It’s that time of year where I take all my faded black clothes and add a little more color. In the past I would have tossed them in the washing machine with a bottle of RIT, but I’ve learned that dying in a front-loading washer can be tricky.
The next best thing to the washing machine is a plastic tub inside my bathtub (it’s much easier to clean up after than in your sink). Add water, mix in dye and salt, toss in clothes, and mix them around every few hours. I let mine sit over night. On the next day, change out the water and add a little detergent. After this you can put them in the washer to remove the leftover dye particles.
This concept of freshening up one’s clothing isn’t a new thing. Before there was bleach, people use something called “bluing” to freshen up their whites.
As far as cleanup goes, bleach or Oxyclean will remove the dye stains in your bathtub. Or, they will just fade away over time.