Some garment dye is not stable and will bleed or transfer onto other items, whether a red sock, blue jeans, or a batik top. When you buy new blue pants and wash them for the first time, you may discover that your underwear becomes blue; this is color bleeding or transfer. If a stray hot pink post-it in your shirt pocket or a purple construction paper airplane in your child’s school pants is washed, it might leave a dye stain. When moisture from sweat, rain or a trip through the washing causes the dye to leak from the paper into the cloth, this is known as dye transfer from paper. Uncoated materials with bright colors, such as crepe paper, craft paper, and sticky notes, are the most susceptible to stains.
If you have dye transfers, you can typically remove them with a few items and patience.
Is it Possible to Remove Dye from Clothes?
Most of the time, rubbing alcohol or soaking the articles in a white vinegar solution will remove the color from clothing. Color bleed or dye transfer can be removed with professional stain removers or oxygen bleach. In rare circumstances, chlorine bleach may be required to remove color stains from white garments altogether. Getting any dye out of your clothing is as simple as catching the stain while it is still new. It’s far more challenging to remove the color from the fabric after washing it and putting it in the dryer.
What type of cloth is in your shirt or pants? This makes a significant impact when it comes to stain removal. If you have clothing that can only be dry cleaned, don’t try any DIY stain removal procedures! Instead, take your item to the cleaners and explain the stain’s cause. Certain fabrics, such as wool and silk, do not respond well to most at-home cleaning methods, so check the care label inside your garment before using a stain remover!
Before You Get Started
This classic laundry blunder is another reason to observe the most critical laundry rule: Sort your clothes. Another crucial laundry guideline follows quickly behind: Remove everything from your pockets. Just because something hasn’t faded in the past doesn’t imply it won’t happen in the future. It can take many washes on colorfast textiles before colors begin to wash off and influence other clothing in the machine. As soon as you see a stain in the washing machine, locate the perpetrator (fabric or paper) and remove it from the machine.
Do not put any clothes in the dryer until the stain has been completely gone. Allow the cloth to air-dry if you have to stop before all the color is gone. It will be difficult to completely erase the stain if you dry it in the dryer. If a color transfer has happened on a garment that should only be dry cleaned, do not attempt to fix the problem at home. Instead, take the clothing to a professional dry cleaning as soon as possible. Make a point to point out the stain and explain the situation to the cleaning.
Dye Transfer Stains on Clothes: How to Get Rid of Them
- Use Oxygen-Based Bleach and Detergent to Rewash Colored Clothes. Rewash all dye-stained garments using a nonchlorine (all-fabric or oxygen) bleach and your usual laundry detergent if the dye-stained clothes are colored or synthetic materials. Before you put the clothing in the dryer, do this.
- White Cottons Should Be Rewashed With Chlorine Bleach and Detergent. If the dye-stained load is all-white cotton apparel, replace the oxygen bleach with 1/2 cup liquid chlorine bleach in the bleach dispenser or rewash with water and soap.
- Soak Tough Stains in Bleach With Oxygen. You will need to soak the garment before rewashing if you have already dried it or if the color transfer is thick. Combine oxygen-based bleach with cold water (OxiClean, Nellie’s All-Natural Oxygen Brightener, or OXO Brite). Follow the instructions on the package to determine how much product to use per gallon of water. Allow the soiled goods to soak for at least 8 hours after submerging them.
If the stains persist, make a new batch of the oxygen bleach and water solution and soak for 8 hours before washing. Oxygen bleach should not be used on silk or wool.
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What is a Home Remedy for Dye Removal from Clothes?
Rubbing alcohol is the most common and successful home cure for removing color from clothing, followed by white vinegar. Depending on the kind of garment and stain, you may use these items in various ways. Depending on the kind of stain, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonia can also be effective at eliminating color stains.
As a precaution, you should always spot-test any of these items on an inside seam allowance before using them on a visible part of your garment. This ensures that the product will not harm your clothes. For example, vinegar is great at eliminating stains, but it may also fade the colors out of clothing in some circumstances.
Vinegar
Vinegar’s acidic qualities make it an effective stain remover for various stains, including numerous forms of dye. Furthermore, while vinegar may not smell pleasant, it does not emit hazardous vapors like some types of bleach. Vinegar may also be safely splashed on your skin without causing injury. How does vinegar help you get rid of color transfer on your clothes? There are two basic strategies you may use. Soaking the item is the easiest way, while the second allows you to spot-treat garments more rapidly or cure a damaged sofa or carpet.
To soak a dye-stained garment in vinegar:
- Place a safety pin near the stain on the clothes. This way, you’ll be able to return to the location later to double-check that the stain has vanished!
- Pour cool water into a clean bucket or washbasin. You’ll need enough water to cover the outfit effortlessly.
- Pour one cup of distilled white vinegar into the mixture.
- Submerge the garment in the solution and soak it for half an hour.
- Run cool water over the vinegar to remove it. Avoid wringing out the clothing as this might harm the fabric. Instead, squeeze out any excess water with your palms.
- Place the damp garment in your washing machine and wash it on a cold water cycle with regular detergent.
- After the washing has finished, do not place the clothes in the dryer. Instead, hang it to dry naturally.
- Finally, look for the stain and make sure it’s gone!
