Tie-dyeing trends approach as summer comes around.

by MaKenzie Hilling, Student Life Editor

Ever since quarantine happened, high school students have been enjoying the process of tie-dying. Even I have been getting creative with the different techniques. There are several different trends that went through the student body while they were kept inside. Bleach dye was especially popular since almost everyone has bleach available to them. The unique dyes and the cool patterns all enveloped us high schoolers this past summer, and I have a feeling that it will continue into this one.

Students are finding a hobby in tie-dying. Photo by Unsplash.

My friends and I have started following the trends shown on Tik Tok, mostly ones involving clothes. We’ve been to every Walmart we could possibly find in search of certain items; however, I think the coolest thing we’ve done is bleach dye. Bleach dying is the same process for regular dying, except we use darker clothes rather than something light. My first time bleach dying was with a couple tank tops from Walmart and a few tee shirts that I had laying around. My friend, Sydney Lithiluxa (12) was there doing it with me. We both had black shirts we wanted to try first, we did the traditional spiral technique and poured on some bleach. When we unraveled our shirts the day after, we were both in love. Sydney said the “bleach created a copper color against the black shirt, which I thought was the coolest looking thing.” We both found more clothes to dye and kept going, bleach dye is definitely our favorite type of tie-dying.

After our bleach dye came out so cool, Sydney and I decided to try colored dye too. Sydney remembers “using colored dye in elementary school” and she genuinely “liked how it came out.” We both grabbed a tie-dying kit with different colors and got to work. We did the same technique as our bleach dye, just with multiple colors. When we got to see how it dyed, we were happy with the results. Personally, I don’t think anything could top the bleach dye; however, Sydney does not agree with me. She says that “the color tie-dye is much more [her] aesthetic,” she explains that “the bleach tie-dye was cool but not colorful or fun to style.” Although I did not favor the colored tie-dye, I still liked how my shirts came out. The cool shades that I got to use made it a lot more fun.

Different types of tie-dye have been surfacing all over social media, but when my friends and I tested out the trends, we had different preferences. These unique ways in upgrading my closet have also helped out my sense of style. Having cool, vintage looking shirts has been one of my highlights over quarantine, and I hope it continues into this summer.