It's summer, you're swimming, or your kids are. All is going well until you start to notice that your hair is starting to turn a lovely shade of slimy green....ahhhhh! What do I do now?
Fist of all let's start with what to do before you jump in that pool. Your hair is porous (especially if you are blonde) which means that it will absorb water like a sponge. So instead of absorbing all the pool water get your hair wet with tap water. You can shower rinse it, spray it with a water bottle or run it under the sink. Then take a conditioner, the thicker the better, and run it through your damp ends, but don't rinse it out, leave it in. At this point you should try to braid your hair back or put it up in a loose bun,but sometimes we just want to jump I the pool. I know this sounds like a lot of effort but when you consider the time and money we put into our hair it's really not that much. Although after I've had a few drinks by the pool most things seem like quite an effort.
For the kids, and in this circumstance I mean girls because of the length of their hair; same rules apply try to French braid or double braid before swimming. Wet hair, towel dry, spray with leave in conditioner and braid the hair. These water lovers need it the most. They stay in until their hands get wrinkly and their lips get blue. Once they get out of the pool unfortunately you have to un-do that pretty braid and shampoo out the ends. This is a detox shampoo (try to make me go to rehab, I say no, no, no. RIP Amy Winehouse) kids and adults can use, try using it twice in a row to really build a good lather. It will gently remove the residue buildup without stripping color from your hair. Concentrate on shampooing your ends where your hair is the most porous.
More concentrated efforts for chlorine happen when it's really gotten too late. Honestly,if you are trying to repair your hair at this stage it's probably going to be too late in most circumstances. I've tried bleaching it out which doesn't remove the greenish/grayish color very much at all. I've tried bleaching and toning but you can't tone out a residue. I've tried the home remedy route, things like baking soda, vitamin c, seen tomato juice not work, then ended up removing or cutting off all of those un-happy lengths of hair anyway. Luckily most of these experiments have been on extensions which means removal is just as easy as replacement.
I don't have full time access to a pool so I don't really suffer from this problem. These are the rules I follow when poolside. Sunscreen, hat, lip balm, cold drink, pull my hair up as high as I can and try not to get dunked but if it happens I won't regret it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
