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Blonds and Green Hair
THE PROBLEM:
Occasionally
blonde swimmers have a problem with hair discoloration after extended swimming -
the hair takes on a green deposit, sometimes referred to as a tint. This
phenomena is blamed on everything from rusty pipes to hair color preparations to
chlorine. The actual culprit. however, is almost always copper.
Copper can be introduced to the
water in many ways. The primary sources are:
- Trace copper in the water supply
- Copper bleed from brass pumps or piping, copper fittings or piping, or gas
heater coils (which are solid copper)
- Copper in copper-based algaecides
The green tint is not
associated with either rusty pipes or pool sanitizers. The oxidation process is
similar to that of any copper object left out in the sun and water... it makes
green "copper oxide".
Actually. this problem is not unique to blondes - if the copper is
present in the water. it adheres to hair of any color. It is usually only seen
on blonde or light red hair because other hair is too dark for the deposit to be
visible.
THE SOLUTION:
As far as the
immediate hair problem is concerned, a rinse or shampoo with a slightly acidic
pH will stnp the copper deposit off of the hair. Many drug stores carry
commercial shampoo or creme rinse preparations for this purpose. If they are not
available, the home remedy is to use lemon juice or vinegar to rinse the hair.
A long-term solution for the pool is to chelate or filter out the copper from
the water, and to see if the source (the algaecide. or copper or brass in the
system that may be deteriorating...) can be removed. Contact
Thunderbird Pool Service for more information about chelation chemistry or
nanofiltration to remove the copper from your pool water.
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