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Why
does my hair look so dull and dry after a trip to the swimming pool??
Chlorine in swimming pool water may affect the general appearance
of the hair. After a swim in chlorinated water most people's hair
looks very dull and dry. This is usually due to removal of oils
that coat the hair to give it a shiny look and certainly chlorine
is a very powerful remover of hair lipids.
A chlorine salt crystallization process my also affect the hair
cuticle. The cuticle is an outer layer of very hard, dead cells
over the hair surface, much like fish scales or roof tiles overlapping
each other. If the chlorine gets in between the scales and crystallizes
it could push up the cuticle scales and make them rough. These flaked
cuticle scales reflect light poorly and so the hair fiber looks
dull, dry and may feel rough to the touch.
My
blonde hair went green in the swimming pool!
There
have been published reports of blonde hair going green after prolonged
exposure to chlorine in swimming pools. Sometimes darker hair
can also develop a green tint to it. The problem is due to high
concentrations of copper dissolved in the pool water. This can
chemically interact with chlorine and the resulting chemical compound
readily binds to the hair cuticle (Goldschmidt 1979, Goette 1978).
It has also been reported that high levels of copper in tap water
can also turn hair green (Goldschmidt 1979).
Several options for treatment have been described for this problem,
including application of hot vegetable oil, hydrogen peroxide,
edetic acid- or D-penicillamine-containing shampoos, or hydroxyethyl
diphosphonic acid (Mascaro 1995).
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Ten
year old Dean Stockwell starred as "the boy with green hair" - a controversial
1948 film directed by soon-to-be-blacklisted Joseph Losey,
who moved to England and produced such early 1960's masterpieces
as "darling" and "the servant". Pat
O'Brien and Robert Ryan co-starred with Dean, who plays
an American war orphan whose hair turns green overnight.
We come to realize that the Green Hair and his "difference" from
other children have made him a representative of all war
orphans and his message must be - no more war! In the distrustful
atmosphere after World War II, "the boy with green
hair" became notorious as a subversive film.
On the other hand, maybe he just did a lot of swimming
in water with a lot of copper dissolved in it. |
Why
is my hair weak and brittle after a trip to the swimming pool?
I receive a regular stream of Email from people who have apparently
experienced rough, weak, brittle hair, hair color changes, and even
hair loss after taking a swim in the public baths. There may be
several actions going on. The first, is simply a lack of general
hair care. When hair is wet it is much weaker. After it has been
soaked for some time and absorbed the maximum amount of water possible,
hair will be up to 20% weaker than dry hair. This means that wet
hair must be handled much more carefully than dry hair. Pulling
on it or arranging it into a hair style that puts tension on the
hair will lead to damage of the chemical bonds in hair and may lead
to hair breakage. Alternatively, the chlorine in swimming pool water
may have an adverse affect on hair. Chlorine is a strong oxidizing
agent and its action on hair may alter both strength and color.
Finally, some research in Japan suggests that hair color and quality
can change in professional swimmers simply due to the chronic friction
between water and the hair cuticle as the individual swims.
I suggest one further possibility, that the chlorine may also work
on the hair by a physical method rather than having a chemical influence.
Chlorine is a salt in solution. In the pool water, it can get inside
the hair fiber (hair fibers have holes in them and water can get
inside). When you get out of the pool your hair gradually dries
out. The chlorine inside the fiber crystallizes. Even though you
might shower after a swim, this will only really wash the chlorine
off the hair surface and not wash away any chlorine inside the hair
fiber itself. To do this you would really have to soak the hair
in pure water for a little while.
As the crystallization process develops inside the hair, the crystals
get bigger and literally push on the inside of the hair fiber. This
might push on the chemical bonds in the hair that give it its strength
and actually break them apart. The chlorine is disrupting the hair's
"structural integrity". Once the chemical bonds are broken
the hair's strength is reduced and more likely to break and split.
You may have heard of a similar process in geography that can cause
porous rocks to break into fragments. This salt crystallization
process is a very powerful way to destroy all kinds of materials.
Swimmers
hair references
- Nanko H,
Mutoh Y, Atsumi R, Kobayashi Y, Ikeda M, Yoshikawa N, Fukuda S,
Kawa Y, Mizoguchi M. Hair-discoloration of Japanese elite swimmers.
J Dermatol. 2000 Oct;27(10):625-34.
- Mascaro
JM Jr, Ferrando J, Fontarnau R, Torras H, Dominguez A, Mascaro
JM. Green hair. Cutis. 1995 Jul;56(1):37-40.
- Sharp RL,
Costill DL. Influence of body hair removal on physiological responses
during breaststroke swimming. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1989 Oct;21(5):576-80.
- Roomans
GM, Forslind B. Copper in green hair: a quantitative investigation
by electron probe x-ray microanalysis. Ultrastruct Pathol. 1980
Jul-Sep;1(3):301-7.
- Biel K, Kretzschmar L, Muller C, Metze
D, Traupe H. [Green hair caused by frequent swimming pool use].
Hautarzt. 1997 Aug;48(8):568-71.
- Gould D, Slater DN, Durrant TE. A case
of green hair--a consequence of exogenous copper deposition
and permanent waving. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1984 Nov;9(6):545-53.
- Fisher AA. Green hair: causes and management.
Cutis. 1999 Jun;63(6):317-8.
- Munkvad S, Weismann K. [Copper-induced
green hair. Treatment with a penicillamine containing shampoo].
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turns green. Acta Derm Venereol. 1993 Oct;73(5):321-2.
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spectacle metal. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1990 Nov;15(6):467.
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nail discoloration by water containing iron]. Hautarzt. 1989
Jul;40(7):441-2. German.
- Wright S, Auger DW. Rumbler operator's
green hair. Contact Dermatitis. 1988 Oct;19(4):310-1.
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F, Pfeiffer B, Zahn H. Green hair: guidelines for diagnosis
and therapy. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1986 Nov;15(5 Pt 1):1065-8.
- Person JR. Green hair: treatment with
a penicillamine shampoo. Arch Dermatol. 1985 Jun;121(6):717-8.
- Gould D, Slater DN, Durrant TE. A case
of green hair--a consequence of exogenous copper deposition
and permanent waving. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1984 Nov;9(6):545-53.
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1982 Jan;33(1):32-3.
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- Nordlund JJ, Hartley C, Fister J. On
the cause of green hair. Arch Dermatol. 1977 Dec;113(12):1700.
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17;238(16):1722.
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hair. JAMA. 1977 May 9;237(19):2092.
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