Everyone’s heard the warning about blonde hair turning green after swimming in a pool because of the chlorine. Well, this is actually a common misconception. The truth is that the copper in the water is the primary guilty party. Not only does swimming in a pool containing this metal tint your hair green but showering in tap water with a high content of copper can also turn your hair green.
The question is: why is there copper in the water, and why does it turn hair green? It turns out that the chemical bond between copper and chlorine creates a film that sticks to the proteins in hair, causing the unfortunate color change.
Blondes everywhere may find themselves in a summer struggle after splashing in the pool. To avoid this frustrating circumstance, we’ve compiled some preventions and fixes for this summer setback!
Ways to Prevent or Restore Green-Tinted Hair
The good news is that with some care and prevention, blondes everywhere can go on enjoying summer days by the pool. Here are a few things to consider when preventing your hair from turning green in the pool, and a few fixes if it has already happened:
- Leave-in Conditioner – Applying leave-in conditioner before swimming creates a barrier that prevents pool water from attaching itself to your hair as easily.
- Pre-Wetting Your Hair – Never get into the pool with dry hair. Chlorine and copper do not cling to hair strands as tightly if the hair is wet to begin with.
- Washing: It is recommended that you wash your hair as soon as your swimming session is over, so the chlorine and copper have less time to saturate the strands.
- Tomato Juice or V8: To rid yourself of the greenish tint brought on by the pool, saturate your hair in tomato juice or V8. Allow it to set for 5 to 10 minutes, washing normally afterwards.
- Ketchup: Coating your hair with ketchup can help alleviate the unwanted tint. Saturate and wrap your hair, letting it soak into your hair for 30 minutes before washing it out.
- Aspirin: Crushing 6 to 8 aspirin tablets into a bowl, adding warm water and allowing it to dissolve can help. Soaking your hair in this mixture for 15 to 20 minutes and washing normally afterward may reduce the tint.
- Baking Soda: Combine water with 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of baking soda. Mix the created paste into your tinted hair. Follow up with a rinse, a wash, and condition as normal. This step may need to be performed more than once to achieve desired results.
- Lemon Juice: You’ve heard about lemon juice lightening your hair in the sun, and the same goes for ridding yourself of green tints from the pool. Soak your hair in lemon juice for 5 to 10 minutes, following up with your normal shampoo and condition routine.
- Lemon Kool-Aid: Mixing Kool-Aid with water and letting it sit on the affected parts of your hair for a few minutes may bring your hair back to life. Shampoo and condition normally afterward.
With these remedies and prevention techniques, you and your family will be able to enjoy the summer while soaking up the sun in your pool without worrying about copper and chlorine wreaking havoc on your hair!
Ensure your pool water has just the right balance with top-notch pool maintenance by the experts! Boca Raton pool cleaners with Blue Chip Pool Service have years of experience cleaning South Florida pools. Keep your water – and your hair – from turning green with your first pool cleaning on us.
