Chlorine and denim

[josepidal]

Is there anything bad about chlorine and denim? (I know there's a seawater wash recommended somewhere here, but I want to be sure.)

As in, if I go swimming, is it perfectly okay to shower and pull on a pair of jeans, even if my skin smells like chlorine and there might be some of the stuff on me?

Or is it just that the jeans will smell really funny until washed again?

[ringring]

Don't worry about it. If you're covered in enough chlorine to really effect your jeans then your eyes and skin would know about it!

PS regarding washing jeans in saltwater/vinegar - read this link:

http://www.aikiweb.com/misc/shifflett3.html

[darknworn]

Quote: Consequently, you can never get the deep dark blues obtained through traditional methods.

What were the traditional methods?

A reducing environment via bacteria in a pit of aged urine and its highly fragrant biological byproducts. Very effective, but much slower -- and extremely smelly.

that's what you'd called a uber denimhead!!!

i feel like a nobody.

"God is Dead" - Nietzsche

"Neitzsche is Dead" - God

[sbbbjm]

i'd imagine it'd fade them pretty good. most of my boardies are faded from the chlorine at the pool and they're nylon. i'd think the bleaching of the cotton denim would be a lot more drastic. post pics if you decide to do it!

[sbbbjm]

oh gosh, ignore what i just wrote i didn't read the first post rvery well, forgive me lol

[Cue]

my mate got drunk, sat on the edge of a pool with his new dry jeans in the water from the knee down and it stripped loads of the colour - be warned ...

[josepidal]

Quote: Question: So I went and bought myself a brand-new indigo Iwata hakama from a friend. So far, I've soaked it in salt water for about four nights running to try to set the dye. I wore the thing for the first time tonight and, boy, are my dogi pants blue! Unfortunately, so are sections of our mat. I went and tried getting the stuff our using peroxide and a sponge but it's tough. Luckily, our mats aren't canvas -- they're those vinyl faux tatami things. Anyone have any tips on getting this stuff off the mats? I was at the dojo for about thirty minutes after class scrubbing away -- after mopping the place, too. Any tips on cleaning those blue streaks would be greatly appreciated.

Quick Answer: If it's bleeding, wash it! 2 or 3 or 4 times, repeatedly, with soap such as Ivory Soap or Woolite. Using a detergent like Tide may dissolve the indigo somewhat due to its alkalinity.

The longer answer involves chemistry and history.

The advice to set the dye with vinegar or salt is commonly heard and seems to make sense from the standpoint that indigo is mildly soluble in a reducing solution, insoluble in an oxidized state. But these approaches cannot be an issue at the point that you have an actual bleeding hakama -- the acid of the vinegar does not glue the indigo to the fabric by making it less soluble. Possibly the tradition of "vinegar to set the dye" is a holdover from dying wool, a final rinse that would be better for the wool than leaving it with any amount of alkaline soap residue.

Saltwater also has nothing to do with the chemistry of indigo dye.

Peroxide is essentially super-oxygenated water. It will certainly not dissolve the indigo (but you might keep it insoluble and all in one place so you can rip it off with sheer determination and muscle power). Will soaking the hakama in a diluted peroxide solution help "set" the dye? You might get more thoroughly oxidized indigo chunks but that will not help the problem as the dye that is coming off of your hakama is not in the hakama -- it is ON it. Think of the excess indigo as blue fuzzballs or chalk dust. Something that does not blend with the fiber itself.

I suspect that many purveyors of "genuine, natural indigo-dyed" material heap undissolved indigo onto the cloth just to give it a darker, richer color much of which is illusion and falls off later. In real life, and with a cotton hakama, it is far better to just wash the excess out before it falls out in chunks all over your mat and furniture. But why is there excess dye in the first place?

Modern methods of indigo dyeing involve a chemical reducing solution which simply cannot get the dark dark blues that the older methods did. (The thiourea dioxide chemical commonly used for reducing the indigo to make it soluble in dyeing is commonly available as "Spectralite" usually found next to the shoe polish and such in many grocery or drugstores, in fabric or craft stores. Sodium hydrosulfite may also be used and can be found commonly as "RIT Color Remover." If youre trying to clean a mat be sure to test it on a small, inconspicuous and low-stress side spot of the mat first to make sure it doesn't take everything else off too. It will certainly be safe for restoring your white cotton dogi pants.)

To dye with indigo in these modern times, you mix up a potfull of thiourea dioxide or sodium hydrosulfite and water and add indigo (natural or synthetic -- they both have the same chemical formula). The result is a pale YELLOW GREEN solution known as WHITE indigo.

You dip the cloth in the dye, pull it out, and before your very eyes it starts to change from green to blue. Why? Because the indigo is oxidizing -- reacting with the oxygen in the air -- becoming insoluble. It's delightful and magical to see.

In theory, you can dip it back in again for another coating of indigo to make the color a little darker. This is fine a few times, but very soon you have a problem. Enough thiourea dioxide or sodium hydrosulfite in the solution to reduce

[Geowu]

why would you like to set the indigo? If they were made with a different dye than indigo they would get fixed like any normal dye such as black or white. If you rinse first and only dry clean they will keep the color for a while.

Edited by Geowu on Jul 27, 2005 at 02:27 AM

[josepidal]

Point of curiosity. Maybe if you've worn in a pair of jeans already and don't want it to fade anymore. Or want to wash jeans without eventually getting that washed out look (I live in a tropical country... clothes stink fast).

I guess that is the difference with green jeans. The color on these always fades away uniformly, leaving a weird pale, dull green.

[Geowu]

I would like to know the answer to that too. Apparently vinagre, salt water and dry-cleaning don't work.

[fwahlala]

hey....what i have heard is never to use chlorine or rather the bleaches you find at home because they leave a residue which turns yellow when exposes to sunlight.....

in the factories, i think they use a purple solution called potassium permanganate.....not sure.....wonder where to get them..hahhha

[nairb49]

potassium permanganate is a really really intense purple, if you get that ANYWHERE its gonna stain real bad, permanent.

its not legal for sale unless you're a lab or whatnot (i have no idea how you'd use it on jeans)

nairb49