Fashion & Personal Appearance:
* Hair: The most obvious one! People dye their hair all sorts of colors, from natural shades to vibrant and unnatural hues.
* Clothing: From t-shirts to jeans to dresses, dyeing clothing is a common way to refresh old items or create custom colors.
* Fabric: Before clothing is even made, fabric itself is dyed to create a wide variety of colors and patterns.
* Shoes: Leather, canvas, and other shoe materials can be dyed.
* Wigs and Hair Extensions: Similar to hair, these are dyed for fashion, cosplay, or theatrical purposes.
* Eyelashes and Eyebrows: Less common, but some people dye these to match their hair or create a more dramatic look.
* Beards: Similar to hair, men sometimes dye their beards.
* Tattoos: While the original tattoo involves injecting ink, sometimes people get "touch-ups" or even cover-ups that involve changing the colors.
Arts & Crafts:
* Yarn: For knitting, crocheting, and other textile crafts.
* Paper: For scrapbooking, card making, and other paper crafts.
* Wood: Staining wood is a form of dyeing to enhance the grain or change the color.
* Leather: For various leather crafts and goods.
* Clay: Used in ceramics and sculpting to add color before or after firing.
* Resin: Pigments are added to resin to create colored castings for jewelry, art, and other projects.
* Candle Wax: Dyes are added to create colored candles.
* Soap: To make colorful and decorative soaps.
* Flowers (cut): Florists will sometimes dye flowers for specific events or to create unusual color combinations.
Home & Garden:
* Mulch: To add color to garden beds.
* Concrete: Dyes can be added to concrete for patios, driveways, and other surfaces.
* Grout: To change the color of grout between tiles.
* Easter Eggs: A classic example of dyeing!
* Water (for decorative purposes): Fountains, pools, or even just vases of flowers can have colored dye added to the water.
Food & Drink:
* Cake frosting/icing: To create colorful decorations.
* Cakes and baked goods: Food coloring is added to the batter for rainbow cakes, etc.
* Candy: To make colorful sweets.
* Drinks (cocktails, etc.): For aesthetic appeal.
* Pasta: Fresh pasta can be dyed with vegetable purees or food coloring.
Industrial & Commercial:
* Textiles (on a large scale): Fabrics for clothing, upholstery, etc., are dyed in factories.
* Plastics: Dyes are added to plastic during the manufacturing process to create colored products.
* Rubber: Tires, rubber bands, and other rubber products are often dyed.
* Fuel: Red dye is added to off-road diesel fuel.
Other:
* Smoke (for special effects): Used in theatrical productions, photography, and sometimes for signaling.
* Water (for testing or tracing): Dyes are used to track the flow of water in rivers, sewers, or other systems.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it covers many of the most common things people dye. The reasons for dyeing something range from purely aesthetic to functional (e.g., identification or tracing).