Kendogi: blue dye rubbing off

[sakuramaru]

Hello there everyone,

I'm a newbie to kendo and this forum. I just purchased my first kendogi from e-bogu after a couple months of kendo. When I tried it on, I noticed the Shoaizome indigo dye they used just completely rubs off on me - my arms and shoulders were blue! Is this normal? Does it go away after the first wash?

I wouldn't want to go to my next keiko and leave looking like a smurf.
Thanks for any of your comments, and for helping out a newbie. :)

[Optomitrist]

Dyed kendogi will bleed. They will bleed all over you. You have to give them a vinegar bath. This will help set the dye. It will probably keep bleeding a little bit more. Don't worry though, the more it wears the better it looks.

Also if you going to wash it, hand wash it and dont use soap and see how that works out for you. It should keep longer.

[sakuramaru]

A vinegar bath? I wonder how much vinegar I should use? So I take it its normal to "be blue" for a few practices?

Now I'm starting to understand why a lot of kendoki have blue stains on their shinai tsukas.:spchless:

Thanks for your quick reply. :)

[dnakase]

1/4 to 1/2 cup

I use the bath tub to soak it in. Use white vinegar or rice vinegar in tepid, not hot, water for about an hour.

Get used to being blue for a while.

[JohnnyBlaze]

check out this site it http://www.kendo-usa.org/reference/hakama_wash.htm

[John Seavitt]

Alternatively one might follow the suggestions here: http://www.aikiweb.com/misc/shifflett3.html

John

[Paikea]

A vinegar bath? I wonder how much vinegar I should use? So I take it its normal to "be blue" for a few practices?

Now I'm starting to understand why a lot of kendoki have blue stains on their shinai tsukas.:spchless:

Thanks for your quick reply. :)I use one quart of white vinegar plus one half cup of salt to 3 gallons of cold water. Soak overnight, rinse and wash in cold water, very little if any smurfing problem, always completely gone after second washing or so.

The tsukagawa stains are from the dye in the kote, which you don't wash, or set the dye.

[Kanly]

i used the instructions from kendo america, the link of which is provided above, my gear still bleeds a little but thats to be expected, doesnt bleed as much as it did out of the box hahaha and i used normal white vineger my self. My uniform smelled faintly of vineger the next couple of classes but it went away

[sakuramaru]

Thanks! My kendogi is now soaking in a bathtub full of water and vinegar at this moment. I guess I won't be able to wear it in time for my keiko tommorow but at least being "smurfy" will be the least of my worries. :)

Thanks all! These are great links!

[Omnis]

I just hope your bathtub is enamel. Get ready to scrub that sucker.

[Kanly]

rofl if it isnt at least it will build some muscels in his arms for all the men he will be doing ^_^

[Omnis]

Oh my god, I just read that entirely wrong. Gross, gross! Hahaha.

Anyone know how well that dogi/bogu sanitizer spray stuff works? What about dye kits? I'm not really concerned about it right now, but perhaps it would be of some use to the thread-starter.

[LNGUYEN]

All of above advices are good.

Another special way: The Italian way

1/2 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of virgin olive oil
3 garlic
1/2 lb of parmesan cheese
a note of sugar
If you like, you can add some:
Chopped tomatoes

All mix together for 45 minutes

now you can put it on salad, oh I am sorry, kendogi, and it is read to serve, oh I am sorry, to use.

And it is unwise to use this formula.

[Ignatz]

Being Irish and descended from Druids I find the smurf look to be attractive.

[Omnis]

Being Irish and descended from Druids I find the smurf look to be attractive.

Hahaha, nice one.

[DarQik]

I wouldn't want to go to my next keiko and leave looking like a smurf.:silly: Not to worry, no one will think you are odd for being smurfy. When you get bogu, you will get to be smurfy blue again. Soap takes it off pretty well.

I really need a kendo smurf keychain...

[Gessho]

I just hope your bathtub is enamel. Get ready to scrub that sucker.

Perhaps it's a better idea to use a basin outside in the yard with some woolite and a garden hose?

[Kanly]

i used a plastic storage box and set the dye in those

[Omnis]

yeah, that's probably the best thing to do.

[nothing]

welcome.. your now officially a smurf...

[Morvran]

Haha I went running to find a thread like this after my first practice in my new kendogi. I changed at the gym so didn't notice until I got home. I looked in the mirror and seriously thought someone had wacked the hell out of my shoulders and bruised them all up...but I didn't remember getting hit....then it occured to me that it was the dye.

Looks like it's headed for the bathtub tonight. Otherwise my wife's gonna think I've been smurfing around!

[Wormaap]

Buying 2nd hand helps too :P My bogu is 10 years old, and I just bought it off my sensei for 50 bucks today :) The other sensei sold me a hardly-used hakama and gi for another 50, and no smurfy for me :D I just threw the gi in the washing machine though, it's cotton, and it was just a little too big for me, now it fits like a glove :)

[Morvran]

Is the bogu stinky?

[Wormaap]

Hardly :) The inches of dust on it absorbed the smell :D He hadn't used it in years, so it had all the time in the world to air.