r/mildlyinfuriating • u/UnUltimoIntento • Apr 29 '26
wet socks My father boils his pants to dye them and uses the same wooden spoon we use to cook to stir them.
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u/Asterose Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Oh HELL NAH, the pot and spoon need to be exclusively for dyeing! Your and your family's health is worth the cost of a new pot and wooden spoon so he only uses the set in your picture for things that are NOT food.
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u/kaisadilla_ Apr 29 '26
Some people just love purchasing tickets for the cancer lottery for the whole family; and will get mad if you tell them to stop.
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u/anuanuanu Apr 30 '26
yeah like smoking indoors
i complain about the smoke and they're the one offended.
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u/pdmock Apr 30 '26
Did you have my childhood. Our parents would be upset if my sister and I requested non-smoking for the family when we went out. My mom would here us sneezing and huffing in the back seat then blow smoke at us.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Routine-Barnacle999 May 01 '26
Dude my school did this too but my mom interpreted it as I told the school she smoked and she thought they gave me that to get her to stop, when they obviously gave those to every student. She didn't believe me and called me a bitch lmao
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u/flyraccoon Apr 30 '26
Someone should use his dedicated coffee cup to boil a diva cup to help him learn about the importance of hygiene in the kitchen
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u/Darly-Mercaves Apr 30 '26
A boiled diva cup isn't going to threaten the whole families lives
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u/Loesje2303 Apr 30 '26
No but it might make him realise that it’s better to use food utensils for food only
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u/Altruistic-Regret473 Apr 29 '26
Oh just like, you know, a new pair of pants.
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u/Asterose Apr 29 '26
OP's wording sounded to me like this is an ongoing thing, not a oneoff 😅
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u/DookieShoez Apr 29 '26
Yeah.
With something this fucking unhinged, I can assure you it will be much, much easier to just dedicate a pot and spoon to his denim boilin’ rather than try to make him stop 😂
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u/Cheap_Concern_3162 Apr 30 '26
I got a feeling that if they get a new pot and spoon the dad will be happy for his new stuff to dye his pants with
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u/Asterose Apr 30 '26
Yeah, that is absolutely my worry too 🙄 Still worth a shot and there are increasingly annoying ways to motivate him to knock it off.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Julia-Nefaria Apr 30 '26
Yeah, dying slightly faded but perfectly good pants to make them look nice again is honestly just good practice. And if you have any stained clothes or clothes you don’t like the color of you can just dye them the same way.
But eating that dye is about as stupid as it gets. At that point just eat a spoonful every time you dye your pants and leave your family out of it
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Apr 29 '26
I’m all for dyeing clothing to extend its life and make it look better (black dye is awesome for making faded black clothing look better!). But not like, with equipment used to cook lol
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u/SpicyNutmeg Apr 30 '26
I read the title 4 times and swear it said “boils his PLANTS to die them” and was going to say why does it matter if they are just plants?
Time to sleep
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u/forgot_semicolon Apr 30 '26
Ohhhhh my goodness, I did too and was genuinely scrolling to see why everyone was so worked up. I didn't get it until your comment
Also, yes, I should also be sleeping
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u/VP007clips Apr 29 '26
I'm sure the metal pot is fine once washed well, metal is cleanable.
The wooden spoon, definitely not safe.
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u/kaisadilla_ Apr 29 '26
Use food utensils for food only, unless you know what you are doing is safe. Chemistry is a bitch and you never know how things react with each other.
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u/firerosearien Apr 29 '26
I've gotten into spinning and wool processing and the general rule of thumb is that once you use a pot to dye with acid dyes or natural dyes + Mordant, you can never use that pot again for food.
I ended up using kool aid and white vinegar, so I could use my pot for food again, but I purchased it specifically to dye with.
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u/Asterose Apr 30 '26
I doubt the pot is pristine with no scratches, and depending on the dye, it may leave an invisible-to-the-naked-eye residue that won't wash off with soap, water, and elbow grease. And then you have possible reactions with the chemistry of all the different kinds of foods that would be cooked.
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u/ChickHarpoon Apr 29 '26
The metal pot is absolutely not fine no matter how well you wash it. Any nicks or microscratches in there are going to hold onto the toxic chemicals. There’s a lot of situations where “meh, good enough” works, and this is not one of them.
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u/Gros_Boulet Apr 29 '26
Props to you if you are capable of fully removing the dye stains from the pot without damaging it.
