How to battle clorine-green hair

[hardysmom]

My little towhead's hair is turning green. Right now, we just do a swimming lesson once a week and I ALWAYS wash her hair in the pool's shower right when we get out. Still, there is just this weird alge-green hue which seems to be getting worse.

I can't imagine what is going to happen when summer hits and we are going to the pool several times a week. When we were at Disney, there was this kid in the pool whose hair looked like Sigmund the Sea Monster (dating myself with that one, huh?) Except for washing after swimming, is there a trick to keeping the a almost white-headed blonde from going green?

stephanie

[himom]

We used to put on conditioner before we got in the water, kind of to coat it and keep the chlorine from soaking in. Wet it first, then rub in conditioner generously and comb it through. I've got light brown hair, not blonde, but it did help keep the green tint away during summers when we spent every day in the pool.

I think some pools frown on this, though.

HTH!

Jodi

P.S. Who is Sigmund the Sea Monster? I'm on the "older mom" spectrum and I don't remember him!

[o_mom]

I have always been told that if you wet your hair first with regular water (like from the shower) that it will absorb that water and not so much of the chlorinated water. Couldn't tell you how well it works becausewe have mostly dark hair here and haven't had to deal with that.

[anamika]

I Googled this out of curiosity (I have black hair so the chances of it turning green are low :))

I just got these from a bunch of different sources.

Green hair is caused by copper in the water (not chlorine) – but not right away during a swim… Copper must precipitate as a green salt during a high-pH shampoo (pH ~9), usually after the pool water has dried in the hair.
So most of the remedies involve some kind of acidic treament - aspirin ground up, tomato juice, alka seltzer, vinegar, cranberry juice, Coke etc.
Here's a link -

http://www.ehow.com/tips_2348_2.html
HTH,

[daniele_ut]

Try baking soda. Vinegar should also help. We used Ultra Swim shampoo when I was on the swim team as a kid, but it's pretty chemical laden for a toddler.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_2348.html

ETA: LOL, we were posting at the same time with the same advice!

[Corie]

My sister and I always got the green hair every summer too. (We were
also on the swim team.)

And, we used Ultra Swim shampoo too.

Some of the girls would wet their hair in the locker room and slather in
in conditioner. Then, they put on their swim caps.
I have to admit that their hair looked great! I just really hated my swim cap
and never did it!

[lizajane]

loreal makes a kid shampoo for swimming kiddos. i think the bottle is blue and the cap is orange? my kids are dark haired, but it did WONDERS for schuyler's straw like bird's nest on the top of his head. i think maybe it is called "swim and sport?"

[jd11365]

Well I will tell you that Circle of Friends does NOT work. Kayla has hay for hair at the moment from her daily swimming lessons. It does help when we wet it first, but I'm going to look at this thread for ideas, too.

[dowlinal]

This used to happen with a little girl I baby sat for way back when I was in high school. Her mom used to bring a bottle of club soda with her to the pool and pour it through her hair after she got out. It worked wonders.

[lisams]

DD goes to swim lessons year round, and has blonde hair. What has worked so far is before the lesson I spray her hair down really wet. I put a big squirt of condition (California Baby Swimmer's Defense) in the spray bottle and fill it up with water. Then I throw it in a ponytail (mainly to keep her hair out of her face while she's swimming). Then when we get home we wash it with California Baby Swimmer's Defense shampoo/bodywash and then use the conditioner. So far it's kept her hair from turning green. I think that getting it wet before going in the pool is what does the trick. I remember reading that somewhere.

Hope you find something that works. I remember having green hair in the summer!

[trumansmom]

You must not be quite old enough, or you would definitely remember him. He was supposed to be silly, but he scared the snot out of me when I was a kid. :P

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04

[brittone2]

I just picked up a hair mag recently and in it they mentioned using ketchup to prevent blonde hair from turning green. From a kid perspective, that might be kind of fun too LOL.

Sounded weird, but that was their suggestion (I guess as a post swim remedy?)