No-Black Friday (Bleaching Blacks)

Why?

Right about now, most of you are thinking, “Bleaching blacks?! Why on earth would I want to do that?!?” Well, contrary to popular culture, black does not look good on everybody. Some people – especially those who are very fair – are overpowered by it. Others have coloring that is too warm for it; the black just sits there on them, still. They need the warmth and vibrance of something less…stark.

When you bleach a black garment, it does not turn white. It often doesn’t just lighten to grey. Rather, it often turns into another color altogether. Sometimes a khaki-ish green. And sometimes a beautiful, rich brown. Now, the problem is, you can’t guarantee which one it will be. It’s a gamble. (So don’t do this to something you’d be crushed to ruin!) On the other hand, I’ve found that the most expensive-brand cottons are the ones that most frequently turn that gorgeous brown.

Here are some examples of some items I’ve bleached, before bleaching. (A few of the items in the “before” had already had color remover used on them. That’s why they look so weird. The others were just “normal.” You’ll also note that a few of these weren’t actually black; they were other dark colors like navy, charcoal, and maroon.)

black to bleach — This dress was a good-quality brand black dress.

color-removed blacks to bleach — These are all previously-black garments that had had color remover used on them. Even the one that’s that weird gold color used to be all-black!

blacks and blues to bleach — The shirt on the far left is navy. The other two items are black.

blacks to bleach — Good-quality brand black dress

black herringbone to bleach — black herringbone slacks

navy blue to bleach — navy blue print skirt

maroon and black to bleach — maroon skirt with black hem band and black embroidery

black socks, before dyeing — black socks

After Bleaching

Here is what those same garments look like after bleaching.

navy skirt and slacks - unchanged — Some of the items, like these navy slacks and skirt, didn’t really change at all.

herringbone slacks - unchanged — also essentially unchanged

shirt - unchanged — The weird gold here faded a bit, but it’s largely the same. (The background is made of a different fiber, so it didn’t bleach.)

formerly black shirt, previously color-removered - now faded khaki green — This faded a bit more. (This is one of the pieces that had previously been “color-removered.”)

maroon skirt - now redder, with greenish hem and still-black embroidery — Some items did unpredictable things. This skirt turned redder. The black hem is lighter, with a greenish cast. The braid trim turned purple. And the embroidery remained black.

black socks - now taupe-ish — The socks were fascinating study. Because of the way the fibers are blended, the ankle area faded. The tops of the feet did not (pretty much). And the bottoms of the feet look marled.

black jeans - faded — These took on a slightly greenish cast, but largely just faded.

navy shirt, now purple — The navy blue top turned purple.

charcoal sweater - now purplish-brown — But some of the items did exactly what we’d hoped. This one (the grey) turned a very purplish brown. But it did turn brown.

black dress - now brown — This turned a beautiful shade of brown.

black lace top - now brown — And so did this sweater.

So How Do You Do It?

If you’d like to give it a try, it’s not hard. Just be sure you’re willing to live with the results if they’re not what you’d hoped. Fill the washer with hot washer to the appropriate level, and add a liberal amount of bleach. Let it agitate for a moment to distribute the bleach throughout the washer tub, then add already-wet clothing, and run it through a wash cycle.

If the clothes don’t seem to change, add more bleach and do it again. (Use a pretty good amount. Like 1-2 cups.) Now after that, I understand that you need to discharge the bleach. Basically, this means that you need to neutralize it so it doesn’t continue to bleach your clothes. I add about 2-3 Tbsp. (assuming a pretty full washerload) of this stuff to the washer and run it through a wash cycle one more time.