Print Version: Turquois Hair

Green Hair?

What’s all this nonsense about green hair being caused by chlorine? This fable has been around nearly as long as the one about that water additive causing pool pee to turn red. But blondies’ curls do turn green in chlorinated water you say… Well, we’re here to tell you it has nothing to do with the chlorine. We know the offender, and its name is… copper!

Let’s start by insisting that a short series of events must occur before hair, or anything else in the pool, can turn green. Water must be allowed to become aggressive (negative calcium-saturation-index numbers); it must dissolve some metallic copper, it must have sulfates in it, then - later - high pH conditions must prevail (values above pH 8.3) to precipitate the stuff that the water had previously dissolved. This last step can happen in the water itself, on the plaster or, yep, in the hair!

Let’s get a little critical here. The color in question cannot manifest itself without the aforementioned copper in the water, then in the hair - yet neither should be the case in a well-managed pool. If copper is present in the water, that’s the pool operator’s fault and the pool operator’s problem. Copper simply shouldn’t be in there. If it is, somebody got it there; neither make-up (city) or natural (well) water has copper in it, so we are told by water-plant engineers and geologists.

But liquid pool heater is an all-too-frequent part of swimming-pool water because of sloppy water management. Copper pipes (heaven forbid) and bronze impellers contribute along with the heater’s internal elements, as aggressive water will stop at nothing until it’s satisfied. Since pH is by far the most influential variable in the CSI, one could safely say that temporary low pH - caused by acidic sanitizers or by excessive pH correction with acid - is the primary “cause” for this aggressive water. Such water achieves this fulfillment by taking on every metal and mineral in its environment, and that includes generous portions of the pool-system’s copper.

Meanwhile, everybody’s hair absorbs this copper-bearing water. Yes, the black-, brown- and red-headed kids as well as the blondies take on this still invisible dissolved metal. Then the second influence finishes the job: they shampoo. As all normal shampoos have high pH values, the dreaded precipitation occurs. Visible copper (oxide or sulfate) appears, providing that lovely shade of turquoise.

But only the blond-haired swimmers look like Heavy Metal groupies, since there is little pigment there to mask the green effect. And if the hair has been bleached blond you can expect near’ twice the effect, as damaged or stripped hair has much more absorbency to hold the copper-bearing water.

What can the swimmers do? Rinsing the hair thoroughly and towel drying rather than letting the water evaporate with contents left behind seems somewhat effective. Shampooing with “swimmers’ shampoo” helps because it has an intentionally lowered pH to avoid precipitation. The best plan, of course, is to swim in, or operate, a well-managed pool with perfect, copper-free water.

If your swimmers are already affected, you can assure them that the color will fade after multiple shampoos. In the meantime, you may want to suggest that they join a punk-rock band.

From PPOA’s Pumproom Press, Issue 19. (www.ppoa.org)

~kw