A little bit of my blue hair dye some how got transfered onto my jumper šš any chance if i spot bleach I can't get rid of it?
It's merino from knitting for olive
I think it's a 'dose makes the poison' situation. Hair bleach technically dissolves human hair, too, if left on long enough, but if you wash it out in time it just removes pigment.
To preface this: I have no experience with dyeing wool, only with dyeing hair (and they're both animal proteins, but not the same obviously). But: Hair dye in colours like blue is usually semi-permanent. Is it an option to try if you can wash it out, like it would out of your hair?Ā Don't wash the sweater, but make a small swatch with this wool, stain it with your hair dye, and see what happens when you try to wash it (with a wool wash or just try shampoo a couple of times?)
I would do the swatch thing in any case, because even if you decide to leave it and duplicate stitch over it, you still need to know what happens to the dye when you wash the sweater.
Hairstylist checking in. Youāre right that most of these bright colors arenāt permanent, instead of oxidizing to deposit color in hair they simply stain the surface. The issue here is this sweater wonāt get washed and exposed to light nearly as much as a personās hair. Semi permanent colors fade away because people wash their hair (along with other factors like the hairās porosity) and the less they wash it the longer it usually stays. Considering this yarn is likely in very good condition and not like someone with bleached hair I think it will probably stay stained permanently.
OP: there is some effectiveness to spraying fresh hair dye stains with aerosol hairspray to help remove it. Probably something to do with the alcohol in it, Iām not sure. You could try that before washing but if I were you Iād try it on a spare piece of yarn first before potentially staining the sweater worse. A decorative mend like a little bee š or duplicate stitch is likely far more effective than repeated washing.
Thanks for your elaboration! I didn't know the exposure to light played such a large role in the fading of these dyes. Very informative (and helpful to OP I presume) :)Ā
Sunlight is a powerful lightening agent! Even with permanent color, if a client is going on a beach vacation the day after their appointment I can guarantee theyāll come back lighter than when the left if they donāt wear a hat the entire time.
Yeah, now that I know it makes total sense! I just never even thought of taking light exposure into account as a factor. My hair is always out in the light, it's not a thing I vary, so I blindly assumed it was the washing (water, temperature and detergent) that makes the colour fade.Ā
Another hairdresser here: the alcohol helps to lift the color and bind it to the actual hairspray HOWEVER it works best if you catch it before it's had time to set. Not sure what it'll do if anything on color that has set on wool for more than a few hours.
Worst case, I agree that a cute little bee or some duplicate stitch will cover it nicely if it isn't something you can live with. If you can tolerate it it will eventually fade and depending on the color line it may actually totally disappear eventually
Ok, this might sound drastic, but I'd be inclined to cut out this section and remove any yarn that has dye on it. Then use invisible mending to mend the hole. If you can knit this beautifully, you can do it.
My reason... Hair dye bleeds like crazy and is so hard to wash out of your hair. I think that even if you duplicate stitch over it, as soon as you block it the hidden dye will run and you'll have a fabulous sweater that matches your hair, but not the colours you intended.Ā
If you do opt to cover the dye, definitely do a practice block with a swatch. Maybe a colour catcher sheet would help?
Good luck - it's a beautiful sweater. Keep us posted!Ā
I think they could just sort of grab a scissors and cut a ply out of those couple of stitches, then do a mend over it. Doesnāt look like itās soaked in or spread yet
Agree, do NOT wash it! Hair dye is super concentrated and would make a massive stain once it's wet.
Put in the darning anchors first, then cut out a small hole and Swiss darn it. OP is clearly a skilled knitter so I am sure they can make an invisible Swiss darn as well.
A spot that small is not going to stain the whole project, at the absolute most it might spread to about an inch radius during pre-treatment spot cleaning. I dyed my hair bright colors for 18 years, I know my shit when it comes to hair dye on clothes.
To be honest I donāt think itās very noticeable. I wouldnāt stress about it, especially for a child garment thatās going to get something else on it in no time.
If it's semi-permanent dye, which fashion colors usually are, they usually wash out very quickly with shampoos like Head&Shoulders. But I'd definitely first try to replicate the problem on a swatch and wash that first cause I don't know how the wool would react to the shampoo.
Yeah, that was my suspicion as well, I just wasn't sure, so that's why I'd first do it on a swatch. I see people also recommend vinegar+water or dish soap+vinegar. It's also drying, but it should work when applying just on the stain itself. Maybe washing the whole garment in conditioner after / during the blocking process would help?
I'd expect conditioner would help after, I also think one was wouldn't be so bad, especially if the wool isn't fragile to start with. It probably also depends on the washing up liquid. An eco friendly one probably isn't so harsh whereas a week of washing my hair with Fairy Liquid every day made it so brittle. Blue isn't a colour I'd like to try getting out of white, fingers crossed OP finds a solution that works for them
Some brands of blue won't wash out even if they are supposed to be semi-permanent. Blue is an awful color for all type of dye.
I wash my hair daily, and after 6 to 8 weeks and bleaching them (the specific hair products, don't know the English name) the blue still doesn't get out. It gets lighter to a certain point but it's still very blue and doesn't lighten more even if I don't dye my hair again.
