Swimming With Bleached Hair [How To Avoid Green Hair]
You probably know that swimming with bleached hair can be tricky as your hair will most likely turn greenish in the pool.
The reality is that swimming pools have been a threat to blonde hair for many years! The chlorine in the water not only dries out the hair a lot, but since it has a blue background, it turns blonde hair greenish.
To swim with bleached hair it is important that you use a pool protector that reduces the porosity of the hair to prevent it from absorbing too much chlorine. Also, as soon as you get out of the swim you should wash your hair immediately to remove all chlorine residue.
Protecting your hair from the pool is much easier and simpler than fixing it afterwards! But don’t worry, in this article I will also give you useful tips so you know how to fix your hair if it turned green from swimming.
The reality of swimming with bleached hair
Swimming with bleached hair can seem like an impossible mission. If you wear a full blonde in your hair, you should be more careful in the pool than when you have traditional highlights.
The reason is because when you bleach all your hair you are removing the protective layers of your hair, and although it looks spectacular, your hair will have a very high porosity. And when you have high porosity in your hair, you absorb a lot more chlorine in the pool!
The reason our hair can turn green when swimming is because the chlorine of the pool has a slightly bluish background color. So, when our yellow hair comes into contact with the bluish water, the reaction is a greenish color.
And believe me I have seen many different cases of this problem in bleached hair. From slightly greenish reflections to a dark green color! That is why it is important that you always take special care with your blonde hair in summer.
What is the best way to swim with bleached hair?
The best way to swim in the pool with bleached hair is through a prevention and post-care system. Basically the important thing is to reduce the porosity as much as possible to prevent your hair from absorbing too much chlorine, and to properly clean your hair afterwards.
If you have the proper care you will see that you can enjoy the summer without hair problems! So you can show off your blonde hair to the fullest. Let’s see step by step how we can take care of our bleached hair in the pool:
step 1: prevention
Prevention is the most important step! Of course I will tell you that if you can avoid getting your hair wet while swimming in the pool, all the better. Ideally, you should put your hair up in a high bun and completely prevent your bleached hair from getting wet.
However, I know that in reality this is more complicated than it seems! There is nothing more difficult than resisting the temptation to dive completely into the pool. So, if you are one of those who loves to swim without worrying about your hair, you need to apply a protector before getting into the pool.
Although there are many brands that sell pool protectors, the truth is that their formula is similar to normal conditioners which do not provide all the necessary protection. I recommend that you apply Kerastase Chroma Absolut leave in serum instead.
This product is specific to protect hair color from external aggressions (such as chlorine), and is also formulated to instantly reduce hair porosity. In this way, your hair will absorb much less chlorine and the product will create a barrier so that it does not penetrate deeply.
The best way to apply it is to spray it all over dry hair before going into the pool and brush your hair well so that you distribute the product evenly. If you are going to spend many hours in the pool, take it with you! So you can refresh your application every 2 hours.
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step 2: aftercare
In addition to prevention, it is important that after swimming you have the appropriate care! It is useless to protect your hair very well if afterwards you stay for hours with the chlorine acting on the hair cuticle.
The most important thing is that as soon as you finish swimming you wash your hair immediately. Nothing that you stay with wet hair from the pool all day!
It is essential that as soon as you finish swimming you give yourself a hair wash (it can be quick) with your usual shampoo and shower water. This will remove all chlorine residue from your hair.
If you leave the chlorinated water in your hair for hours after you get out of the pool, your hair can absorb up to 3 times more chlorine as it dries with it.
Make sure you wash your hair very well immediately after you get out of the pool! And if you can apply a moisturizing treatment to nourish your hair and hydrate it much better.
What can i do if my hair turns green?
If your hair turned green from the pool, don’t panic! First of all try to wash your hair many times so that your color returns to normal. In 80% of cases, after a couple of washes you will be back to normal.
If it’s still green, there are several remedies you can use to get your color back to normal. The most practical are to do a deep cleaning, use a color remover product, or directly color your hair at home.
I highly recommend that you read this article in which you will discover step by step how to eliminate the green color of your hair caused by the pool.
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Bottom line
I hope this article has been helpful to you in knowing how to swim in the pool safely if you have blonde or bleached hair.
My best advice is that as long as you can avoid submerging your head in the water, all the better. Bleached hair is very delicate, and therefore the more care you can have, the better.
Once your vacation is over, don’t forget to go to your trusted hairdresser to restore the shine of your color and apply a restorative treatment to the driest areas of your hair.
Until next time!
