How to Get Green Out of Hair from Chlorine – 13 Tips From a Pro
How to get green out of hair from chlorine- 11 tips from a hairstylist.
Is green hair from chlorine permanent? No.
Though sometimes it may seem like it is, or feel impossible to remove entirely, green is simple to get out of hair without damaging your lovely locks.
8 Ways to Get Green Out of Hair from Chlorine – Home Remedies
As you are using whichever of the below methods to remove chlorine from hair, be aware that if it feels slimy when you are rinsing the hair it means it’s working. Once chlorine is broken down on the hair it slides right off and you can definitely feel it on it’s way out.
- Clarifying Shampoo
- Baking Soda
- Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse
- Lemon Juice
- Asprin
- Coke Soda
- V8 Tomato Juice
- Ketchup
Clarifying Shampoo–
Clarifying shampoo is a strong cleansing shampoo designed to break down and remove product buildup on the hair. It can help break down product on the scalp as well but is more for hair than for the scalp.
Apply the shampoo and allow it to lather up, massaging it into the hair for 1 minute. This gives the product enough time to do its work and remove the chlorine.
Rinse thoroughly and condition hair as usual.
As you rinse you should be able to feel the chlorine slide off of the hair. It should feel slimy. If the first time around you do not feel the chlorine come out and the hair still smells like chlorine, feels sticky, or looks green apply a second round of clarifying shampoo.
How to Use Clarifying Shampoo – Ask a Hairstylist
Warning- Do not use clarifying shampoo as a regular daily wash. It is designed to remove product, not cleanse daily. If overused clarifying shampoo will remove too much of the natural oils and dry out the scalp and hair.
Baking Soda–
This is an alternative to using clarifying shampoo.
Simply mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with your choice of either water or shampoo and let it sit for at least 1 minute, no longer than 10 minutes. Rinse and continue with a deep conditioner or chemical-free mask to help hair grow.
How to Grow Hair Fast – Best Hair Mask for All Hair Types
How to Make Homemade Conditioner – 21 Ingredients Found in your Kitchen
Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse–
An alternative cleansing (shampoo) method.
- Mix a 3 of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with 1 cup (8 oz) water.
- Wet your hair and feel that the hair is evenly saturated. Then, pour the mixture over your hair evenly, working into your scalp.
- Be sure to rub it in well, but don’t be too rough on your scalp.
- Let the apple cider vinegar rinse sit for 5 minutes.
- Rinse it out.
- Proceed with your favorite conditioner, OR you may apply a hydrating mask at this point.
Apple Cider Vinegar Mask Rinse Recipe
Lemon Juice–
Lemon juice naturally counters the copper in the water and in the hair once it’s been absorbed.
Pour 1/4 of a cup of lemon juice in 1 cup of water. Massage it into the hair and make sure that the hair is all saturated with the lemon-water mixture. Leave for 3-4 minutes before rinsing.
If the chlorine is still in the hair try mixing the lemon juice with club soda (sparkly water), sometimes the carbonation helps break down the buildup a little bit more to allow the lemon juice do its thing.
Asprin –
Mix 7 or 8 crushed Asprin in a bowl of water and allow the hair to soak up the water and sit in the hair for 15 – 20 minutes, then rinse and wash as usual.
Coke –
CocaCola contains attributes that eat away at copper and other metals.
Green being residue of copper from the pool, you can apply coke to the green areas of the hair and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Rinse and condition as usual.
Removing Chlorine with the Color Wheel
V8 Tomato Juice and Ketchup–
The universal color wheel displays red as the opposite of green. Which means red neutralizes green.
If hair is green, you can neutralize the color (make it not green) by putting the color from the exact opposite of the color wheel.
The main ingredients in ketchup is salt and acid (from the tomatoes), which also breaks down copper quite nicely.
However if your hair is super blonde- like, almost white- especially if it is blonde due to bleach, be extra careful using V8 tomato juice or ketchup on the hair.
After hair is bleached the cuticle is cracked and can absorb the red a little too much. Which is what we don’t want.
But if your hair is completely natural, the tomato juice should be sufficient to neutralizing the green without turning your hair red.
Do not leave the ketchup or tomato juice on your hair for more than 15 minutes.
If after it is rinsed out you need to do another round then by all means, do it again. However, if by the end of the second round the hair is still green, try another method to actually remove the chlorine and copper instead of just neutralize the color.
How to Remove Chlorine from Hair Naturally
How to Prevent Hair from Turning Green from Chlorine
Getting Green Out of Hair from Chlorine
As a tow-headed child (meaning my hair was so blonde that it looked almost white) I’ve had my share of green tints after swimming.
We tried everything to try to get it out, none of which were effective, so we ended up cutting off my long beautiful locks. Little did we know that I would grow up to become a hair professional and learn how simple it is to remove green hair from chlorine WITHOUT cutting off length.
What Causes Hair to Turn Green from the Pool?
It’s not always chlorine that is the culprit for the green buildup in your locks.
It could be green algae or minerals that can be found in pool water that buildup and turn hair green. Copper is commonly found in pool water.
Copper kills algae -which can turn a pool green- but once copper is in hair it oxidizes, causing the hair to turn green. This mineral can also make its way into pool water naturally from the source.
5 Ways to Prevent Green Hair from Chlorine
- Wet the hair beforehand
- Leaving in conditioner
- Braid the hair
- Put on a cap
- Leave-in conditioner (it’s not the same thing)
Wet the hair beforehand–
Wetting the hair with clean water beforehand.
Hair is like a sponge, the cuticle will open to allow moisture in, and whatever the moisture brings with it- including chemicals.
So the best way to prevent extra chlorine absorption is to wet the hair with clean water, the hair will absorb it so that there will be less room for pool water.
Leaving in conditioner–
After wetting your hair with clean water, lather conditioner into the hair and don’t rinse it out.
The hair will absorb the water and the conditioner will seal it in and finish taking up whatever space is left in the hair shaft so that there is no room left in the hair to absorb the pool water filled with chlorine. Leaving in conditioner will allow you to play in the water longer before reapplying or needing to rinse the hair.
Braid the hair–
Once the hair has been thoroughly wet and conditioned, braid the hair to keep all of the conditioner in one spot, making it harder for the pool water to wash away the conditioner from the hair on the inside of the braid.
Put on a cap–
Or put on a swim cap, this is an effective way to prevent your hair from absorbing pool water for sure. Though some people may have hair that is too long, or sensitive scalps that can’t take the tension of a swim cap. Braiding is a good alternative to this method.
Leave-in conditioner-
When you get out of the pool immediately wash your hair with clean water and clarifying shampoo. Once you get out of the shower apply a leave-in conditioner. This assures that the hair is being sufficiently hydrated between trips to the pool.
How to Get Green Out of Hair from Chlorine By Using Shampoo
Clarifying shampoo and red toning shampoo are the two effective types of shampoo to use to remove green tints from blonde hair.
Blonde hair is especially prone to soak up the copper in pool water and green tones from the chemicals.
On the color wheel the opposite of green is red, so it only makes sense to neutralize green with red. Which is why you can try ketchup or tomato juice before using a red shampoo.
Though if a red is too strong for your blonde hair and you are afraid it will leave your hair pink, then a clarifying shampoo is the safest way to go.
How to Remove Chlorine from Hair Naturally
Apple Cider Vinegar Mask Rinse Recipe
How to Grow Hair Fast – Best Hair Mask for All Hair Types
How to Make Homemade Conditioner – 21 Ingredients Found in your Kitchen