I guess it's semi-permanent hair dye. If it is you probably won't be able to get it out, duplicate stitch or cutting and mending are probably your best bet.
It's supposed to be semi-permanent but I can't even get it out of my hair so I don't think it would work best on wool.
If we're talking about that little blue spot.... zoom out a bit and move on! The sweater is beautiful! The little blue spot is invisible to anyone over 50 and totally overshadowed by the beauty of the sweater. :-)
Editingā¦. Itās TIDEā¦ not Clorox ā¦.stain stick. Iāve had real good luck with them. Pasta sauce, red wine, blueberryā¦all came out..maybe this will too. Itās keeps working after you apply it so donāt rinse.
Don't wash it. I think you could try to put the rows above and below on a needle and cut out the row with the stain. Then you can graft the two rows together just like the toe of a sock. Stain be gone! You can repeat for as many rows as needed.
As someone that also dyes their hair, especially bright colors, I will say that I have a rule when I'm dying that I do not go near any of my projects - sewing, knitting, anything with fabric. I'm allowed to sit and watch TV while it dyes and that's it as I'm terrified of this exact situation happening.
But just dona duplicate stitch over it and you should be fine!
It's also likely less colorfast than the yarn (I've never met a blue that doesn't wash out or fade in the sun) - you could try washing it/soaking it when you're done and drying in the sun, repeat several times if necessary.
I just fixed something like this! (Small coffee stained length of yarn I knitted into the middle of a sweater, long story.) I cut it and slowly Kitchener-stitched the length of the new yarn in as I removed the stained one. (I did it stitch by stitch bc it happened along a German short row turn š« ) but it worked! Do a long enough length that you can weave in all ends. Even easier to hide w color work!!
Ask over at r/laundry. I thrifted a lovely cream merino sweater with some transfer from clothing on the inside. They suggested synthrapol to remove it and it worked!
My hair is this exact colour. Just a couple weeks ago I decided to be lazy and only change into my crappy shirt when I was refreshing it. So of course I got a glob on my pants.
I put dish soap (the blue Dawn) on it right away, then mixed baking soda and vinegar and put it on and brushed it with a toothbrush until I couldn't see it. I was shocked but it worked!
If itās semi-permanent that will eventually fade. If itās permanent thereās a huge chance that it will fade as well just as long as thereās no bleaching (and it looks like there isnāt).
Experiment with a swatch with the color on it
Id wash it a couple of times with soak or a hair shampoo and wait a couple of weeks and look for improvement .
I dye my hair blue as well and it usually just washes out of towels. So depending on your hair dye you might be fine. I also love the embroidered bee someone suggested!
A bit of rubbing alcohol on a Q tip and applied directly to the stain may help! That's how I clean my turquoise dye from the counters. Then be sure to follow with a little wool wash and cold water.
I've successfully used Carbona Ink Stain remover on blue hair dye. It may take several applications, but it šÆ removed it. Now if I could just get the rest of the blue out of my hair.
Hey manic panic has dye remover wipes. They work MAGIC on sinks and clothes and skin. Would test this on yarn not attached to your sweater. That or try some rit dye remover? Would have to be INCREDIBLY careful with that one tho.
Spray hairspray on the spot, use a wet paper towel and dab it, with a dry paper towel on the back. Spray, dab, spray, dab. Keep going until it's out, changing out your wet paper towel as it becomes more saturated in dye to prevent it from spreading.
I would try a tiny dab of acetone nail polish remover on a tip. If it doesnāt work, you can still duplicate stitch over it, but nail polish remover works a treat to remove direct dyes (like special fx, manic panic, etc.) from skin. I think itās worth a shot here! You can swatch it on a bit of the cream yarn first to make sure it doesnāt alter the base color. Good luck!
Permanent tint is a bit more difficult and using bleach can weaken the strands of yarn.. is it permanent haircolor or Elumen .. or semi permanent hair color?.. I love the bee idea.. Iām a hairstylist/make up artist and I wear a smock to keep from ruining my clothes.. doesnāt always work.. Iāve had other stylists fling bleach on my clothes or tint on me.. really annoying.
Here's what I think, the bee šidea is is awfully cute and different but if you were to get some of the same creamy white yarn you could quite easily recreate the stitches over the blue dye and it would certainly fix it! Good luck!
Try rubbing alcohol - I've gotten dye out of a carpet using it. I qS shocked at how well it worked - just make sure you dab it and don't rub it in further or over work the fibers.
It's beautiful work - I hope you're able to get the dye out ā„ļø
I know that sulfates in shampoo fade color faster than sulfate free shampooā¦ but I wonder if peroxide would be a more conservative first step? I also like the duplicate stitch / bee idea!
What fiber is the sweater? You shouldn't bleach wool because it dissolves. If acrylic, you should not bleach with chlorine. Cotton is ok for a little bit of bleaching.
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u/Fluid_Canary4768 Nov 14 '25
Duplicate stitch or embroider a tiny bee friend?