Angela ~ Fixing Dingy Gray Clothing

What on earth is this, you may ask.

Underwear, cotton underwear that is supposed to be white but over the last few years has turned gray from the minerals and/or additives in our water.  I was tired of my whites looking like they were never laundered so I dyed them!

I was hoping to find a beige or pale pink but our Walmart, which is the only game in town, was woefully inadequate.  This is 'aquamarine' which on the label looked about 10 shades lighter.  Oh well, no one sees them but me.

I used a 5 gallon bucket, put in 1/2 cup of salt and some Dawn as recommended on the label, 3 gallons hot water, the entire bottle of RIT dye and 10 pair of undies.  I also threw in 4 washcloths that were also gray.  I used a stick to stir it around several times during the 6 hour bath.  

I pulled each piece out and squeezed out as much liquid as I could and set aside.  Dumped the residual dye bath as I had no other use for it and cleaned out the bucket.  At the sink, which is in the garage, I rinsed and squeezed out the liquid from each piece about 4 times to remove excess dye, it was almost clear by then.

Then I ran a short cycle in the washer with detergent, dried in the dryer and voila! I have no more dingy gray undies.

I do recommend wearing gloves to do this as 4 days later I still have blue spots on my hands.