Bleaching Denim

[rockyracoon]

I've just wasted 3 hours of my life, and over half a bottle of Big Bad Dom trying to bleach the legs of a pair of jeans, and it hasn't shifted an iota of colour, they are as dark blue now as they were went they went into the bleach water. Normally, I only have to look at a bleach bottle and my clothes get ruined, the day I want to ruin something, it doesn't work!

[Barmaid]

Did you use hot or cold water?

[ummmm]

Could you try it neat?

[rockyracoon]

It was sort of luke warm.
I dropped a bit of neat bleach on the edge, and it hasn't touched them.

[calmck]

Soak in bleach overnight but you might rot the material

[tonyav]

See if this helps.
https://www.hunker.com/13420162/how-to-bleach-jeans-evenly

[tonyav]

Or this.

[calmck]

Are you sure there was bleach in the bottle

[Mamyalynne]

Is there a lot of lycra in the jeans?

[woofgang]

I was going to say the same as mamya

[rockyracoon]

Thanks all. I know how to bleach them, it's just not working. I'm wondering if they're not made out of cotton, but some man-made type fabric.

Nope, there's no Lycra in them, they were men's jeans that I cut down for shorts, last year.

[237SJ]

The lycra content would be minimal. Maybe they are made from some sort of inpenetrable synthetic fabric.

[pastafreak]

Were they cotton...or not?
If they have a lot of polyester, or as mamya says...lycra...you may not be able to bleach or dye them.

[tonyav]

It is possible the colour is chemically set to resist fading from bleach, sunlight, frequent washing etc. many companies spend tons of research money trying to finds ways to keep colours from fading.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080529235044AAqE0nZ

[TonyV]

OK best advice is to soak in water first then put bleach on, or use industrial bleach.

[rockyracoon]

I’ve just checked the label on the shorts, and they’re 100% cotton.

I reckon they might be treated, as in Tony’s link.

[tonyav]

Are they still the same colour as they were when brand new even after all the washes that they have had, if they are then I'd guess that they have been treated.

[rockyracoon]

They’ve only been washed a couple of times, but they were bleaching for around 3 hours today, and the colour is still the same as the shorts that they are the legs of.

[shoota]

Get another bowl of bleach, then indigo again......

[woofgang]

You might try milton instead of domestos, I believe the formulas are different.

[rockyracoon]

I've just bunged them in a basin full of Milton solution.

Fingers crossed, though I won't hold my breath.