Bring Your Jeans Back To Life (How To Dye Your Jeans)
[0:00:00] You bought the perfect pair of jeans. They
fit just right, they're super comfortable, and you feel like a million bucks every time
you put them on. The problem? You've washed them so many times
that that rich dark indigo color has faded. And now, yeah, they just don't look the same.
They don't look as good as they used to. Don't worry, gents, I've got you covered.
In today's video, I'm going to show you how to dye your jeans, so they look like new.
How to breathe life in the faded jeans. To get started, you're going to need two buckets
or two containers capable of holding four to five gallons of water, a bottle of black
dye, a dye fixative, a measuring cup, salt, gloves, and tongs. You'll also want some old
towels or plastic to cover your workspace, and make sure you're wearing clothing that
you don't mind getting stained. Now, I know what you're thinking, “Antonio,
I want my jeans to be dark blue. I want them to be indigo. Why on earth would I use black
dye? Shouldn't I at least buy navy or something like that instead?”
You would think, so but navy dye won't darken the jeans enough. It will just create a strong
blue color. You see, there's blue dye in the jeans already and the black is just going
to darken it back to the deep indigo. Now, if you do want a more pronounced blue
look, that's cool. Just make sure that you've got one part navy dye to two parts of black
dye when you're putting this together. Now, to get the best results, it's important
to know what kind of material you're working with. For example, some dyes only work with
natural fibers like cotton or linen. Synthetic fibers like polyester or nylon use a different
type of dye. Now, most jeans are 100% cotton, but some
jeans do contain synthetic fibers like spandex. If you have stretch jeans, know that this
dye process is not going to darken them as much as it normally would if they were a hundred
percent cotton. To get started, you want to fill the container
with about 3 to 4 gallons of hot water. Don't fill it more than 70%. You want to give yourself
room. Remember, you're going to be adding the jeans and you don't want to have that
water that's got the dye splashing all over the place.
Now, you want to use the hottest water your fabric can handle to get optimum results.
So, for cotton jeans, you want to use water that's between 140 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, normally you can't get water this hot from your faucet, so you're going to need
to heat the water on a stove or a kettle. Now, make sure to read the directions on the
back of the dye you're using. Many times they're going to tell you exactly how much water to
use. In this case, three gallons is what I'm being instructed to use. And the rule of thumb
in general is you want enough water in the container, so that the jeans can freely move
throughout the bucket, but still be submerged. And, make sure to put on your gloves. While
most dyes aren't harmful, they can be a pain in the backside to wash off. Next, add a cup
of salt and mix it in until it dissolves. This will enhance the color. And don't forget
to add a teaspoon of dish soap. This is going to promote even dying.
If it's a liquid, make sure to shake it. For the particular dye I'm using, four ounces
of dye is recommended for three gallons of water in a single pair of jeans.
Now, take your jeans and dampen them before putting them in the bath. Yes, you're going
to get it wet. Why? Because it's going to help the fibers more easily absorb the dye.
Now, submerge your jeans making sure that they're evenly covered.
Use your tongs to stir the jeans to ensure even results with no splotches. It's important
to stir slowly, but continuously for the first 10 minutes. Now, for the next hour, you want
to continue stirring every 5 minutes letting the jeans sit in the dye.
Now, that you've done the hard work of dyeing your jeans, it's important to make sure the
color sticks. Now, you want to fill up your second tub with 3 gallons of hot water. Again,
about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, you're going to add a dye fixative. The
brand I'm using recommends 4 ounces with 3 gallons of water. Add the fixative to your
water and make sure to mix it thoroughly. Submerge your newly dyed jeans in the fixative
bath and let them soak for about 20 minutes. Throughout this process you want to stir them
slowly every few minutes. Once the 20 minutes has passed, let's pull
out your newly dyed jeans and let's rinse on them. To do this, put the jeans in a sink,
preferably one made from stainless steel, so you don't have to worry about any color
bleeding into the sink itself. When rinsing the jeans, you want to run cool water over
them for a few minutes to get rid of any excess dye.
Now, how long exactly should you rinse your jeans? You want to rinse them until the water
runs clear which shouldn't be more than just a couple minutes.
Now, if you're looking at your jeans right now and saying, “Oh, my gosh, they're darker
than what I expected.”? Don't worry. They will lighten a bit as they dry.
Now, this next step is really important because we don't want to damage your other clothing.
We don't want to dye clothing that you didn’t intend to dye. So, you want to run these jeans
through the washing machine by themselves. Wash them normally, use a mild detergent and
let them air dry. Now, in the case that the jeans are still
not as dark as you would like, you could repeat the process and darken them a bit more.
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