on top. The beads sit under the wash load and dissolve from the first fill.
Top loader: add the beads to the empty bowl before the clothes and before the water starts filling. If your machine has already filled, add them at the side of the bowl rather than on top of the laundry so they dissolve rather than sitting in a fold of fabric.
In both machine types the beads go in the drum, never in the detergent drawer, softener compartment or a dispenser ball.
An Xtra Kleen 300g pack gives roughly 15 washes at a full 20g cap or around 30 washes at a light 10g dose. Most households sit somewhere in between and vary the dose by load: less for shirts, more for towels and sheets.
The range comes in three fragrances — Floral Bloom (item 322664), Lavender Fields (322671) and Ocean Breeze (326792) — all in the same 300g pack size.
Keep the pack sealed in a dry cupboard — humidity makes beads clump. Store cleaning and laundry products out of reach of children, and check the pack label for the full directions and warnings. If you need the Safety Data Sheet for a specific item number, email martin@pjsas.com.au.
Directly into the empty drum before you load the clothes. This applies to both front loaders and top loaders. Never put them in the detergent drawer or a softener compartment, where they can clog the dispenser instead of dissolving.
No. Scent beads are a fragrance booster only — they contain no cleaning agents. Always dose your normal laundry powder or liquid as well, or the load will smell fresh without actually being clean.
Yes. They are designed to dissolve across a standard cold or warm cycle. Warm water simply dissolves them a little faster, so on very short cold cycles add them to the drum first so they get the full wash time.
Scent from in-wash beads is generally noticeable in stored linen and clothing for several weeks, depending on dose, fabric and how the load is dried. Thick cotton such as towels and bedding holds fragrance longer than thin synthetics.
About half a cap (10g) for a small load, one level cap (20g) for a standard load, and a heaped cap (25–30g) for towels, bedding or a full machine. More beads do not clean better — they only make the fragrance stronger and use the pack up faster.
They add fragrance that carries through drying and into storage, which normal detergent alone does not do. They do not clean, soften or remove odour caused by bacteria — a musty load needs a hot wash and full drying, not more beads.
Yes. The beads go in the drum and the softener goes in its own compartment, so they do not interfere with each other. On towels and activewear it is usually better to drop the softener and keep the beads, because softener coats fibres and reduces absorbency.
Beads placed in the empty drum dissolve during the fill and wash, so they should not mark fabric. Marks usually mean beads were tipped on top of a packed drum and sat against dry fabric — load the beads first and the clothes on top.
Fragranced laundry products can irritate some people. Use a lower dose or leave the beads out for anyone with known fragrance sensitivity, and always follow the directions and warnings on the pack. For the Safety Data Sheet for a specific item number, email martin@pjsas.com.au.
More answers on the Xtra Kleen FAQ page.
