My hair has gone GREEN

[Hairdisasterhelp]

Sorry for posting in AIBU but I need the traffic.

I’m currently on holiday in Bali and my hair has turned green from the pool.

we arrived at the hotel on the 20th and spend the first few days swimming in the pool with no issues, however yesterday I went in the pool for about 2 hours and the ends of my hair have turned green.

I spoke to the reception staff and they called the 3rd party pool maintenance team out who clarified that the night before they had switched from a chlorine system to a copper system and that the copper levels were too high, which has caused my hair to turn green.

The vendor has offered for me and my friend (who’s hair has also been affected, though she has darker hair than me and hers has turned a caramel / copper colour) to visit a local hair salon.

I know basically nothing about hair and I don’t want to get into a situation where it’s worse and completely unfixable when I return to the UK.

any advice is appreciated.

This happened to me when I was a swimming teacher. Nothing worked except for those box dye silver kits.

I thought of Anne of Green Gables when I saw the thread title!

Don't worry about it until you get home. Then slather your hair with tomato ketchup.

Cranberry juice… ketchup… just keep pouring it through. Don’t get in that pool again unless you have a treatment mask in your hair.

Also here to say ketchup! I did the same in Costa Rica and it absolutely worked!

A good strong shampoo like head and shoulders. Mine did this on my last 2 week holiday when I was in the pool most days. It came out fine once I'd given it a few shampoos with a strong shampoo.

Sorry for your dilemma OP, hope the ketchup works.

Just another vote for it looking pretty, though! Magical mermaidy! Waft around in turquoise chiffon and you'll never look back!!!

This happened to me in Bali because of the copper systems. I just scrubbed it immediately with shampoo when it happened and it went away. Not sure how that will work if you have let it set in. You unfortunately will need to not put your hair under water in any pools or it will keep happening. It was quite annoying !

This happened to us in Greece last year! My daughter’s hair and all light swimming costumes turned green. Ketchup works and it does fade eventually!

posters saying it’s the chlorine - OP states in first post she was ok for the first few days then they switched from chlorine to copper and it was high levels of copper that apparently caused the problem- would ketchup still work for that?

Another vote for ketchup. It defo works. Failing that (some ketchup in SE Asia is banana based) tinned tomatoes.

Also make sure you wet your hair and put conditioner on before swimming. It fills up the pores/shafts and helps stop the chlorinated water get in making it green.

Good point!

It doesn`t look that bad, OP!
I would therefore try the ketchup - if it also works for issues caused by copper instead of chlorine - and go to my regular hairdresser when I get home.

A chelating shampoo will remove it.

I think it looks good. I'd love that!

Another vote for tomato ketchup - it's a reaction to the chlorine in the water likely. Could happen swimming in local pool too x

You've had a lot of advice on how to get it out, but my advice would be to make sure you thoroughly wet your hair with fresh water before going back into the pool. If your hair is already saturated it can't absorb pool water and chemicals. I swim regularly and have found my hair stays in much better condition now that I always wet it before I get into the pool, than when I used to get in with it dry.

If you can find it Paul Mitchell shampoo three. Excellent for blonde swimmers...who wish to stay that way

Oh that’s annoying. I reckon Put your hair up in a bun, wet it and apply conditioner each morning to stop it being so porous, then take them up on their offer of a free hairdo before you come home; get the worst of it trimmed off and then buy ketchup for anything left?

@KimberleyClark
Glad it wasn’t just me 😶

Perhaps I never did the ketchup thing right but the one time my hair did this and I tried ketchup I still had green hair but I also had a funky vinegary tomato stench to me that I couldn't unsmell for a long time.

I would go to a hairdressers.

Ketchup etc never worked when this happened to me. I was told to get a pink based shampoo - I think it was bleach London rose tint I bought and it worked with one wash (didn’t turn my hair pink either). Xx

It's Bali, a prime tourist area, not the Arctic (and even then the Arctic probably has ketchup everywhere on its bases!)

There'll be ketchup in a restaurant within her hotel or within walking distance. Or just any Mcdonalds or fast food joint. Or any supermarket.

Another vote for ketchup. Heinz preferably from experience. Put it on like a hair mask. Brush it through. Wrap it up and cover with a shower cap or plastic bag and leave for half an hour then wash it out. When you get home wash it with purple shampoo a few times.

Just put your hair up in a bun and enjoy your holiday