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If you have fabulous bleach blonde hair, you may have noticed your hair looks a bit green nowadays. This tint is common, but very frustrating when you want the soft blonde look. Fortunately, there are a few home remedies to this unattractive green tint.
Getting Green Tint Out of Bleached Hair: A Summary
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Below is a summary of eight methods for getting rid of the green tint. Some will work better for other people, but we recommend giving them a shot!
- Tomatoes
- Lemon Juice
- Kool-Aid
- Baking Soda
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Aspirin
- Red Hair Dye
- Visit a Salon
Some of these methods may sound ridiculous, but they can make a big difference in the green tint and get you back to your beautiful blonde hair.
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How to Get Green Tint Out of Bleached Hair: 8 Ways
Let’s delve into each of the ways you can remove that green tint from bleached hair.
1. Tomatoes
Tomato-based products can do wonders to get rid of the green tint in your hair without having to use harsh chemicals. If you want a more natural way of eliminating the green, tomato-based substances are the best option.
You can use ketchup, V8, or tomato juice, and all three should give you the same results. The acidity in tomatoes will help saturate your hair and remove the impurities that can cause the unpleasant green tint.
If you look at a color wheel, green and red are on opposite ends of the spectrum. So applying the red, acidic tomato-based substance will cancel out the green color and leave you with beautiful blonde hair.
To do this method, all you need to do is coat your hair in the tomato-based product of your choice and let it sit for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, you can rinse it out of your hair, shampoo, and condition. The green tint should be gone when you rinse your hair.
2. Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is another product you likely already have in your home that can eliminate the green tint. Because of the acidity, lemon juice will also reduce impurities in your hair that make it turn green.
For lemon juice to work, all you need to do is saturate your hair with lemon juice and then let it sit for no more than 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, rinse out the lemon juice and thoroughly condition your hair.
The lemon juice will dry out your hair, so make sure you condition it well afterward. If you have any moisturizing leave-in conditioner, it’s best to use this after the lemon juice.
3. Kool-Aid
Do you remember girls dyeing their hair with Kool-Aid in middle school? Well, this method is a lot like that. The coloring in Kool-Aid is quite potent, and using a yellow-colored Kool-Aid, like lemon-flavored, will help reduce the green tint and restore your hair to the lovely blonde you want.
All you need to do is mix the powder with a little water. Not enough to make Kool-Aid, you’re looking for a thicker, paste-like consistency. A tablespoon of water is usually enough!
Take the Kool-Aid mixture and saturate it into the green areas of your hair. Do not cover all of your hair with the mixture, only the green spots. Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes, and then wash it out. Use your normal shampoo and conditioner after this treatment.
4. Baking Soda
Another pantry staple that can be an excellent solution for green hair, baking soda has color-lifting properties. That’s why people use it to get out stains and whiten their teeth.
The baking soda will lift the impurities in your hair that cause the green tint, leaving you with lighter hair. Many people use baking soda to lighten their hair at home without hair dye.
It’s easy; mix two parts baking soda and one part lukewarm water. The mixture should form a paste with the same consistency as toothpaste. Take the paste and thoroughly cover the green spots in your hair.
Like with the Kool-Aid mixture, you should only apply the paste to the green parts of your hair. Leave the paste in your hair for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how drastic the green tint is.
The good thing about the baking soda method causes no damage to your hair, so you can do it multiple times to completely get rid of the tint. Once the green tint lifts, you can shampoo and condition your hair.
5. Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is one of the more gentle substances you can use to get the green tint out of your hair. The vinegar will pull impurities out of your hair, and hopefully, the green accents will come with it.
However, this method is not the most effective on hair with a severe green tint. Coat all of your hair in apple cider vinegar. Don’t be shy here, saturate every piece of your hair in the vinegar for the most effective results.
Massage the vinegar into your hair for a few minutes, and then wash it out with warm water. Do not shampoo or condition until the day after. You may want to do this two or three times for the best results, but vinegar can dry out your hair.
6. Aspirin
This method sounds weird but can be super effective. Aspirin is a very acidic medicine that can easily pull the impurities out of your hair that make it turn green. Take eight to ten aspirin tablets, not the gel form, and place them in very warm water.
