Has anyone tried dyeing undies?

[notnowImreading]

Following the bra threads, I took myself off to Bravissimo and spent an effing fortune. This was only about six weeks ago and one of my lovely cream bra and knicker sets has faded right down to miserable greyish white, like a shitty old bra from Tesco. I'm really irritated but can do nothing because of their disclaimers about hand-washing the bloody things. Can it be dyed back to glory with a wash in dye? It hasn't lost its shape yet so would like to keep wearing it but it's currently the kind of underwear your mother warned you about getting run over in - guaranteed shame in front of the doctors and nurses.

[BikeRunSki]

You can' t dye synthetic fabrics with the kind of dyes you get for home.

[notnowImreading]

That's what I thought. I'll just have to be really careful on the roads. :(

[BikeRunSki]

It's a pain isn't it. I bought some new bras recently at vast cost. Hand washed them. Then 1 yo dd grabbed some blackberries off a bush and pushed them down my front. Pristine white bra now covered in big grey blotches.

[SundaySimmons]

Put them in a pillowcase and wash using glow white the net curtain whitener. It should restore them.

Alternatively, I googled this dilemma for you and found this

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=370698&page=1

A poster had great success using borax and leaving the pre cleaned undies in the slow cooker over night! Got to be worth a try!

[LividofLondon]

This website is a great resource for all things dye related, but I'm almost certain it's not possible to dye synthetics at home:
www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

[notnowImreading]

Thanks for the links - weirdly fascinating but totally hope-crushing as far as my greying pants and bra are concerned.

[SundaySimmons]

Can I ask why they have turned grey. I have never had white underwear turn grey because I wash all whites together and delicates go inside a white pillowcase.

Are you putting your underwear in with dark colours or other clothing?

I have had a couple of the children's white polo shirts when they were younger accidently turn a pinkish hue or dingy white when a pink and a black sock were inadvertently left in the machine.

I used Ace

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252699380

And the whites were restored.

[notnowImreading]

They weren't white to start with, they were cream. It was a pale wash with no dark colours on at 40 degrees on a short cycle with bio washing powder. When they can out it looked as though all the cream dye had washed out of them rather than another colour washing in. The lace is still cream but the rest of the material is just dingy not-quite-white. This was the first time I'd washed them so was particularly hacked off. Unfortunately, I was on holiday with not many more undies so had to wash them several times on my travels and can't now ring up Bravissimo and moan 'only one wash' etc.

[shopalot]

You can definitely dye synthetics at home- you just have to buy the right dye. I dye Lycra leotards all the time...... (Am a ballet teacher!!!!). You need dyson cold water dye rather than the washing machine type dye.

[notnowImreading]

Just thought I'd update - I emailed Bravissimo to tell them exactly what I've written here, very honest about the fact that I hadn't followed the hand wash instructions, and they have offered to replace the set and even sent me a freepost label to do it. I knew they were on the side of the angels!

[SundaySimmons]

Well done

[nowaistatall]

Nice to hear of excellent customer service ! - well done Bravissimo!

[CaffeinatedLentilWeaver]

Nice one. Sadly I don't have the norks for Bravissimo, but for future reference: stained pure cotton undies and bright dylons can do fantastic things for one another. It was a MW who told me, too.