my blond kid now has green tinted hair

kbman36 · Postby **kbman36** » Thu 11 May, 2006 19:54

just got my pool wizard last thursday
its been in the pool one week
the water has never looked better and my
kids love to swim
but my blond son now has green hair (not totally just slightly tinted)
is it from the copper that came with the wizard?
ph and clorine not too high
if it is from the wizard will the copper levels deminish?
kbman36

Guest · Postby **Guest** » Sun 14 May, 2006 12:35

can anyone give me an answer
i guess it means swim caps on the kids all summer

Guest · Postby **Guest** » Mon 12 Jun, 2006 19:40

I found on other sites to try ketchup, which I did about 30 minutes ago...And I'd say it took 90% of the green tint out. I put in on my daughter's wet hair for about 20 minutes. I am going to try to get the rest out tomorrow doing dry hair maybe for 30 minutes. But this was hand's down the best remedy I have tried. And very quick. Last year I tried baking soda and it took over a week and then it still wasn't completely out. So this definately worked for me!

Guest · Postby **Guest** » Wed 21 Jun, 2006 21:09

Swimmers shampoo gets rid of the green tint in blonde people's hair due to the blue minerals not fully dissolved in the water.

When the Minerals are dissolved fully into the water, the hair no longer tints and your child can swim without anymore tinting concerns!

kamkuda · Postby **kamkuda** » Thu 07 Sep, 2006 06:24

Copper may be the issue. Test the water for copper and remove it from the water. Copper can enter the pool from copper based algicides, copper sulfate and a dissolved heater core.

skirjonen · Postby **skirjonen** » Tue 26 Jun, 2007 19:51

kbman36 wrote:just got my pool wizard last thursday
its been in the pool one week
the water has never looked better and my
kids love to swim
but my blond son now has green hair (not totally just tinted)
is it from the copper that came with the wizard?
ph and clorine not too high
if it is from the wizard will the copper levels deminish?
kbman36

Same problems here!!! Installed it last week in a 40,000 gallon pool and I run the pump 24x7. Water looks great! My kids swam today for the first time and I Started to see green tint in their blond hair! This has happened before the pool wizard. Is the copper from that pool wizard "spring"? :shock:

Anyway, I just used a liter of metal balancer. Hopefully no more green hair... :roll:

Angelian · Postby **Angelian** » Tue 08 Jan, 2008 00:52

ok so what ive heard over and over is to soak the hair in tomatoe juice

Emma · Postby **Emma** » Wed 23 Jul, 2008 00:14

Swimming pools have been turning my blond hair greenish for 50+ years. I was using public pools as a child, but have had my own for 25 years. It happened in both. We just expected it, and never did anything about it, other than rinsing with water when I finished swimming.

pool dude · Postby **pool dude** » Wed 30 Jul, 2008 23:25

check the chlorine level. Above 8 ppm can cause green hair. and like said before, check copper.

chrisb · Postby **chrisb** » Thu 07 Aug, 2008 08:00

My hairdresser suggested that you wet your hair before swimming. That way the hair absorbs the clean water, then will not absorb as much of the chemical pool water while swimming. Was a help for me.

maidenleigh · Postby **maidenleigh** » Sun 10 Jul, 2011 21:31

im confused:( So do i soak my hair in ketchup fo 30 min??? wet or dry??? which works better??? Is that ok to wash down the shower??? Or do i need to do it in the kitchen sink???? :wtf:

Postby **chem geek** » Mon 11 Jul, 2011 00:17

waterbear gives a procedure for removing the green from hair in this post (edited to remove dead link) and in this post.

Pool Guyy · Postby **Pool Guyy** » Thu 14 Jan, 2016 15:27

The poolspaforum link is broken so here's a copy of the procedure a'la Waterbear I had saved on my computer just in case...

If the green hair problems return I can tell you how to remove the green safely and quickly. Besides my having worked in the field of computers and electroncis and currently in education I have also been a licensed Barber and Cosmetologist for 29 years! This is how we did it in the Salon and also how I used to teach it when I was teaching those two professions. (Just think, a REAL insider beauty tip in this forum!)

1. Go to a camera store that sells darkroom chemicals and get some PLAN HYPO (sodium thiosulfate)---same stuff used as a chlorine killer in pools. Don't get the premixed acid fixer stuff--you want plain Hypo.

2. Go to the drugstore and get citric acid crystals. You can sometimes also find this at the grocery store in the spice section as "sour salt" that is sometimes used in Jewish old world" cooking but it will be big crystals that will take a little while to dissolve.

3. Dissolve 2 tablespoon of the Hypo and 2 teaspoons of the citric acid in 8 oz. of very hot water and let it cool to luke warm.

4. wet the hair and towel dry it so it is just damp (very important!)

5. pour the solution through the hair and let it sit until the green is gone. You should see the green color start to fade almost immediately.

6. When the green is gone or there is no more color change happening rinse the hair thoroughly with running water for a full five minutes. This will help to rinse out any copper that has been lifted out of the hair.

7. shampoo and rinse at least 2 times...3 is better.

8. condition the hair .

If some green color remains wait 24 hours and repeat the process.

To help prevent reoccurance DEAL WITH THE METAL PROBLEM IN YOUR POOL, then coat the hair with a thick protein based conditoner, and stick it under a swim cap before swimming until you are sure you have DEALT WITH THE METAL PROBLEM IN YOUR POOL!

The chemistry behind this is none too different from the chemisty in removing metal stains from pools with ascorbic acid, which involves dropping the chlorine levels (the hypo kills any chlorine that might be left in the hair) and treating with an acid substance (in pools it's usually ascorbic acid).

Back in the 70's I used to charge $30 and up for this green removing treatment and even then we tried to educate people that their hair wasn't turning green from the chlorine in their pools but from the copper based algecides. I worked as a colorist in a very exlusive day spa in Miami that had a hot tub and after the pool "professional" that took care of it dosed it with algecide we had a number of our blond clients that used the hot tub come out with green hair! Because I knew how to handle it right away (and did it for free in these cases) I am sure I saved my employer at the time from the possiblility of lawsuits.

To my knowlege the "swimmers hair" shampoos and products on the market are ineffective against this problem except for two products from Nexxus that when both used will work. They are Aloe Rid shampoo and Aloe Rid treatment. Together they contain in their ingredients..guess what...Sodium Thiosulfate and Citric Acid! The two must be used to remove the green. Just using one or the other is not effective. There might be others on the market but I have not come across them.

Hope you never need to use this info!:D

Just glad I had a backup to share. :wink:

Postby **Larry** » Fri 15 Jan, 2016 10:59

Thanks for sharing Pool Guyy

You never know when a resource might be lost or a backup needed. Waterbear's great advice may have been lost in the depths of the internet forever if you hadn't had the foresight to save a copy.

Larry