cutting down on water usage in washing out after dyeing

Message: Hi Paula,
first let me tell you that you have the best site. Learned practically everything I know from your site!! Thanks for sharing with us :-).

Anyway,
I was wondering if you might be able to help me with something?
I always use procion dyes and usually don't have a problem,but since moving house, the dyes take soooooo much water to rinse them. I have to wash about 5 times to get the excess dye out. Colours are still bright at the end, but since we are on severe water restrictions, I will end up getting into trouble from the council.

Do you think it's because I haven't been using the salt. I didn't at the last place, as when I tried without, they still came out perfect.

Any help would be greatfully received.
Thanks very much for reading.
kind regards,
Bev from Australia.

Hi Bev,

I wonder if your hot water temperature is lower in your new house. The most important thing in efficiency in washing out excess Procion MX dye, or really any dye, is the temperature of the water. What I would suggest is that you do a single rinse in cool or lukewarm water, to get rid of the soda ash and some of the loose dye, then fill an inexpensive insulated cooler with enough hot water to cover the fabric. You might want to heat the water on your kitchen stove in a large pot if your water heater doesn't get very hot. I always recommend that people use water that is at least 60°C (140°F) to wash out excess Procion MX dye, but hotter temperatures are even more efficient. Even boiling water is okay for this purpose, as properly attached Procion MX dye will not come out even when boiled. To make the best use of this hot water, soak your dyed material in it for several hours. After this, put it in your washing machine to rinse one more time and to remove extra water. Except for the initial rinse, you can use any detergent, or you can use Synthrapol or its equivalents such as Hitech Washoff or Dharma Professional Textile Detergent even in the first rinse, as well as subsequent washings. These special dye removal detergents are very concentrated; see "What is Synthrapol?" for more information.

Another possibility is that you have hard water, containing calcium or magnesium salts. Hard water is healthier for drinking than soft water is, but it's a problem for dyeing. The loose dyes can form a complex with calcium that is very difficult to wash out. There are two possible solutions for this: you can dye with softened or distilled water, or you can add a chemical that is commonly used in dyeing, sodium hexametaphosphate. This chemical is commonly known as Calgon T, but it's not the same as the phosphate-free liquid Calgon products you may see at the grocery store. Those contain a different chemical which is not suitable for dyeing. You might find it labeled "water softener" or "metaphos" or "metaphosphate". I don't see it in the online catalogs for Batik Oetoro or Kraftkolour, but it would be surprising if they do not have it. I know that the dye companies here in North America and in England carry it. I hope it has not been legislated against in your area; large amounts of phosphates in the streams are a bad thing, but small amounts for household dyeing are insignificant. It would be worth calling them to ask about it. If your water is very hard, you should use softened water for washing out as well as for dyeing in, but using distilled water would be far too much trouble for that purpose. Hexametaphosphate is much easier to use during washing out. See "Dyeing with hard water".

I don't think that not using salt would be responsible for the dye wash-off problem. Salt is useful when you dye in a high-volume waterbath, when dyeing a solid color, because it helps to drive the dye out of the water into close proximity to the fiber, where it can react. It does nothing to cause the dye to actually fix to the fiber. It makes the dye more efficient so you don't have to use as much as you otherwise would, but it's not necessary for tie-dyeing or low water immersion dyeing, because the volume of water is so much lower.

In some cases, industrial dyeing mills use a cationic dye fixative, similar to Retayne or DyeFix (the latter is Batik Oetoro's name), in place of proper washing-out of excess dye. Normally I do not recommend this, because properly fixed and washed out Procion MX dye is more washfast than excess Procion MX dye that has been glued into place by dye fixative, but it is one last option to consider while your water supply is limited, if all else fails. Wash the dye out once or twice before applying the cationic dye fixative, and after the fixative treatment, wash the treated material in cool water only, or as directed by the manufacturer of the fixative, and label any dyed fabric or clothing that you sell accordingly.

You might want to consider switching to another class of reactive dye. Procion MX is known for being the hardest to wash out of all of the reactive dyes. I don't myself experience that much difference between different types of fiber reactive dyes, but the difference is said by reputable sources to exist. Drimarene K and Remazol dyes are two different classes of fiber reactive dye which are available by mail-order in Australia. (Be careful to make sure that the initial rinse after dyeing with Remazol dyes is done in cool water.)

One last possible cause of difficulties in washing out excess dye is finishes on the fabric, such as starch, which is used as sizing. You can detect starch with an iodine test. Starch bonds to Procion MX dye just about as well as the cotton does, but the dyed starch washes out of the cotton only very gradually.

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