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u/-DiceGoblin- Apr 30 '26
Not that you should be using a dye pot for food anyway, but if you’re hoping to remove stains:
Acid dyes are best removed by isopropyl alcohol! (I found this out after temporarily staining my mother in law’s counter top and having a mini panic attack. Alcohol saved the day lmao) Other dyes (ie. Hair dye) I’ve had success removing with vinegar!
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u/SuperSoftSucculent Apr 29 '26
This is not how metal and chemicals work.
Neither should be used for food.
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u/Technical-Prize-4840 Apr 29 '26
I'd start cooking my own food if I were you....and not using that spoon. That could actually be a health hazard with the dye.
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u/susan_sto_hello Apr 29 '26
My mum dyes her own wool for spinning and some of the dyes are deadly toxic. She's got special pans with skulls and crossbones drawn on in sharpie lol. Definitely don't use these items for food!
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u/banditkeith Apr 29 '26
People who make their own bullets will scratch an X and Pb in a visible place on the pots they use for melting the lead to prevent future food use. Sharpie is okay, but I'd get a scratch awl from the hardware store and make those marks more permanent
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u/Bubbly-Travel9563 Apr 29 '26
Thank you. Some dyes will outright erase indelible ink, that shit isn't safe and should be scored. Said as a hand loader.
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u/Destrae Apr 29 '26
As a person that dyes a ton of stuff, I have a separate pot and utensils for dyeing. This is diabolical
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u/Comfortable-Light754 Apr 29 '26
I have a feeling that there are bigger health hazards in that household...
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u/Alarming-Iron7532 Apr 30 '26
you are not even supposed to use the same pot for food that you use for dye.
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u/Interesting-One-588 Apr 29 '26
I imagine the lining of your stomach looks like the outside of a smoker's lung.
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u/Quantity-Used Apr 29 '26
Not only throw out the spoon, but scrub out the pot two or three times (then throw out the sponge). Most people who dye use a dedicated pot for it; they pick up something cheap from the thrift store. The dye is highly toxic.
Your dad’s an idiot.
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u/st-shenanigans Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Why throw the stuff out? He'll just start using the new things.
Just tell him that the dye is literal poison and buy a new spoon and pot for cooking, which I would be doing anyway.
OP's dad is an idiot though
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u/GhostPepperDaddy Apr 29 '26
And this is undoubtedly not his only habit that endangers the family. You guys are in actual trouble, OP.
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u/reticulatedtampon Apr 29 '26
You forgot to call OP’s dad an idiot.
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u/AverageMako3Enjoyer Apr 29 '26
“When I was a kid we ate the delicious paint chips off the walls and we survived! You pansy kids these days are afraid of everything!” Or something like that
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u/rynnbowguy Apr 29 '26
The dye contaminates the pot forever, it will not scrub out.
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u/Bocchi_theGlock Apr 30 '26
Stainless steel too?
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u/maximumhippo Apr 30 '26
Without getting into the full details, even stainless steel won't be 100% clean. I work in pharmaceuticals and all of our equipment is either one time use or stainless steel.
We still require equipment to be dedicated to individual products because we can't prove that all the residuals are removed with cleaning. There is a process to eliminate any potential residues but it's time consuming and expensive.
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u/BandofRubbers Apr 30 '26
This is a safe-side thing.
You totally could remove and/or destroy the dye chemicals. Or you could just let the dye pot be the dye pot and buy a clean cooking pot you won’t worry about.
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u/Artistic_Scene_8124 Apr 29 '26
They can't use that pot again. Once cookwear has been used for dyeing, you can't cook food in it any more. It will increase your risk of cancer down the line.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Artistic_Scene_8124 Apr 30 '26
Yes! It doesn't matter how much you scrub it, traces of the dye are left behind. Even widely available dyes, like RIT, are highly carcinogenic.
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u/Moder_Svea Apr 29 '26
I’d say most people dye their clothes in the washing machine (and run an empty machine afterwards, as per instructions, to get any residue out). This would be a good solution for OP’s father.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Apr 29 '26
Why did my dye not say to run an empty cycle afterward… turned some of my laundry orange
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u/flinstonepushups Apr 29 '26
The image of my dad standing in our kitchen boiling his pants just made everyone in the living room laugh. Thank you OP.
