Name: Robyn

Location: US

I'm having a tie dye party Sunday for my 9yo son, who is a tie-dye fanatic.    We've never tie dyed at home before!  I bought kits from Dharma and was planning to send the kids shirts home in ziploc baggies with rinsing/washing instructions, but... I realized at the last minute that I don't have enough Synthrapol (acutally Dharma's replacement) to send home with everyone to wash their own clothes.

Dharma's rinsing/washing instructions say:

I saw on your website that you do everything in the washer.  But what instructions should I give to families who will be washing one or two projects at home without the special detergent?  Can they wash with regular soap?  Some folks on the internet seem to recommend the plain blue Dawn Dishwasher soap, which I can certainly get to send home with kids. Have you ever tried that?  Would you use it with or instead of regular laundry soap?  What do you think would work!

Hi Robin!

To be honest, I don't think it matters all that much what detergent people use. What does matter, at least in some cases, is to do the first rinsing in cool water without regular detergent, but it's fine to do it with no detergent at all. The other thing that matters is to use really hot water for washing after that, to remove the unattached excess dye.

Some people say that Synthrapol has a magical ability to keep unwanted dye particles in suspension, but I have become less and less convinced of this. The only really good way to prevent unwanted transfer of color from one part of a shirt to another is to give the dye plenty of time to react in a warm place, so that no unreacted dye is still present and ready to transfer when you start the washing process. Overnight at 70°F or above is ideal. Cooler temperatures slow the reaction.

The first rinsing is intended to remove auxiliary dyeing chemicals, such as soda ash and any salt (there is often some salt in the dye itself). It's best to use cool water for this, to avoid encouraging the unattached excess dye to become too firmly associated with the fabric, which makes washing more of a burden. It is optional to use Synthrapol for this step (or Dharma's replacement) in the initial rinse, but it's better to skip regular detergent altogether, in the first rinse, since it often contains soda ash. You don't have to have detergent in the first rinse.

The following washings should be in the hottest water available, with any detergent. (Professional dyers often use boiling water, with good fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dyes.) The hotter the water, the more efficient the removal of the excess dye. I would tell your party-goers to rinse thoroughly with cool water, then soak in the hottest water available for at least two thorough washings.

If I have more than one item to wash out, I just throw the totally unrinsed garments straight into the washer, just pausing to remove the ties with a blunt-ended pair of scissors, and do one washing on cold, then I turn off the cold water supply to my washer (since otherwise it adds cool water to the hot), set the machine to hot, and run it through twice, or three times if it's very important to get all the excess dye out. Setting the machine to soak the items in the very hot water helps in increasing efficiency.

By the way, if you do have some Synthrapol, it's worth noting that not very much is needed. People usually use far more than they need. The amount required for the soaping off of dyes is surprisingly small. You only need 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of Synthrapol per pound of fabric; an adult XL t-shirt weighs half a pound, typically, so each kid's shirt must be below a quarter of a pound.

Here's a link to my resource page all about Synthrapol. I could probably have skipped writing this whole thing and just sent you that page.

Have fun at the party! Dharma kits are great. I recommend ziplock freezer bags of any brand, for sending the shirts home, not sandwich or storage bags, because they are more trustworthy and less likely to fail than the non-freezer-weight bags.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)