What to use for colouring...?

[slimeysophie]

I was once covered in blue kiddies paint, then cleaned up and had red and yellow kiddies paint. It was the stuff you get from ELC and I looked like a Smurf to start with and then turned to...I have no idea what! My poor blonde hair ended up pink for a few days until I had to dye it.

Moral of the story...dont use the kiddies washable paint from ELC or if you do, wash it down drastically!!! I will never touch the stuff again but that is just me.

[Etonman]

I worked in the textile industry a few years ago, and my advice would be not to use any colouring unless you are willing to accept that a garment (or tiles, plastic baths, etc.) might be stained permanently.

In practice you'll probably get away with it most times, but there are so many possible combinations of different dyes, fabrics, and fabric treatments, that there will always be the occasional problem even with "safe" stuff like kiddies paints and food colors.

This is one reason why the company where I worked were sometimes ultra-cautious with advice on labels, like saying "dry clean only", when the fabrics had already been tested in the lab by being chucked in a hot machine wash!

Science class dismissed.