onto the top of your clothing. it is important that the ball be at the top, and not covered with clothing, for it to work properly.
basically the ball floats at the top of your washing machine load during the washing of the clothes. when the washing machine enters the last rinse cycle and begins to spin the ball around, with the rest of the clothes, the ball is designed to open up and release the softener onto the clothing.
because the downy ball is designed to open up during the final rinse cycle of standard (non-he machines), you should not use this fabric softener ball in an he machine.
instead, most he 