Name: Mellissa
Message: I have a button down oxford collared shirt that is made of 100% cotton and 100% algodon and is yellow. The lady at my work place said it needed to be just a bit lighter, how could I go about doing so without making spots?

Algodón is the Spanish word for cotton, so 100% algodón means the same thing as 100% cotton.

You have two choices of discharge agent to remove some of the dye from your shirt. One is chlorine bleach, and the other is Rit brand Color Remover. The latter is sold next to the little boxes of Rit brand all-purpose dye, in many pharmacies and grocery stores. While I do not recommend the purchase of any brand of all-purpose dye for dyeing cotton, Rit Brand Color Remover is an excellent product for removing some dyes.

The way to avoid making spots is to add your discharge agent to a full washing machine of water, and allow it to agitate some to mix the bleach or Color Remover thoroughly with the water. Only then should you add your garment.

Either one of these two discharge agents should work, but it is possible that one or another of them may actually alter the color of the dye, rather than just removing it. This is a risk you must take when bleaching dye. It will probably work out okay, though. Chlorine bleach is probably more damaging to the fiber than Rit Color Remover; it is best to neutralize the bleach, when you are finished, by using either Anti-Chlor or a colorsafe oxygen bleach to get rid of lingering chlorine atoms, which will otherwise continue to eat away at the material.

Your main issue will be in not removing all of the color from the shirt. Use less bleach or Color Remover than the package instructs, and check your shirt frequently during the process, remembering that a wet shirt will always appear darker in color than it will after it is dry. Remember that it is much easier to repeat the process than to put back the exact right shade of dye after you have removed too much!

The stitching of the shirt is probably polyester and will remain unchanged in color, but this will probably not be a serious problem. It is quite fortunate that your shirt is 100% cotton, as there is no practical way to remove dye from a synthetic material, at home.

One last tip: make sure that the shirt is scrupulously clean before you try to bleach it, as invisible spots of oil might prevent the bleach from reaching some areas of the fabric.