Not boiling water, but the hottest setting on your sink. It can help if you crush the tablets before putting them in water. Crushing them will make them dissolve faster, so you don’t have to wait.
Mix the aspirin into the water. You only need half a cup of water for this to work. Once the pills completely dissolve into the water, you should run the mixture through your hair, paying special attention to greener areas in your hair.
Massage the mixture in well, saturating your hair. Let it sit for about 20 minutes before washing it out.
You can shampoo and condition after rinsing out the mixture. After washing your hair, the green tint should be gone. If the tint is still there, it’s best to try a different method the next day; do not repeat the aspirin step, as it can be harsh on your hair.
7. Red Hair Dye
Okay, so not full-on red hair dye. But instead, you can use a hair dye with underlying red tones. Do not choose a scarlet red color, but instead, choose a light auburn or strawberry blonde. Ideally, you want to find a hair dye that is closer to the hair color you’re aiming for, but slightly redder.
For this method, keep in mind you are dying your hair again. Dyeing it again may change the color more than you want it to. Remember the color wheel; you want to cancel out the green with red but not swing too far in the other direction.
Dye your hair using the instructions on the box, paying special attention to the green portion of your hair. It can help prevent too red of a tint by rinsing out the hair dye slightly sooner than the instructions tell you to.
This method is one of the most effective, but also one of the riskiest. You can end up with a color you didn’t want, forcing you to find another solution to achieve your ideal hair color.
8. Visit a Salon
This last method is not ideal if you were hoping to save money. But if you have tried several of the methods explained here and none of them worked, it may be time to see a professional.
These methods sometimes don’t work for over-bleached hair or very coarse hair. The finer your hair, the easier it is for these substances to saturate into each strand and life out the green color.
A professional hairdresser will be able to color your hair safely and properly, so you achieve the color you want. They won’t just completely recolor your hair, but will specifically target the green areas, removing the tint and remedying the color.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Here are some frequently asked questions about the green tint that appears in bleached hair sometimes.
Why does blonde hair turn green?
There are several reasons blonde hair takes on a green tint. You may think chlorine pools are all to blame, but they are not. Chlorine is one possibility, but your natural hair color may have ashy or green undertones that come out when you lighten your hair to blonde.
Dark brown hair may have a green undertone that you simply can’t see when it’s dark, but becomes visible when you lighten your hair. Another possibility is that you have very hard water in your home.
Hard water means more impurities like copper in the water that saturates your hair. When copper enters your hair, it will eventually oxidize, turning green. Think about how the outside of the Statue of Liberty is green!
Should I not swim if I have bleached hair?
No, you can still swim if you have bleached hair. There are precautions you can take to prevent the green tint. But don’t miss out on swimming just because of your hair! But you should not swim for at least a week after first bleaching your hair.
Can I just bleach my hair again?
No! Whatever you do, do not just re-bleach your hair. Bleaching hair twice is extremely damaging to your hair and not a good idea.
How can I prevent the green tint?
Before getting in a pool, you should wet your hair so the chlorine can’t saturate it. You can also add a leave-in conditioner before getting in the water to create a barrier for your hair. Other options include wearing a swimming cap, washing your hair after swimming, or clipping up your hair in a bun.
If the tint is because of hard water in your tap, you can invest in a water filter for your shower that will filter out impurities like copper that cause the green tint.
Which method is the best?
It depends on your hair color, texture, and the cause of the green tint, but we highly recommend the first method that relies on tomatoes. This method is natural and won’t damage your hair, it won’t cost you much money and works on most hair.
If you want a method that will guarantee your hair will be fixed, you should go to a hair salon. Green tints come from chemicals and impurities in your hair, and a professional will know the best way to fix your hair color without trial and error.
So, How Do You Get Green Tint Out of Bleached Hair?
Luckily, many of the best methods for getting out the green tint can be done with common household ingredients like ketchup, vinegar, or baking soda.
We recommend trying at least two of these methods before making an appointment at the salon, as you can save time and money with these useful tricks.