hair disaster.

[andy]

thought ide share an experience i had last year, one of my clients with tinted hair about a 9 igora very light blonde decided to have some hilights put through it. so as usual i used my usual 6% peroxide with bleach , blue bleach which our salon had just got in . i usually use white bleach. luckily i was using a cap . i applied the bleach and within 5 mins it became red hot and had to be taken off asp. a lot of the hair had desolved and the hair ruined, it turned out that she had been swimming that morning and although she had shampooed her hair the chlorine had remained in her hair and had a massive reaction to the bleaching agent, this i confirmed later on with the rep who sold us the bleach. the client luckily took it her stride and had the short cut she,d allways wanted but never dared to have, and went home sort of happyish.but i learned a huge lesson that day allways give your clients the third degree before doing anything to them .........

 

[jrobinson]

o my god! that shows how much we need to do consultations!! i will make sure i ask my client if they have been swimming! would chlorine just react to bleach or tint as well? if they said yes i have been swimming, would you wash their hair again?

 

[minky]

Thanks for sharing Andy , that really is useful information to know ,
Just imagine how much chlorine must have been in that pool
it must react in a similar the way to the way metallic sallts do with peroxide ect ,
very scary indeed,

I think a quick test piece first from now on for all swimmers,

:hug: x minky x

 

[scottydolly]

if this was the case and u did a test cutting and it reacted, obviously badly, would givin it a couple of shampoos like alternate action make it ok again to do?

 

[Jeni Giles]

It's actually NOT the chlorine, but the oxidation action of the chlorine and the piping that the water is circulated and filtered through. HEAVY SCIENCE CONTENT AHEAD...lol

What actually happens, the water oxidizes and breaks down, mixes with the ammonium chloride gas that is typically used for commercial pools since it will kill most every type of bacteria, passes through the metal pipes that are required for pool use and you have a lovely metallic salt. I won't bore you with the exact chemical formulas and breakdowns (I'd have to dig through reams of notes to find them all again anyway)

We know from historical experience that metallic salts react badly with perming and coloring. This type of metallic salt usually does not penetrate the cuticle, but coats and sits on top. We can usually see the greenish cast (most pools use copper pipes or copper lines pipes) and feel the slick almost plasticy coating on the more porous ends.

To remove this build up you need to use a fairly aggressive chelating shampoo or treatment. We make our own- 2 tablespoons powdered citric acid (powdered lemonade concentrate) 1 oz clarifying shampoo. Apply to damp hair, NOT wet, but just damp to the most built up places (generally the ends) allow to process 5-10 min at room temp for mild build up 10-15 min with cap under heat for extreme build up. Condition and make sure your client wets hair before entering pool, wears a swim cap and rinses hair immediately after getting out of the pool.

 

[minky]

Wow , that is a great reply Jeni , thanks for that :hug:
I have done a ladys hair with straightning products and colours directly after she had been swimming but she had always washed her hair before she came in ,
(must admit the starightener did get a little warm )
but all was fine and dandy, thank goodness

but I will always keep it in mind now (thank you Andy )
:hug: x minky