Yes, for a short cycle. Running already-dry clothes through the dryer works to remove wrinkles or freshen them, but skip it as a daily habit.
Grabbing a wrinkled shirt from the closet and tossing it in the dryer instead of ironing feels like a shortcut too easy to be legitimate.
It works, within limits, because tumbling and heat relax fabric fibers the same way ironing does, just less precisely.
A 10-15 minute cycle on low heat, ideally with a damp washcloth tossed in for extra steam, loosens wrinkles in cotton, linen, and most woven fabrics almost as well as a quick iron pass. The heat relaxes the fiber's internal bonds enough that gravity and tumbling smooth the fabric back out.
Repeated dryer heat breaks down elastic fibers, fades color, and shrinks natural fibers like cotton a little more each cycle even when the clothes were already dry going in. There is no moisture left to evaporate, so the machine is only applying heat and friction, and each unnecessary cycle adds up over the life of a garment, often shaving months off how long it looks new.
Skip this trick for wool, rayon, silk, sequined or beaded items, and anything labeled line-dry only. These fabrics can shrink, pill, or lose shape from heat and tumbling even in a short cycle, and the damage is not reversible. Wool especially can felt and shrink permanently after just one hot cycle.
Tumbling dry clothes without moisture also builds up static electricity faster than a normal damp load, since there is less water to conduct the charge away. A dryer sheet or a small ball of foil helps reduce static cling on a dry-clothes cycle.
A handheld steamer, or simply hanging a garment in a steamy bathroom for 10-15 minutes while showering, often removes light wrinkles without any dryer heat at all. A spray bottle of water followed by smoothing the fabric with your hands works well for a single item too. These options save the fabric wear that even a short dryer tumble still adds over time.
A quick tumble is a legitimate wrinkle fix, not a laundry myth, as long as the heat stays low and the time short. Save it for occasional touch-ups rather than a regular part of your routine, since dry fabric gets nothing but wear from the heat.
About 10-15 minutes on low heat is enough. Longer than that adds unnecessary heat stress without improving the wrinkle release.
Yes, a damp towel or a few ice cubes creates steam as it heats up, which relaxes wrinkles more effectively than dry heat alone.
Yes, a short no-heat or air-fluff cycle knocks off dust and light odor without adding wash-and-dry wear, which works well for coats between washes.
It's not harmful once in a while, but repeated heat cycles in a short span add up to the same fiber wear and fading as normal drying, so it's not a routine habit worth forming.