The Rinsing Process

I have waited quite awhile to post this blog because it can sometimes be controversial. Seems silly I know, but each tie dyer has a way that they rinse their items, and some can be quite defensive of the way that they do it. I am not one of those people. I have rinsed my tie dye a variety of ways in the past, and the method that I use is a combination of science and experience. If you have a way that works better for you, please continue using your method. I’m not claiming that this is the best way to rinse tie dye, but it is the way that works the best for me.

I begin rinsing my items after they’ve had at least 24 hours to process or batch. Processing or batching is allowing the item time for the dye to bond with the fabric. This time can be shortened if it is hotter than 70 degrees Fahrenheit where you are processing, or it can be extended if it is cooler than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I guess I should also clarify that this is the process that I use for fiber reactive dyes. If you are using some other type of dye to tie dye with, your process may be different.

I have a utility sink in my garage that I use for my tie dye and to rinse my items. If you are using a sink inside your home, please be cautious not to get the dye on anything, and please clean the sink thoroughly after you use it.

Just a couple sciencey things before I get into it to help you understand why I rinse the way that I do. First, for the fiber reactive dye to bond properly with the fabric it needs soda ash to raise the pH, and second it needs heat to bond the dye properly with the fabric as well. This will be important to remember in a few minutes.

I leave my tie dye tied and start rinsing in cold water. The goal of rinsing in cold water is to rinse any of the remaining soda ash out of the item. Remember above that to bond the dye I need soda ash and heat. So the first thing I am rinsing out is the soda ash before I warm the water to hot. If I added hot water to an item with active dye and soda ash - I am essentially doing a hot water irrigation process on the item and trying to promote the dye bonding to the fabric.

After I’ve rinsed well in cold water and I assume all or almost all the soda ash is out of the item, I warm the water to hot. Hot water is how I rinse the excess dye that didn’t bond with the fabric out of the item. I tend to be pretty heavy-handed when I apply dye, so there is always too much dye to bond on my items. The dye that has bonded with the fabric is not what you are rinsing out at this point. It is the excess. I think of the fabric fibers as a sponge, there is only so much dye that a fabric fiber can soak up and once it’s full the rest just kind of hangs out as excess dye. This excess is what I am rinsing out.

It is at this point that I untie the tie dyed item and continue rinsing. It can take awhile to rinse out the excess dye. I’ve found that some colors are more difficult to rinse as well. Blue seems to be the toughest color to get fully rinsed out for me.

I don’t like to continue rinsing for a long time, so I usually soak my items to get out the excess dye. I run some really hot water in my utility sink and put a small squirt of Blue Dawn dish detergent in the hot water before adding the tie dyed item. Remember, for the dye to bond with the fabric the dye needs a raised pH and heat. I’m adding heat with the hot water, and I’ve rinsed my soda ash out of the shirt so I’ve lowered the pH. However, to make sure, I add the Blue Dawn dish soap which is pH neutral to help make sure if there was any little bits of soda ash that slipped by, my pH is not high enough to encourage the dye that is soaked out to re-bond with the fabric somewhere else. This is especially helpful when rinsing shirts that have large areas of white.

I just use really hot tap water for my soaking process. My sink is right next to my hot water heater and the water is really hot coming out of the tap. You can use water you have heated if you would like to. I’ve heard of some tie dyers actually boiling water to use for the rinsing process.

I leave the shirt in the hot water soak until the water cools, and then I rinse it and repeat the soaking process until the water I am soaking the item in remains almost clear. It can take several soaks to get the water to remain clear. If I have several shirts that are close to the same color palette, I will soak them all together.

I’ve had items that seemed to be running clear when I was rinsing them under hot water. I decided to soak them anyway, and I was amazed at how much excess dye came out during the soaking process. I now have made soaking a part of my rinsing process for all the items that I dye.

Once the soaking water stays clear, I rinse the items and put them into my washing machine. I put the washer on a hot cycle and I use Dharma’s Professional Textile Detergent in the washer. The textile detergent is also pH neutral and so it will help keep any excess dye that may come out in the washer from re-bonding to the item. I personally don’t use Blue Dawn dish soap in my washing machine. I know a lot of tie dyers do, but I do not. If you Google it, Dawn dish soap says that it is not meant for direct use in a laundry washing machine. It states that because it is formulated to break up grease with foamy suds, that is something you don’t want to happen in your washing machine. I have a newer HE washer and so I don’t want to take any chances using it in my washer.

I use Dharma’s Professional Textile Detergent, but Dharma offers Synthrapol and Kieralon which are also textile detergents intended for use in the washing machine. I’ve used low foam Synthrapol in the past, but I didn’t particularly like the smell. I haven’t ever tried Kieralon. Since Dharma describes Kieralon as being the low foam version of Synthrapol, I assumed it would smell the same and haven’t bothered trying it.

I rarely rinse one tie dye item out at a time, I normally do quite a few. So I will put all the items that I’ve rinsed that are ready to wash in the washer at the same time. If the item is super thick like a hoodie or sweatshirt, I sometimes will wash it twice in the washing machine. Then I usually put most of my tie dye items in the dryer to dry. I try to put them through the same washing process that most people will use. If they are going to shrink, I’d rather they did it before they made it to the customer. By the time the items have made it this far, they have already had several opportunities to shrink anyway.

Most tie dye items will end up being lighter after they are washed and dried, which has led to some tie dyers to thinking that the item has faded. If you used 100% cotton items, fiber reactive dye and processed it properly, it didn’t fade. More than likely it looked very dark because there was a lot of excess dye left in the item before you started rinsing. This is very common. I rarely judge an item until it has been washed and dried. I’ve had many shirts that I thought were a total loss because they were almost totally black before I started rinsing, and they ended up being beautiful and some of my favorites after they were washed.

Even if you follow the instructions above, there is no guarantee that some excess dye will not continue to come out of the tie dye items for the first few washings. I suggest washing them alone or adding either a Shout Color Catcher sheet or a Carbona Color Grabber sheet to the wash cycle. The Shout and Carbona sheets are great to add when you are washing items that you think may bleed. I use them in my regular laundry all the time. My son is notorious for accidentally putting a dark item in the whites basket, and these have saved multiple loads of laundry. I think you’ll find them so useful with all kinds of laundry, not just tie dye.

I hope this blog has been helpful to you. I have put a link below for a video where I show how to rinse items that contain a lot of white to try to keep the white area from staining.

How to keep the white areas from staining during the rinsing process.