Copper is what causes green hair and nails, not chlorine.
Janet
Is it chlorine? Or is it something else? I don't have this problem, just curious. I've had several people (one was a hairdresser) tell me that blonde hair turns green in chlorine. I know I used to hear it all the time, before I was managing my own pool. Is it just a misconception?
Maybe it's when there is copper in the water, either naturally or by using a copper-based algaecide.
Judy
Designated "pool girl" for 16 x 40 IG vinyl pool (installed in 2006) in S.C.
Copper is what causes green hair and nails, not chlorine.
Janet
Bingo, green hair is due to copper.Originally Posted by jnorris
~Grace
Avid reader of this forum
but alas, no pool... yet!
Try convincing my mother in law of that! She refuses to get her hair the slightest bit wet, stating the chlorine will turn her hair green because that is what her colorist said. My husband, her son, replied that it might be a good look for her! I didn't offer a reply. A smart move on my part.
CaryB
Caniac
Yeah, I think I'd have to let that one go, too....smart move! I wonder why the chlorine in her tap water doesn't turn it green?????
Janet
OK, I have to add this...
once when I was in college and stupid, I dyed my blonde hair black. There were adult beverages involved
Anyway, it was a 'rinse', you know, that is supposed to wash out over time. Well, it did not, and I got impatient, and probably after some more adult beverages (if my mother only knew ) I put straight bleach on my hair. It did turn green. A lovely olive shade.
So, bleach (albeit in WAAAY larger concentrations than found in the pool) plus hair dye WILL result in green hair. Ok, bleach plus dye minus any good judgement whatsoever!
Take this for what it's worth...
~Grace
Avid reader of this forum
but alas, no pool... yet!
Guess I need to straighten out a few things here. I have been a licensed Cosmetologist and Barber in the State of Florida for about 30 years now and spent about 16 of that working as a colorist in high end salons and day spas and as a Cosmetology and Barbering instructor.
First, let me state that it is copper that turns hair green (and iron has been known to make reddish stains in blonde hair). Sound like a pool stain? Yep!
I posted this a while back on the only way to remove metal stains from hair that really works (and compared it to the process of removing them from pools...they are basically the same!). I learned these processes from advanced training I had from a few different professional hair product and color companies. I also used to do education for product companies. Most hairstylists do NOT receive this type of training.
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showpos...80&postcount=3
As far as dying the hair black and then bleaching it...first of all, hair bleach is not the same as chlorine. It is hydrogen peroxide and sodium and potassium percarbonate. It will remove natural pigment from the hair but will not remove oxidation dye hair color. ISemi permenent colors are just preoxidized oxidation dyes, which is why they supposedly wash out over time.) Such hair color needs a reducing agent to decolorize it and the process is only partially successful. If you try to bleach it out what happens is the red and yellow dye base molecules are oxidized first and do decolorize to some extent, they become yellowish colored molecules. The blue dye base molecules are very resistant to oxidation and remain essentially unchanged. The natural hair is bleached at the same time and becomes very porous. The net result is you have yellow and blue in the hair, which results in a greenish tint. Because of the porosity of the hair, oxidized red and yellow dye base molecules, which are small in comparison to the blue ones, do not stay and any further attempts to dye the hair result in greenish results also unless corrective color procedures are used.
Probably more than you ever wanted to know about hair coloring! I know it was more than any of my students ever wanted to know!
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
Boy, Evan, you are a Waterbear of all trades!
When I said I put straight bleach, I did not mean hair bleach, I meant Clorox laundry bleach.
However, in reading your great info on color, I came up with the following question:
Chlorine messes with metals in your pool, causing staining of the pool, right? So could putting STRONG chlorine on your color-treated hair mess with the metals in the hair dye, causing staining of your color-treated hair?
What most people do not know is that when using the BBB method PROPERLY, you probably have less chlorine in your pool than in your tap water. I think all the improperly chlorinated pools out there give us BBB'ers a bad name!Originally Posted by aylad
~Grace
Avid reader of this forum
but alas, no pool... yet!
Hope this clears it up.Originally Posted by GraceByDesign
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
What's wrong with green hair? Star Trek was famous for having INCREDIBLY attractive women in incredibly architectured clothing (that defied gravity) with green hair, green nails, and even green skin!
Hey! I've got a green smile!
Carl
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