# Well water turning hair green



## ClodaghK (22 Jun 2007)

Has anyone got any solution.............

My hair is naturally dark blonde.

Were i live we are connected to well water. This subsequently gives a rather awful green tinge to my hair when i wash it.  I have tried to boil the water beforehand and wash my hair in the sink, but as my hair is half way down my back this doesnt really work, as i can never get all the shampp and conditioner out of my hair.

Has anyone any remedy!

Many thanks


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## Caveat (22 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

A green tinge would sugggest high copper content in the water.

Could be contaminated or have decaying residual plumbing.  Don't mean to alarm you, but I'd get this checked as it may pose a health risk.  Boiling will not help.


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## igora (22 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

Hi 

Try dissolving a soluble aspirin or dispirin in the final rinse.

Always use a clear or white coloured shampoo and conditioner and try and keep any artificial blonde/high lift colour out of your hair, use treatments regularly so your hair will not be so porous ans absorb the unwanted "green"

Perhps installing a filter on your pump will also help.


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## glenamaddy (22 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

I have come across this before, the solution is to fit a water treatment package at the well.


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## Lorraine B (22 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

My friend has this problem and having a water softener doesn't seem to have helped.  She thought it was ok again but last night we noticed that some of her highlights are going green again!!

Any ideas??


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## Sue Ellen (23 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

Forget about the green and worry about what's its doing to your system.  Get it checked out carefully.


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## snuffle (24 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

This would indeed be due to a high copper content in the water, a solution for the colour of your hair (a supremely messy one but one which I hear actually works) is to cover your hair in tomato ketchup once a week (similar to a deep conditioning treatment: leave on hair for a few minutes then wash out) to counteract the green tinge. Blonde swimmer friends of mine use this trick as the chlorine in swimming pools gives the green tinges also. Not having to deal with this is one bonus to being brunette 

AFAIK there are also hair treatment products designed for this, to reduce the green tinge you get in blonde hair from swimming, perhaps some of these might also work in your situation?


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## ajapale (24 Jun 2007)

*Re: Water turning hair green*

moved from Miscellaneous Non-financial Questions
to
Homes and Garden

Get your well water tested for Manganese and Iron. A comprehensive water test should cost you between 50 and 70 euros.

You can then get filters to remove the offending metals. These filters cost in the order of 700 euros. There may be a local authority grant to assist you with installing filters.

As far as I know Iron and Manganese do not pose a health risk but will stain clothes (and in this case hair) and will cause scaling and discolouration in your plumbing and bathroom appliances.

aj


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## hipwell (12 Nov 2007)

Have the exact same problem.  We moved into a new house a year ago and from the first wash I got a green tinge to my highlights.  Have had water tested and it didn't show up anything.  Now I have heard that new copper piping in soft water areas can cause this problem.  I'm not sure how to rectify this but have heard you can inject something into the pipes to build up a coating to prevent this.  Otherwise you have to wait a couple of years for scale to build up and this prevents the copper in the water.  Have you had any solution to your problem?


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## ClodaghK (9 Jul 2008)

Just thought id come back and say that i didnt really find a soultion to the immediate problem.

I did try almost every "cheap" remedy and the best one was using the ketchup. Now I have to say you would nearly gag putting it on, because the smell is truly horrendous, but it does work.

However, I found the best solution was to change the colour of my hair! I died my hair brown, and its only when my hair is due to be coloured (i.e that the blonde starts coming back through that you start to see a slight tinge of green coming through)  Bearing in mind that I get my hair coloured every 12 weeks - so thats good going.

So the moral of the story is if your well water is turning your hair green change its colour!!!!!!!!!


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## mathepac (9 Jul 2008)

Install a water-butt and collect the rain-water from your down pipes / gutters. Heat a kettle-full / pot-full wash and rinse your hair in it. You will never want to use anything else and you'll find that you need far less shampoo and your hair will shine.

If you want to make tea or coffee from rain-water, use it through a Brita or similar water filter.


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## Armada (9 Jul 2008)

Schwarzkopf SEAH Fango Mud Mask...

A pre shampoo treatment which when left on for a couple of minutes acts as a detox and removes the "green" residue from the hair.

If hair is badly discoloured you might need to use it a couple of times.

Costs €22 and is available from professional hair salons or contact Schwarzkopf on 01 4607378 for stockists.

