Blonde Hair Turning Green [the best solutions]

Are you concerned because your blonde hair is turning green? Don’t worry! In this article, you will discover why hair turns green and how to fix it.

Blonde hair is spectacular. But when summer arrives and we go on vacation, or simply when we try to tone our hair at home, we run the risk of it turning green!

The main reason why blonde hair turns green is due to the oxidation of minerals and metals in the hair that we normally find in swimming pools and cause the color of our hair to react. Another of the most common reasons is for using blue pigments in our hair in dyes or purples shampoos.

A greenish blonde is not very pretty to look at and can really be a headache to remove. But don’t worry, in this article, in addition to explaining in detail the reasons why this can happen to you, I will give you a solution for each of the cases!

Why is your blonde hair turning green?

Having green hair is a struggle. Especially if you had a nice blonde, and suddenly you have a strange green pigment in your hair.

The truth is that the blonder your hair is, the more risk you can run of turning your hair green, especially if your hair is damaged and with high porosity.

As a hairdresser, I have realized over the years that it is very important to control the porosity of blonde hair as high porosity turns our hair into a sponge that absorbs everything! The more treated and hydrated you have your hair, the less risk you will run of your blonde hair turning greenish.

The most common causes for which the green tone appears in the hair are:

• Due to the high content of chlorine in swimming pools.
• Due to using too much ash toner on the hair.
• For overusing your purple shampoo.

The reality is that in all cases blonde hair turns greenish due to being combined with blue pigments (either natural from chlorine or chemical dyes).

Remember that yellow + blue = green

Let us now see one by one the different cases that can cause this greenish pigmentation in the hair:

Cause #1: Because of the chlorine in the pool

The most common reason why blonde hair is turning green is due to the chlorine you find in swimming pools. Surely you have heard or it has happened to you that after a day in the pool, blonde hair begins to turn greenish. This is by far the most common cause since most women go to the pool on holidays.

The metal that is oxidized by the chlorine in the pool is the main culprit in turning your blonde hair green.

Although chlorine is transparent, it also has a slight blue background. And when you have blonde hair, the background of your hair is yellow. That’s why there is a lot of cases where hair turned green from the pool.

Do you remember what happens if we mix the colors blue and yellow?

That it will be a green color!

For this reason, when you submerge your beautiful blonde hair in the pool, as the chlorine penetrates your hair, it will turn slightly greenish. And the more chlorine they add to the pool, or the more porous and damaged your hair is, the more it will affect you. The truth is that swimming with bleached hair is more prompt to absorb the chlorines from the pool compared to not bleached hair.

Solution

There are several ways to enjoy the pool without worrying so much about chlorine. First of all I would like to give you some tips to prevent this from happening to you. Prevention is much easier than fixing the problem!

• Try to tie your hair up to avoid getting your hair too wet.
• Before getting into the water, apply a nourishing mask to your hair to reduce its porosity.
• As soon as you get out of the water, immediately wash your hair several times with shampoo to remove residue.
• Apply a hair protector that will prevent your hair from turning green in the pool like the Kerastase Chroma Absolut leave-in. This cream has a fairly high barrier that protects you from hair oxidation and also levels the porosity of your hair.

If despite preventing and taking care of your hair in the pool, your hair turns green, I recommend that you try these solutions:

• Do a detox week in which you will wash your hair with a cleansing shampoo every day to remove residue.
• Make a toner with a little of red pigment diluted (carefully) to neutralize the green reflections of the hair.
• Dissolve an aspirin in water and apply it to your hair, massaging it, let it act for 15 minutes and wash your hair normally.

Cause #2: For toning the hair incorrectly

Another of the most common reasons why your blonde hair is turning green is due to the incorrect use of toners. What toners do to your hair is to deposit pigments in order to add new shades of colour.

Ash or platinum blonde is becoming fashionable and there are many people who try to recreate this trend in their hair. But unfortunately, it often happens that when applying an ash dye to the hair, it turns greenish.

Ash dyes are another of the most common causes for which blonde hair turns greenish because they have blue pigments that, when in contact with yellow hair, turn it greenish.

Therefore you must be very careful, especially when applying ash dyes or toners at home as it can cause an unwanted color reaction and make your blonde greener. And when the hair gets too ashy after toner, it also can have a greenish background.

Solution

It is very important that to prevent this, you always buy a toner that has a violet reflection. Normally the ash reflections are usually written like .1 and the violet ones are .2. Make sure in the color chart that you buy the correct reflections, and always mix ash and purple. Some brands already have the two reflections mixed (.12), and this will make your life easier!

On the other hand, if your hair has already turned green because of the toner, I recommend first of all that you try to wash your hair several times with a special shampoo as I explained in the previous point.

If you still can’t get rid of the greenish color, it is recommended that you tone your hair again to neutralize the green color. I recommend that you buy a toner that is only purple (.2) and not ash, and add a few small drops of red or pink toner (very carefully!). This will help you eliminate the green reflection of your hair.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: How long to leave toner in hair?

Cause #3: Due to the excessive use of purple shampoo

Another reason why blonde hair is turning green is because of your purple shampoo. Believe it or not, several brands of purple shampoo add slightly greenish reflections to the mix to try to make the hair more ash.

And if we are addicted to purple shampoo, and we use it more than once a week, our hair can turn green!

Purple shampoos sometimes have green and blue pigments in the formula to tone hair more ashy in addition to the classic violet pigment. For this reason, if you use them too often, your blonde hair can turn green.

There are people who even use it daily which is a big mistake, since you should never saturate your hair so much with these type of pigments because your hair can look dull and extremely ashy.

In my experience, the cheaper the purple shampoo, the more greenish reflections it has. And the more you saturate your hair with it, the more greenish the ash reflection of your hair will become.

Solution

My best advice for removing the excess of purple shampoo in your hair is to stop using it! Give yourself a break so that your hair can wash off the residue little by little.

How often you use the purple shampoo really matters. Ideally you shouldn’t use your purple shampoo more than once a week to avoid saturating your hair with pigment. Therefore, the best way of using purple shampoo is to apply it just once a week. And remember that the purple shampoo you use should be of the best possible quality!

In my professional experience, the Kerastase Ultra Violet shampoo is the best for toning hair without having these greenish pigments, and it can even help you remove the green from your hair since it is a more balanced purple color.

Let’s get better hair!

I hope this article has been helpful to you to know why your blonde hair is turning green.

If you have tried several solutions and nothing works, I recommend that you visit your trusted hairdresser to have your hair done professionally. I assure you it will be worth it!

Until next time!