Everyone always says that you need to let tie die sit for about 24 hours before rinsing for the best colors, but I never was able to find any actual facts to back that up. How did they get that number? Did someone just pick an arbitrary number that sounded like it was probably good enough or did someone actually figure out the best cure time long ago and the data has just been lost to time?
There’s been a few times that I wanted or needed to rinse out my dyes before that magical number of 24 hours and I wondered if I was sacrificing vibrant color by rinsing early.
I’m a facts and evidence based person so I wanted to know for myself if I really needed to wait that long.
I set up an experiment using all the single pigment dyes I had on hand and tested them at various time points over 24 hours to see just how it actually took before each reached its peak color.
(As a side note, I buy my supplies from Dharma Trading so I used their color names throughout this article.)
Results:
I’d say the biggest surprise was how quickly most of the dyes took to the fabric. Check out the hot colors; by 30 minutes both Lemon Yellow and Deep Orange were already at full strength. And Fuchsia was pretty much immediate – there’s no visible difference in any of the swatches.

I found Grape interesting: it was much more prone to mottling than the rest of the colors, but by 30 minutes the swatches had reached full saturation.

The blue toned colors were about what I expected. There was a much more gradual change along these.

Turquoise was about what I expected. It had a really gradual change that continued to get darker throughout the full 24 hours. I actually find myself now wondering if Turquoise would benefit from even more time since there is still a noticeable difference between 12 hours and 24 hours. Should it sit for 36 hours? 48? I’ll have to look more into this. (Edit: Turquoise has been retested and should sit for 24 hours before rinsing.)
Although the most noticeable difference with Cobalt Blue is in the first 4 swatches, it did gradually get subtly darker throughout the rest of the time points. It’s hard to see this faint difference on a screen but it was visible in person.
And then we have Cerulean Blue.

