How to Dye Black Jeans In The Washing Machine

Winter is coming. Not in the Game of Thrones sense, but in the it’s time to dust off your trusty old jeans sense. Although it pains me to admit it, summer is pretty much over and the weather has started to take a turn and so I’ve made the annual wardrobe switch over.

My black jeans were looking sad, tired and faded and so I decided to take action. I was a little daunted about dying my jeans in the washing machine, but after checking out reviews online I felt reassured that the process would be straightforward. The Dylon brand came up quite frequently so I opted for the Dylon Intense Black Fabric Dye from Amazon.

When it comes to ease of use, this product gets 10/10. You literally unwrap the plastic wrapper, peel off the foil lid and place upright into your washing machine with the damp clothes you wish to dye. Just check the instructions of your pack to see how many garments you can dye at one time – with jeans, one pod will dye one pair.

After the cycle is finished, you are advised to remove the pod and wash your garments again on a normal cycle – I presume this is to rid them of an excess dye. After I followed this procedure, I removed my jeans and to my delight, they were restored to their former glory.

Below you can see the before and after results on this pair of H&M jeans. I am really pleased with the rich black colour – it certainly did what it said on the tin and the intense black colour was delivered.

One of my biggest worries about dyeing my jeans in the washing machine was it leaving dye in my machine, rendering it unusable. The pack advises running a wash with no clothes in afterwards to remove any extra dye and I thought I would go one step further and run a washing machine cleaner powder through my machine to ensure it was squeaky clean. To my horror, even after this wash, there was still remnants of black dye in my machine!

I frantically Googled how to clean your washing machine and came across the vinegar trick – and low and behold – after wiping the inside of my drum with vinegar and adding it to the drawer for a cycle, my washing machine was dye free. So although my machine is perfectly okay now (I’ve since done a white wash and all is fine!) please be warned that you may need a few washes to get it back to normal. That being said, I would still consider purchasing this product again because my jeans are looking fabulous – and it saves me buying a brand new pair!

R x