Bleaching black underwear

That's Mr. Happy.

It's too badly frayed, I'm a-frayed...

I'm a Frayed Knot...

It seams sew to me.

BWAHahahahaha! That's nearly as good as the fairy wings...

Snort! No, just send it over to me for safe keeping.

Yeah, I can imagine where >you'd< keep it. Same place as I would... Nobody'll ever get at it again. ;-)

U.

You can come and help me look after it...

Yesyesyes!

U.

Really???!!!

Many years ago now, I was searching for a method of making BIG fairy wings. I typed 'fairy wings' into my browser, clicked on a totally innocent seeming link, and the screen filled with pics of erect willies in fairy wings! I still giggle when I picture them. Any time some bloke comes all holier than thou or pompous at me, I picture him in fairy wings... Hard to take anyone seriously after that! ;)

Priceless!

Yes, I can see the difficulty in taking someone too seriously after that.

What an image!

Maureen

Sort of like dealing with stage fright by imagining the audience naked.

OK, ladies, I have run the experiment and thought I would report the results.

First, I went to the local Ace Hardware store to get the RIT. Why a hardware store, you might ask? Well, when I did a search for "RIT Color Remover", one of the hits was Ace Hardware and it's on my way to the office. The guy at the store said they don't carry RIT, but they do carry Carbona. He took me to a shelf with 7-8 different products for various types of stains. He swore by them.

He also had a box of Color Run Remover, which he said he hadn't tried. I bought one box

I went to a couple of drug stores, but no RIT Color Remover. I finally found it as a fabric store.

Now for the experiment. Mind you, I didn't care if I ruined the underwear, because I wasn't going to wear them black.

I decided to use the stove-top method. I soon learned that you need a very large pot. Mine was way too small. I thought it would be OK, because I was going to do half with the RIT and half with the Carbona. I do have a large stew pot, but it said no non-stick, so I didn't risk it.

I tried the RIT first, because I had 5 boxes and only 1 of the Carbona. I brought the water to a boil, then turned the heat down and dissolved one packet of RIT for 4 pieces: 2 t-shirts and 2 briefs. I turned the clothes periodically with a wooden spoon for about 30 minutes. The t-shirts turned a dirty beige color -- all except the thread, which remained black. The briefs turned a lovely orange/peach color -- again all except the thread. I am trying to decide if I like orange/peach less than black.

I repeated the experiment with the Carbona. At first, the results seemed the same, but by the end of the 30 minutes, both the t-shirts and the briefs were similar colors as before, but several shades lighter. I see on the boxes, that they both contain sodium hydrosulfite and sodium carbonate.

I rinsed the clothes and then ran then through the wash.

I could probably wear the t-shirts, but not the briefs.

Next, I got a large yard bucket. I filled it halfway with boiling water, dumped in 3 packets of RIT, then added the clothes. I added more boiling water a few times and storred for 20-30 minutes. Everything is a little lighter, but not much. I'll leave them there overnight.

I may go get 2-3 more boxes of Carbona and try again.

Ain't science grand?

PS: Use a much larger pot or don't stir so vigorously. I now have a pair of pants with several interesting tie-dye patterns on the front. They are old paint pants, so no matter. Maybe I'll give them the Carbona treatment and see what happens.

Now you can go back to buy several boxes of RIT dye, maybe navy blue, dark green, or red! To dye over the streaky, lightened fabric. Another science experiment.

Ah, your comments reminded me that I have two or three pairs of summer shorts with spots where the colour's totally bleached out because I've splashed liquid chlorine adding it to the swimming pool.

This isn't household bleach, which is only about 2% strength, but industrial or agricultural strength at about 15%.

Do you knw anyone around you who has a pool and who could let you have a jugful? I'm guessing buying the stuff in bulk would be too pricey for what you want to do, it normally comes in large plastic drums, 25-30 litres!

If you do try it, treat it with the respect it deserves - liquid chlorine can be quite an unpleasant stuff to work with - *don't* splash it around!

You will end up with a bunch of chemically weakened briefs and Ts...

I'm curious: Didn't the Rit (and other chemicals) cost more than the price of new underwear? Why not donate the black stuff and buy new?

Now, now. When an idea gets firmly planted it takes a lot to shift it!