I have used it and it does actually work.


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## Geri Atrick (11 Jul 2008)

Green Hair
As stated above this problem is usually caused by copper in the water. This is never found in the ground water but is absorbed from the  distribution system in the house.     In certain areas, depending on the type of local rock, the ground water will contain high levels of carbon dioxide.  This has no health implications but it does  make the  water mildly acidic and corrosive. The piping from the well to the kitchen tap is usually plastic so that if you test a sample from this tap  you will find zero copper present. However , when this water is fed into the internal plumbing system, it will dissolve traces of any metal it contacts - particularly in the hot water  system and especially the copper cylinder. 
WRT your  green hair, if you use water only from the rising main - heating it in a non copper keetle - you should eliminate the problem. O f greater concern is the effect the water may be having on your  plumbing. It would be advisable to have it checked out and treated  if  found to be corrosive. I believe the current practise is to install a minature pump which injects a neutralising solution each time the well pump cuts in. It would be advisable also to add an inhibitor to your central heating system if your plumber has not already done so.


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## kells06 (25 Feb 2009)

Hi, 
I know its been a while since there was any activity on this thread but I am looking to see if anybody has any other solutions. I am living in the Athenry area and my house was build in 2005. I have blonde highlighted hair and there is constantly a green tinge to the back of it, I am tired of it at this stage. Is there any easy way to resolve it without changing the color of my hair.
I am not sure if its is copper in the water or chlorine in the water.

Look forward to hearing from you.


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## extopia (25 Feb 2009)

Don't the people reading this who worry about the green tinges in their lovely blond(e) hair also worry also about drinking this water???

Water treatment is the answer, not cosmetics!

(Btw hats off to the OP, who dyed her hair brown to solve the problem. Reminds me of the joke about the redhead who dyed her hair brown because she heard redheads are more susceptible to skin cancer...)


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## kells06 (25 Feb 2009)

Luckily I have a filter on the drinking water but not on all the water which comes into the house. Its a pain to have to have a shower and avoid washing your hair and then have to wash your hair with filtered water in the kitchen sink.  Just wondering if there were any more ideas about how to resolve the problem. After all I live in an estate of houses all surely built at the same time and in the same way and I am not the only person in the estate with blond(e) hair highlighted, maybe they have figured out a solution.


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## truthseeker (25 Feb 2009)

extopia said:


> Don't the people reading this who worry about the green tinges in their lovely blond(e) hair also worry also about drinking this water???


 
Its the chemicals they used to dye the lovely blonde hair reacting with whats in the water thats the problem. Drinking it is ok, applying it to peroxided hair isnt.

There used to be some shampoo out there to combat this - cant remember the name, will have a think.


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## mathepac (25 Feb 2009)

kells06 said:


> ... I am not the only person in the estate with blond(e) hair highlighted, maybe they have figured out a solution.


Maybe you could ask them?


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## Bar101 (25 Feb 2009)

Try this company. I find them very good.
They can analyse what is different about your water.

[broken link removed]

They can do a chemical analysis and report for approx 54 euro.


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## ajapale (25 Feb 2009)

Bar101 said:


> Try this company. I find them very good.
> They can analyse what is different about your water.
> 
> [broken link removed]
> ...



watercheck.ie is water technology cork's website. They are a well established and very well regarded water treatment company.

Water Technology Limited
[broken link removed]             
            Phone: +353 21 4965600              
            Fax: +353 21 4965618              

I think comprehensive water tests costs a bit more than €54 a bit closer to €100 I imagine.


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## extopia (26 Feb 2009)

truthseeker said:


> Its the chemicals they used to dye the lovely blonde hair reacting with whats in the water thats the problem. Drinking it is ok.....



Are you sure? Have you tested the water?


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## Bar101 (26 Feb 2009)

ajapale said:


> watercheck.ie is water technology cork's website. They are a well established and very well regarded water treatment company.
> 
> Water Technology Limited
> [broken link removed]
> ...




You are correct about the higher cost for a comprehensive test (88 euro). However that includes a bacteriological test which probably would not be required in this case. I use these guys for testing well water annually. Results are comprehensive.


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## ajapale (26 Feb 2009)

When getting your water tested it is a good idea to include a range of metals such as Iron and Manganese and also Arsenic and Lead. And test for Ph.

aj


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