I don't think Vicki Welsh's method (nutshell: soak in 140° F water with a dab of Dawn for 12 hours) is any more extreme than washing your fabrics five, six, or seven times.
It's actually easier and less wasteful.
Cindi and I took a hand-dyeing class in Houston this year. Here are some things we learned:
1. Dawn dish soap does the exact same thing that Synthrapol does: it suspends the dye in the water and helps prevent the dye from being absorbed by other fabrics. According to several professional hand-dyers ("professional" meaning people buy their hand-dyed producs), Dawn is actually marginally better at it, while also being very affordable and very available, unlike Synthrapol.
2. Color catchers are a waste of money.
3. Be very, very careful when rinsing your hand-dyes out in a hotel bathtub.
