It’s common for blondes to have issues when they spend a lot of time in the swimming pool with their hair turning a slight shade of green, especially towards the ends. Don’t get discouraged, it’s common and you are not alone.

Often the misconception to the hair turning green is the chlorine. It’s not 100 just the chlorine though. It’s also copper. Copper is a metal that can often be found in your swimming pool water. The copper and chlorine bond together in the water to form a film that sticks to the proteins in your stands of hair, causing it to turn green. So the biggest culprit is the copper. Even tap water with a high copper content can turn your hair green as well.

Good news! It’s NOT permanent! It can be fixed and even prevented with a few simple steps.

To prevent the onset of green hair, we provide a few options below.

Stop using copper based algaecides in your pool water. Keep your chlorine level and maintained and you won’t need to use algaecides. Because some of the contain copper, although its great at killing algae it can also stain your pool and also green blonde hair.

Wet your hair before going into the pool, copper and chlorine won’t hang onto your hair as tightly when you enter with wet hair.

Apply a leave-in conditioner on your hair before you go in the pool. Then the pool water won’t stick to your hair as easily.

Wash your hair with shampoo immediately after getting out of the pool and you are done for the day.

Or if your hair is already green, you can try some at home remedies below to see what works best for you.

Rinse with Tomato Juice, ketchup or lemon juice. Soak your hair as best you can with tomato juice, then let it set for 5-10 minutes. Or try ketchup. After coating your hair with it, you will need to wrap your hair in tinfoil or wrap a swim cap and let it sit on your head for about 30 minutes. If you decide to give the lemon juice a try, put the lemon juice in your hair and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. Whichever you choose, wash and condition your hair after you have fully rinsed.

Try aspirin, baking soda or lemon Kool-Aid as a rinse. Use ¼-1/2 cup of baking soda with water and mix to make a paste consistency. Massage paste into your hair and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. If you decide to give aspirin a try, crush about 6-8 tablets in a bowl then add warm water to it for it to dissolve. Put the rinse in your hair and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. If you use the lemon Kool-Aid mis the package with water and apply to the green areas of the hair. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Again, whichever you choose, wash and condition your hair after you have fully rinsed.

If you prefer to not do at home remedies, there is a professional shampoo that can help as well. It removes the chlorine and copper from your hair to help remove the green tint.

With these easy tips and tricks, you’ll have your golden locks back in no time. Now go enjoy that pool!

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Read more on Essential Equipment for your Swimming Pool

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It’s very common that pool owner’s make some bad choices when trying to tackle pool maintenance on their own. However, mistakes are the best way to learn. Owning a swimming pool provides numerous chances to make pool maintenance mistakes, big or small. So as soon as you discover you made a mistake, it’s best to call a professional or do some research and study how to fix the issue. Educating yourself on common pool maintenance mistakes will help keep your pool safer, cleaner and running well without the high cost of some mistakes. Below, we provide some of the most common mistakes made in hopes to help prevent you from doing the same.

Ignoring Your pH and Alkalinity Levels

Testing your pool water is done for a reason. The results need to be acknowledged and action taken behind it. Low pH in your water test indicates acidity which can seem to be a good thing at first, however we learned that many negative things can happen if this were to be ignored. While a high pH level indicates alkalinity, your water probably looks and appears pristine and clear, however ignoring high or low pH is not good for your pool.

For example, a low pH can damage your pool pump and filter, vinyl liner, heater, automatic pool cleaner, chemical feeder, your solar blanket and maintenance equipment. This can become costly very quick.

Not Brushing Your Pool

You run a vacuum on a regular basis and think it’s enough, but we don’t agree. To really have a clean pool, you need to brush and scrub your walls, behind the ladders, the steps, corners and even the water line. These areas build up a level of scum that can only be brushed off and keeps algae at bay. Just like brushing your teeth, they need to be brushed to be fully cleaned and be at their cleanest. Do this once a week for the best result.

Adding Shock Directly to Your Pool

Pool shock is better known as concentrated chlorine. It’s a very strong chemical that needs ot be treated gently and with caution. If you have a vinyl liner in your pool, shocking directly to your pool will reek havoc. The shock granules will sink the bottom of your pool and bleach out your liner. This causes the area to become brittle, fall apart and cause leaks.

Be sure to mix the shock with water in a bucket first before adding it to your pool. However, please fill the bucket with warm water FIRST, then add the shock. This way is safest route.

Using An Automatic Pool Cleaner When You Have An Algae Problem

Dealing with pool algae can be challenging to say the least and unfortunately, using your automatic pool cleaner won’t help the issue. They only push the algae and debris through a mesh bag and causes the algae to simply move around in the pool, NOT remove it. Use an older

To resolve this issue, you will have to bring out your manual vacuum. Yes, it’s more work but does the job needed to make sure your water is clear again. Make sure you switch your filter to “waste” or remove the drain plug.

Shocking Your Swimming Pool During the Day

The sun is not welcomed by pool shock. It burns off 1 ppm each hour, reducing the efficiency of your chemicals, and wasting your money. Best advice is to simply shock your pool at night, then it will have plenty of time to do its job throughout the nighttime.

 

 

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When a storm or rainfall is heading your way, the best thing to do is to try and do what you can in advance to prep your pool for the oncoming storm. For example, cover your pool and shut off the pumps, clear your pool of any floats, toys, etc. However, many of us have busy days and work, so often we aren’t available to tend to our pools before a rainstorm. More so, storms are not always predictable, and can even swing through the night while asleep. No worries, we are here to provide you with some simple steps of what you can do after a rainstorm to help keep your pool and pool water in swimmingly shape.

The simplest and easiest of things to do first is to clean your pool. Begin brushing off the steps, behind the ladders and walls. It may look like nothing is there but all the rain that has entered your pool has affected your chemistry level and if left alone will affect your water quality.

In most cases, with rain comes wind. So, the next thing to do is clean out any loose debris that may have entered your pool during the rainstorm. Tree branches, leaves, twigs, and garbage are all common to see in your pool water after a rainstorm. Make sure these items are removed to prevent clogging and increasing your chances of dirty water.

While cleaning the debris out of your pool, check the water level. Especially if the rainstorm was major or a hurricane, which is very common here in Florida). More than likely your water level is past the point of where it should be, which is the middle of your skimmer opening. If this is the case, gradually drain your pool to bring the water level back down to its suggested location.

Continue to clean by bringing out your pool vacuum and clean what you can. Then turn your filters on now that nothing can clog them. It’s time to get your pool water to circulate.

Next, we suggest you shock your pool. After a heavy rainstorm, your pool’s chlorine levels will lower and by shocking your pool it will replenish the chlorine lost from the rain. Be sure while shocking your pool that you keep the pump running.

Quick Tip: You can shock your pool in the rain, YES, it’s safe! Just keep note that rainwater adds contaminants, so it wouldn’t be as effective if you were to wait until after the rain has stopped.

Next, test your water. This is an important step that will give you answers as to what your water needs to stay clean.

Last but not least, adjust your chemicals to rebalance your pool water. After you test your water which chemicals need adjusting.

If the rainstorm is more of a light shower, I wouldn’t worry too much about the pool chemistry. A light rain will have very little effect, if any, on your pool water. However, it wouldn’t hurt to test your water anyway, if only for good measure.

 

What’s the perfect water temperature for your Florida pool during the winter?

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