I… I have no idea what happened here.
Yes, those swatches are in order. No, I did not mix up any of the labels. Yes, I’m absolutely sure.
So you might be wondering why I even bothered to include them in my post. Because unexpected results are an important part of science! A good scientist doesn’t hide results that didn’t match her expectations. She questions them and tries to learn from them.
Obviously something weird happened here. I have a few ideas, but that will have to wait until I have time to retest again. (Edit: Cerulean Blue has been retested. See the results here.)
Conclusion:
If you’re dying with Fuchsia, Lemon Yellow, Deep Orange, or Grape, you could rinse after just a couple hours without color loss.
When using Cobalt Blue you should wait at least 12 hours, but 24 is best.
Until I retest Cerulean Blue I’ll have to recommend waiting 24 hours. (Edit: 24 hours is recommended.)
Turquoise should absolutely be given 24 hours at a minimum – possibly longer. (More testing is needed.) (Edit: 24 hours has been verified.)
If you aren’t sure what colors are in a mix, such as when you buy a premixed color, then wait the 24 hours to ensure your color fully cures.
And this folks is probably where the 24 hour recommendation came from – better safe than sorry right?
So maybe you’re thinking “I ice dye, why do I need to know any of this?”
Knowing each color’s cure time allows you to manipulate them with better results.
I’ve done a lot of ice dye mixes with purple and blue and discovered that purple tends to overtake the blue on the fabric. The purple is quicker to bond with the fabric fibers so it basically beats blue to the punch. Knowing this, you can add less purple and more blue to better achieve the result you want.
This also explains why vibrant turquoise is such a hard color to get when you ice dye and why adding additional soda ash to the process helps. Turquoise needs more time to bond with the fabric, so adding more soda ash allows the chemical reaction to take place over a longer period of time.
Bottom line?
Wait 24 hours for full color if you can, but if you need to rinse a few hours early, you’ll probably be okay.
This information is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your results.
So glad you found it helpful!
What’s your recommended time for ice dyeing? It’s my first time and I’m trying 3 different blues together. Would love the feedback! Great site!
Have you checked out my article on ice dyeing? I still wait at least 24 hours before rinsing my ice dyes. You can even let it sit longer if you like.
This was perfect information thank you for taking the time to write it out!!
If I want a pastel color, do you recommend diluting the dye with more water and leaving it on for 24 hours OR leaving the dye on for less hours?
I would recommend diluting the dye and leave it for 24 hours before rinsing.
I would love to see if there is a difference in yellow, orange, fuscia after like 20 washes…
Does the color fade more with the lesser times?
30min, 6hr,12hr,24hr
Is there a huge difference or any in the color over time?
That would be an interesting experiment.
I did take a brief look at the washability of the dyes here – https://mythicseam.com/procion-dye-jaquard-textile-paint-washability-test/ – but taking a more in depth look at each individual color is a great idea!
Hey Dan… they will fade over time if you rinse before the 4 hour or 24 hour cure time. They are fiber reactive and it requires that time for the colors to ‘Lock-On’ to the fibers, then as they cure, the fibers slowly shrink down and lock in the colors.
Love the info
That’s good to know!
Can you send me the info on where to get the dye? Abigpurpediamond@yahoo.com
Can you pls send them to me too ? would love to get a better price for the dyes 🙂 pls send me email adriennealmeda@gmail.com
Have you double ice dyed with a long to cure color first (leaving plenty of white spaces) then later added more ice and a fast cure color? Like cobalt then after 24 hours fill in some white areas with more ice and fuchsia?
No I haven’t and that’s not something I’d try for a few reasons. Firstly I personally always cure for at least 24 hours. Secondly, the ice is rinsing out some of the soda ash so your second dye would have less of the chemical to help it bond to the fabric. And thirdly, when I want a mix of colors on my ice dye I experiment to find the right ratio of colors until I get the look I want because once I have that ratio right I know I can repeat it with fairly consistent results. This doesn’t mean… Read more »
Just wanted to mention that I have tried a double ice bath. When starting the second round. I added soda ash on top of the ice. That way I knew the chemical reaction would still remain. And then batched it for 24 hours before washing it out. 😉
Can you pls send them to me too ? would love to get a better price for the dyes 🙂 pls send me email adriennealmeda@gmail.com
this is amazing nice work
Amazing! Thank you!
This is my first ever comment on an article but I just HAVE to thank you for this. You really took one for the team and I seriously can’t thank you enough. This info in absolutely invaluable. Thank you thank you thank you!!
Thanks . I have been trying to find out how to make my ice dyes more pastel.
Very helpful – the follow up with the blues too!
I’m not sure why it took me so long to find you, but I am ever so happy I did! Thank you so very much for taking the time to painstakingly test each color at each time interval to determine whether the full 24 hour time period was truly necessary. I had found similar results with swatches and had begun to wonder what, if anything, I was doing wrong with the turquoise to get such pale results, when lemon yellow, carmine red, and a few others had been so intense so quickly. As I have worked longer with it (much… Read more »
Thank you! Some colors respond better to warmer temperature water. Turquoise especially does not work well with colder water temperatures (so much so I don’t use it in ice dyeing anymore). I know Dharma’s Emerald Green contains turquoise, so I would assume there’s a good chance Jacquard does as well. You can try using warmer water or try letting it cure in warmer temperatures (perhaps experimenting with keeping your dye warm with a heating pad) to see if that improves the results. Otherwise you’ll need to start experimenting with your own recipes to fine tune the color the way you… Read more »
Wow! Thank you so much! It honestly didn’t occur to me about the temps. I’ve read about people using heating pads and microwave ovens (I’ve tried the latter, but not with the EG). I will experiment with temperatures. Other than ice dyeing, however, I haven’t much chance of cooler temperatures as I live in South Florida. The coolest it will be is the coolest I set my thermostat. (No snow days here! 😭) The best heating pad is the ground outside—at least 340 days a year.
Many thanks for your quick response! Can’t wait to try it out.
I just found this and just want to say I really appreciate it. I am a data person, and it’s very hard to find anything that has anything but “you should do this”. I should? Cool. What if I don’t? Why should I do this?
Thank you so much for the super useful data. I have been tie-dyeing with my son for years every summer and I haven’t been able to determine how to set things better.
Do you know if dyeing in the muck would allow you to decrease the time? Or will it still take that time to be reactive with the fibers?
No, the only way to speed up the chemical reaction with the fibers is to increase the temperature such as dyeing on a hot, sunny day.
Hi, do you remember the temperature it was when you did this?
Room temperature, so low 70’s F.