Copper is a metal that occurs in water that can find its way into your saltwater pool through several different methods. While trace amounts are acceptable, a high copper level in your pool can affect water chemistry impacting both the pool itself and the swimmers who use it.
An acceptable level of copper in a swimming pool is 0.2 ppm to 0.4 ppm (parts per million). A higher level outside this range increases the chance that water gets cloudy and copper stains appear on the pool liner and walls. If you have traces of copper in your pool, the combined effect of the copper with pool chlorine may cause light-colored hair to appear to have a greenish-tint. This is especially true for people with blonde hair.
In a saltwater pool, chemical chlorine is usually added to open and close the pool and can be utilized during the season to shock it during heavy usage and hot weather. Salt is converted to chlorine and when it combines with the copper, it oxidizes the copper to produce the green-colored effect in your hair.
Prevent Green Hair
The easiest way to prevent green hair in pools is to keep a very low copper content in your pool. We’ll talk about that more in a moment. But in case you’re swimming in someone else’s pool and don’t have that control, there are a few things you can do.
Use a hair conditioner before swimming in someone else’s pool and leave it in ie. don’t wash it out. A conditioner in your hair makes it less likely that water will stick to your hair.
Wet your hair before entering the water. If you have a quick shower or otherwise wet your hair before entering the water, it’s also less likely that the pool water still affect the color of your hair. Also, wash your hair directly after swimming and don’t allow it to dry first.
Get Rid of Green Hair
For some people the greenish tinge may wash out and disappear on its own quickly by shampooing your hair. If not, there are a few tried and true methods that can work.
If you already have green hair and want to quickly get rid of it, soaking and then washing your hair with tomato juice can help to get rid of the green color.
Rubbing and soaking your hair with lemon juice and then shampooing and rinsing afterwards can also help to wash out green from your hair.
Mixing 0.5 cup of baking soda with water and turning it into a paste that you then applied to your dampened hair may also help to wash the green color from your hair.
Copper In Pools
Copper can enter a saltwater pool in several ways. For starters, the water that you fill your pool with. Lead and copper content in tap water are restricted by the EPA which state the following:
If lead concentrations exceed an action level of 15 ppb or copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, the system must undertake a number of additional actions to control corrosion.
EPA
So there should be a maximum amount of copper in your tap water that you most likely use to top up your pool in the spring and perhaps during the pool season when water is lost through evaporation.
But copper can also enter your pool through commercial products that you add to the water. Algaecides used to fight algae growth tend to be copper-based and often specifically include copper sulfate or copper chelates. Copper in this case is the active ingredient used to kill algae.
You may have come across copper (or zinc or silver) ionizers which can also be used in a pool to control algae. These can also add levels of copper into the pool water as well.
Another reason for copper problems is related to having a very low pH. A consistently low pH can corrode copper surfaces in the pool system and dissolve metals into the pool water. Corrosion is also known as rusting and involves the destruction and degradation of a metal substance.
Signs of High Copper
As mentioned above, the acceptable range of copper in your pool is 0.2 ppm to 0.4 ppm. When your copper level is higher than this, side effects can occur involving both the pool itself and swimmers. The most common symptoms of high copper levels in your pool are:
- The aforementioned greenish hair tinge for some swimmers with light-colored hair.
- Pool stains on the walls of the pool that are typically teal or greenish blue in color.
- Cloudiness of pool water.
- Incorrect water testing results. Excessively high copper can throw off your water tests and give you false readings.
Testing Copper Levels
Some swimming pool water test strips include copper as a testing element or specifically test for copper and other metals only. Be sure to use a saltwater pool specific testing strip when testing chlorine and salt. But you can also purchase a separate copper-specific testing strip if that’s what you need to test for.
You can also take a water sample to your pool company to test for copper and other metal levels to ensure they are within range.
You can continue to learn more about water chemistry for your salt water pool on this site.