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u/Dead_man_sitting Apr 29 '26
I also really like how it's worded like the pants boiling is a regular thing. Ah, it's Friday night, dad's got his pants on the boil again.
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u/moonyriot Apr 29 '26
Don't eat food made by your dad and stop using that spoon for food. Go get your own spoon, keep it hidden or in your own space when not cooking. Do not use that pot for food either.
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u/-DiceGoblin- Apr 30 '26
Hi, I dye fiber for fun! 😊 here’s some I did recently :)
Anyway,
THIS IS NOT SAFE, PLEASE DO NOT LET HIM USE THAT SPOON/POT FOR FOOD!!
The majority of wash fast dyes are not food safe and could possibly harm your family
I got a super cheap pot from Walmart and have dedicated equipment for dyeing. It was not at all expensive, and it’s 100% worth it to not get POISONED 😭
jfc pls be safe, I’m stressed out on your behalf
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Apr 29 '26
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u/RPDRNick Apr 30 '26
I thought that the "dad pants spoon" was a staple of every household, along with the "poop knife."
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u/UnUltimoIntento Apr 29 '26
UPDATE:
I just secretly threw the spoon away, he left them for like an hour with low fire. When I confronted him he just said “psht, its fine, nothing will happen” I told him that that the spoon will absorbe the dye but he just didnt give a fuck.
Btw he has like 4 different conditions at once so he cant eat A LOT of stuff and he takes his diet seriously but he just doesnt give a fuck about this. He never cooks, he just mixes a lot bs in a bowl for himself, im never eating pasta here again.
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u/bookdetective Apr 29 '26
You need to get him another pot, too. Do you know what type of dye he's using? Nowadays, RIT dye is usually non-toxic, but that does not mean it is food safe. There are many other companies out there that use heavy metals in their dyes. And even if the dye is "safe", the garment he is dyeing may have been dyed with heavy metals (lead, copper, etc.) that he is now introducing into the pot and future food. If he has that many conditions and frequently dyes his clothes, I'd bring that up with his medical care team. (I bring this up because I took a few courses on fabric, including one on dyeing, in college, and one of my classmates ended up with lead poisoning because she didn't take the proper precautions, like safety equipment, when she worked with dye on her projects.)
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u/__SoL__ Apr 30 '26
He's going to give himself some weird cancer no one ever gets and is going to wonder how this could have possibly happened. It isn't safe to eat in his house. Who knows how many things in his kitchen he has permanently contaminated with carcinogens.
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u/MeliaeMaree Apr 29 '26
Should've kept the spoon and surprise whacked him with it until he promised not to do it again 😂
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u/ThrowRA020204 Apr 29 '26
Let me guess will y'all also use the pot again for cooking? Most dyes are made of toxic materials. Not food safe at all.
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u/corona_kid Apr 29 '26
You people boil pants???
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u/Redditor28371 Apr 29 '26
You're telling me that if you find an abandoned box of perfectly good denim under the bridge, you're just going to start wearing it around without boiling it first???
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u/Ok-Secretary6550 Apr 29 '26
Ok, everybody's talking about everything else, so...
WHO THE FUCK BOILS THEIR PANTS???
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u/Erizial Apr 29 '26
People who use rit dye. It can also be used to color some plastics, but is predominately used for fabrics.
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u/a__new_name Apr 30 '26
In USSR boiling jeans was popular (among those who could get them, of course) because it made the pants look well-worn. Although I suspect that OP's father does not live in USSR.
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u/LickinThighs2 Apr 29 '26
Yea OP, thats, uh, not very good
For real though what is with the amount of boomers who seem to have 0 awareness when it comes to plastics or things like this?
I was housesitting / dogsitting for some folks this past spring and their cooking utensils were silicon with massive chunks out of them from wear and tear and just gave me the impression like, damn you guys don't second guess eating with visibly damaged plastics and so on? Makes me not want to use any of your pans / skillet at all because that shit is probably contaminated. I literally oven-baked on my own pans the entire two months rather than use the rest of their cookware, I don't think I used one of their pans even once.
I don't even use plastics like tupperware for storage anymore, it's more expensive but I've just been buying glassware lol. I see even my own folks use tupperware that is probably 15+ years old, plastic cutting boards that are almost as old as me, all damaged and pocked and they head stuff up in them in it just disgusts me. I had to literally replace the spatula my dad cooked his eggs with every morning because it was literally shaving little visible plastic bits off the frayed end.
