Did you know your hair can turn green from swimming in a pool? Well I’ve got a simple (but crazy) trick to remove the green from your hair and turn it back to normal.
Growing up in Australia, we spend a lot of our summers in a swimming pool. Everybody can spot the tell-tale signs of green hair when you’ve been swimming in a chlorinated pool.
Recently I was away on a work trip to Bali with my friends Carly from Smaggle, Kate from Secret Bloggers’ Business and Emily from Bombshell Bay Swimwear. Lucky, right? I know. It was awesome.
We rented this fabulous villa and spent a lot of time in the pool. Kate and Carly both have dark hair so weren’t that worried about their hair going green.
If you have fair hair, or if your hair is coloured or damaged, you’ll definitely know what I’m talking about.
I told the girls about this nifty trick for getting rid of the green tinge in your hair using ketchup. Yes tomato sauce. Tomato ketchup. Tommy K. Whatever you call it.
Emily volunteered to go to the shops & buy me a bottle so we could film this video tutorial. This is for you, Emily.
Using dye won’t remove dye, so skip that one. Ketchup has vinegar in it, so it can help release things like mineral buildup in the hair, but it won’t remove blue/green hair dye.
Having nothing to lose, though, and having a Costco-size squeezy bottle of Heinz quite handy, I figured who better to take one for the team and experiment with a little condiment conditioner? I only gave the trick about a 20 percent chance of actually working. After reading this scientific explanation of the real cause of green hair in the pool (its not the chlorine, as you may think!), I felt like nothing short of a professional salon intervention would save me. But can you believe it: IT WORKED! I generously smeared and combed the ketchup into my ends, wound my hair into a bun, gave my girls their bath for 20 minutes or so, then shampooed/conditioned, and just like that, the green slime was gone. My blond streaks were back and intact. I still have hair that looks dull and sad, but at least I will no longer feel like a monster until I can spend more time attending to its needs.
I dont think my hair has ever looked worse, largely thanks to my vacation last week, during which I spent way too much time marinating myself in swimming-pool water. Obviously I know pool water is bad news for hair, especially highlighted hair, but I never knew exactly how bad, because Ive just never spent this many consecutive hours and days immersed in it. Now that Im a mom of two splash-happy little girls, theres no more lounging on chaises or floating lazily on a raft with makeup intact. I am IN that water, and I usually dont have time to go rinse off right after I get out (let alone fully shampoo).
The result: I came home to discover that the blond ombre ends I recently added to my hair had turned green. Not subtly green-tinted. SLIME green. Dark, muddy, algae-like.
There was no time to run in a panic to a colorist; I was due to model in a Glamour.com photo shoot Monday morning. I needed a quick DIY fix. Actually more like a quick DIY miracle. So I turned to the most obvious, however dubious, source of DIY beauty miracles: Pinterest. I say dubious because I suspect that at least half of the beauty tricks on there originate with someone getting bored and deciding, “You know, why not slap that mayo onto my hair until this Two and a Half Men marathon is over and see what happens?” And of course one of the green pool hair fixes that kept popping up seemed exactly that random and crazy: ketchup.
P.S. You know youre a seasoned parent when you yell to your husband, “Can you give them their milk? I have to just rinse the ketchup out of my hair in the shower real quick,” and this elicits no follow-up question, just a simple “OK.”
So, why does blonde hair turn green in the pool?
You may think the chlorine is to blame for your hair turning green but that’s only half the story. The real problem is copper.
See there are lots of metals in the water, like copper and magnesium, and these are oxidised by the chlorine and then absorbed into your hair. That greenish tinge is mainly from the copper.
It’s also absorbed into dark hair but it’s much more obvious in lighter or blonde hair. You’ll notice that dark hair usually becomes dull and flat after a lot of swimming.
USING KETCHUP TO REMOVE GREEN SWIMMERS HAIR | IT WORKED!!
FAQ
What happens if you put ketchup on green hair?
What pulls green out of hair?
What cancels out green in hair color?
How do you neutralize green hair?
Does ketchup remove green hair?
Ketchup can remove green hair because ketchup is red, which is the color opposite to green on a color wheel. Therefore, ketchup’s red color will cancel out green tones in hair, but you may need to use ketchup several times to remove intensely green hair. Typically, it is best to leave ketchup in your hair for up to thirty minutes at most.
Are there any problems if one does not apply shampoo or oil after applying onion juice on hair?
If you don’t shampoo your hair will smell like onions, which can be uncomfortable, and without conditioning and oil your hair would be dry. That’s why it’s important to follow all the steps.
Does ketchup cancel out green?
Ketchup is acidic and has a red color that may cancel out the green. To give ketchup a try, start by massaging a palmful into your hair like you would a leave-in conditioner, working it down to your scalp. Put on a shower cap (or wrap aluminum foil over your hair) and wait 30-40 minutes, then get in the shower, shampoo, and rinse.
Does ketchup remove blue hair?
Ketchup may mildly tone down blue from hair, but ketchup will not remove blue from hair as effectively as ketchup can remove green from hair. Generally, applying ketchup to blue hair will leave you with a more muted blue or purplish-blue color since blue is cool-toned while red is warm. Will Tomato Sauce Remove Green Hair?