Name: Sandra
Message: Your information was good on how to dye the clothes but I need to know what to do after we have dyed the shirts. I need the washing instrucions.

What kind of dye did you use?

If you used all-purpose dye, hand wash separately, in cold water only. All-purpose dye is not very washfast and will bleed in the laundry with every washing, possibly ruining other clothing. It should be treated with a dye fixative such as Retayne or Raycafix to help reduce this risk.

If you used good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, and you followed the recipe correctly with soda ash, then the main issue is just to remove excess unattached dye. The shirts should be washed once in cold water first, without detergent (or with Synthrapol), and then two or three times in hot water with detergent (preferably Synthrapol). Once all excess unattached dye is removed in this way, future launderings can be done any way you like, in hot, warm, or cold water, as long as you avoid bleach. Fiber reactive dye that has been applied correctly will last for hundreds of washings at any temperature, and are safe to wash with white clothing.

Caution: public water supplies that have been disinfected with chloramine, rather than chlorine, will tend to fade all dyes, even fiber reactive dyes, after many washings. The use of Antichlor in the final rinse might prevent this from happening.



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