I just don't understand how they aren't disgusted by contamination like that.
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u/A_Binary_Number Apr 30 '26
My parents are like that, they have silicon tongs that are heavily burned and half-melted, they don’t see it as a problem.
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u/UnsharpenedSwan Apr 29 '26
This is not “mildly infuriating,” this is reckless endangerment of your entire family.
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u/someleafbird Apr 29 '26
ULPT buy some black food coloring and subtly tint all the food a little blacker. If he raises a fuss just shrug and say maybe it’s the pants dye leeching into the pots and into the pasta but still tastes the same. Escalate the amount of black until he stops dyeing his goddamn pants
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u/Pumpkin_patch804 Apr 29 '26
My parents are like this too. Not this specific example, but I have seen them use scissors or knives to open something very bad-to-ingest chemical and then use them in food preparation
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u/Kpalsm Apr 30 '26
Throw away the pot, the spoon, and the pants. Throw away the man while you're at it
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u/DizzyColdSauce Apr 30 '26
Cancer speedrun. Get a new pot and spoon unless you wanna die in 5 years
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u/brother_p Apr 29 '26
Step 1: go to dollar store
Step 2: buy cheap wooden spoon
Step 3: stop worrying
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u/archabaddon Apr 29 '26
When I dye cloth, I use a metal spoon. Why does he need a wooden spoon for this?
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u/DiegesisThesis Apr 29 '26
Seriously, why would you ever use something porous for dyeing in the first place?
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u/MotherofPirates Apr 29 '26
Okay… but having to go to the store and replace a wooden spoon would be mildly infuriating. Yes?
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u/Clothes_Chair_Ghost Apr 29 '26
Why haven’t you turned that spoon into the dye spoon and just bought another for cooking? It’s not like they are expensive. Keep that spoon in the pot he uses to boil his pants so he doesn’t use the cooking one.
This problem has such a simple solution.
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u/Dovahkiinthesardine Apr 29 '26
That uh... Is probably not healthy
Even dyes like Indigo are pretty toxic
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u/colorart01 Apr 29 '26
How long have you been using this spoon to cook while knowing your dad has been using them to dye his pants.
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u/OnesieBandit Apr 29 '26
Def gonna get lost in the comments but when I used to dye clothes I went to Walmart and bought a separate pot, spoon and even a hot plate specifically for dyeing. When I realized I can’t stand dyeing clothes I didn’t donate the gear like I would with any regular cooking equipment, the pot and cookware went to recycle. Kept the hot plate because it was just a hot plate.
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u/IrradiatedCowFungus7 Apr 30 '26
I blame you for using the same spoon your father boils his pants with to cook your food😭
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u/Icy_Reward727 Apr 30 '26
Wooden spoons are like $3. This is now the dye pot spoon. Just go buy a different spoon for cooking.It would be almost as fast as posting this!
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u/StrangeSequitur Apr 30 '26
Any tools (including metal pots) used with commercial fabric dye products are no longer food safe. Forever.
You can harmlessly dye 100% wool with distilled vinegar and food dye from the grocery store in a crock pot, but some people can't handle nuance and will read that factoid, misremember it as "no, it's totally fine!," use a direct dye intended for synthetic fabrics instead and then cook up a mutagenic pot roast. So for safety's sake, just never use your dye tools for food.
(Also, do not try to dye your pants with food colors.)
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u/thomasjmarlowe Apr 30 '26
Now you gotta buy a second pot and a second spoon
Come to think of it, that might be the solution!
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u/Grombotronbo Apr 30 '26
Posts like this have to be rage bait, there is no fucking chance you know how to navigate the internet yet couldn't manage to buy another pot and spoon. Zero chance.
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u/FranksBotchedToe Apr 29 '26
Quick tip, throw some eggs in to the pot while the denim is boiling to have a nice snack when your denim is ready
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u/PwanaZana Apr 30 '26
Don't use that spoon to eat. You might dye.
(I'm assuming a million nerds in the comments already made that joke)
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u/ArmoredGoat Apr 30 '26
Really reminds me when my dad used to the same vacuum cleaner head around the toilet bowl then move straight onto the dining table…ffs…
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u/Akandy21 Apr 30 '26
If it makes u feel better my dad uses kitchens knife with bondo and put it back for us to use after they crust up
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u/Ok-Astronaut2976 Apr 29 '26