Natural Dyes

 

We all have heard this term called natural dye, during the times of pandemic it was very much in trend. So what do we understand by this term natural dye?

Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other biological sources such as fungi.

History of Natural Dyes

The development of natural dyes took place at the same time after the technique of weaving had been discovered in about 5000 BC. In India, the use of natural dyes for dyeing, painting, and printing goes to the prehistoric periods. Ajanta paintings, dated as far back as the 1st century AD, were painted with natural dyes.

Synthetic vs Natural dyes

The difference between natural dyes and synthetic dyes is large that synthetic dyes are chemically manufactured whereas natural dyes are purely developed from nature. ... Still, however, natural dyes are still valued for their purity and are still used for food, drugs, and cosmetics that have human ingestion components.

Synthetic dyes were discovered in the mid-19th century by English chemist William Henry Perkin, mauveine, the first man-made colour, transformed textile manufacturing. These synthetic colors allowed manufacturers and dye houses to operate in large quantities, and offer vivid, rich colors. They became the go-to option; they stick to fabrics easily, don’t lose pigmentation, and offer a limitless palette of color options.

Natural dyes have an older, more romantic heritage. Indigo, the most commonly known natural dye, is traced back to the days of ancient India’s Indus river valley civilization.

“The use of natural dyes on cotton was India’s unique gift to the world,” says Simran Lal, CEO of GoodEarth, a luxury home and clothing brand in Delhi.

But natural dyes lack the vibrancy of synthetic dyes and rely on arable land to produce the base material, such as cotton, the easiest fabric for natural dyes to adhere to. Conventional cotton, though, requires farms to spend heavily on water.

While the country’s mills have made progress and work is underway to reduce their chemical footprint, rinse water from the dying process is still blamed for contaminating many of India’s rivers.

Why Natural Dyes?

 Natural dyes are better products, simply because they do not contain chemicals harmful to health. As such products are healthier and more reliable than the chemical synthetic dyes. ... Natural colors always offer contrasting shades and ranges of hues are impossible to achieve with artificial colorings.

Natural dyes are biodegradable and eco-friendly compared to synthetic dyes. Synthetic dyes have carcinogenic properties, can cause health problems, respiratory diseases, irritations, and the list are long.

We have talked about the pros of Natural dyes let's also talk about the Cons as well!

As we know there are pros and cons to everything. So in such a situation, we should look for the positive aspect and try to find a solution for the cons.

LET'S GO GREEN!!!!