Hair turns yellow after swimming in the sea

[klaissner]

This is a weird thing, and I just want to know if anybody else has experienced the same:

Last year I decided to move to Thailand and rented a house in Hua Hin.

After swimming in the ocean several times I noticed that my white beard was turning an ugly shade of dark yellow, like nikotine stains on some people's fingers (I am a NONsmoker!!!).

I spent 3 months in Europe, my beard stayed yellow.

The next 3 months I was back in Thailand, not only was my beard getting more and more yellow, but also the ends of my beard started to break off.

After 3 months my beard, which originally went all the way to my navel had lost half its length, and what was left was turning yellow, too.

The next 3 months I spent in Europe again, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea in Italy and France and guess what.....my beard was turning pure white again.

Back to Thailand, and after 2 days in the sea, my beard is yellow again.

And this time also the hair on my head is turning from pure white to ugly yellow !!!!

Have any of you also experienced that the seawater here is turning your hair yellow?

Can it be that there is so much pollution in the sea already?

Curious if anybody will reply

Carl

[stoneyboy]

Buy a razor,be done.

[faraday]

Cool story, bro.

[NickJ]

So maybe it wasnt The Fountain of Youth they should have been looking for, rather the Sea of Youth and its in Hua Hin.....

[slipperylobster]

don't swim near the sewage drains...

[phetphet]

Do you happen to be also taking a dip in the swimming pool? Chlorine can do that to your hair.

[jonnit]

The last time I was there I was working outside and needed a hat. Since they didn't have much locally that would fit, I bought one of those orange colored straw hats. After working all day, I noticed that my hair had turned from grey to orange. And it stayed that way for a couple of months.

[klaissner]

Folks - thank you for your helpful contributions, somehow I get the impression this forum is visited mostly by jesters.......

I DO have a long white beard and long white hair, and it really turned ugly dark yellow here and then breaks off, which depresses me quite a bit.

To your comments:

• razor: please remember this good advice when YOU have a problem next time - just cut off the offending part
• sewage: you're talking from your own experience?
• swimming pool: appreciate your honest try - but no, I've never been in a pool here
• orange straw hat: kinda difficult to wear a straw hat over your BEARD - usually I'm not walking on my hands with my beard pointing upwards

[asdecas]

I doubt there's much less total pollution in the Mediterranean, a partially enclosed sea, than in the Gulf of Thailand. Perhaps it's simply a case of different pollutants?

[dotpoom]

Folks - thank you for your helpful contributions, somehow I get the impression this forum is visited mostly by jesters.......

I DO have a long white beard and long white hair, and it really turned ugly dark yellow here and then breaks off, which depresses me quite a bit.

To your comments:

• razor: please remember this good advice when YOU have a problem next time - just cut off the offending part
• sewage: you're talking from your own experience?
• swimming pool: appreciate your honest try - but no, I've never been in a pool here
• orange straw hat: kinda difficult to wear a straw hat over your BEARD - usually I'm not walking on my hands with my beard pointing upwards;)

I have noticed alright some people, when they don't have an answer for a person with a problem, seemingly cannot resist the compulsion to have a bit of fun at someone else's expense. in order to demonstrate to the rest of us how witty they think they are.

[SOTIRIOS]

....are you sure that it's the water...maybe something is being added to your food.....???

[cooked]

Weird problem, I sympathise. Out of curiosity I did a google search and came up with a vague reference to chlorine and 'other chemicals'.

Also: http://seniors.lovetoknow.com/Remove_Yellow_from_Gray_Hair

[slipperylobster]

Folks - thank you for your helpful contributions, somehow I get the impression this forum is visited mostly by jesters.......

I DO have a long white beard and long white hair, and it really turned ugly dark yellow here and then breaks off, which depresses me quite a bit.

To your comments:

• razor: please remember this good advice when YOU have a problem next time - just cut off the offending part
• sewage: you're talking from your own experience?
• swimming pool: appreciate your honest try - but no, I've never been in a pool here
• orange straw hat: kinda difficult to wear a straw hat over your BEARD - usually I'm not walking on my hands with my beard pointing upwards;)

I have noticed alright some people, when they don't have an answer for a person with a problem, seemingly cannot resist the compulsion to have a bit of fun at someone else's expense. in order to demonstrate to the rest of us how witty they think they are.

lighten up on us....lol

people like you make life boring..with all the straight answers...and revealing us for the uncouth fellows that we most certainly are.

looking for votes..are you?

[2fishin2]

Its not the ocean, its something else. I and many of my dive instructor friends have spent countless hours in the ocean water of Thailand. None of our hair has changed color.

[slipperylobster]

ok...yellow hair.

yes..I do recall cholorine lightening my hair from a light brown to a blond. (genetics, I suppose darker hair will not)

also...sun bleaching when surfing....hair turned blond in Hawaii (way back when)

now thats no fun.... you could of looked it up. there is no fountain of youth in thailand...(perhaps some weird chemicals in the water)

...as far as sewage, and draining...I leave that up to you. I don't know...perhaps some laundy bleach, or residual soap/borax etc...in the water nearby. (seriously)

Edited July 28, 2015 by slipperylobster

[AlQaholic]

Your hair may be unique in a way that it has no pigment left at all, then the hair is very susceptible to chemical variations in different waters. So any chemical, natural or unnatural, may have this effect on your particular hair. You probably have two separate problems:

1. The discoloration, can be caused by the high levels of naturally occurring sulfate coming from rivers entering the bay of siam near to Hua hin. almost all soils in Thailand is rich in Sulfate. Other minerals can not be discounted. Basically the water chemistry of Thai waters is different from the Mediterranean, especially near the coast.

2. Hair loss, could be due to the dehydration of the hair which then breaks it apart? Hair dehydrates severely in salt water due to osmosis-fresh water in the hair is drawn out by the salty water.

I do not think it is a problem with pollution, the dilution factor of the sea water is too great.

You may try to use a purple shampoo to cancel out the effect of yellow.

Edited July 28, 2015 by AlQaholic

[harrry]

Back in history Surfies used to like to have their hair do that....they even used bottles of bleach to help the sun and sea.

Edited July 28, 2015 by harrry

[soalbundy]

Folks - thank you for your helpful contributions, somehow I get the impression this forum is visited mostly by jesters.......

I DO have a long white beard and long white hair, and it really turned ugly dark yellow here and then breaks off, which depresses me quite a bit.

To your comments:

• razor: please remember this good advice when YOU have a problem next time - just cut off the offending part
• sewage: you're talking from your own experience?
• swimming pool: appreciate your honest try - but no, I've never been in a pool here
• orange straw hat: kinda difficult to wear a straw hat over your BEARD - usually I'm not walking on my hands with my beard pointing upwards;)

I have noticed alright some people, when they don't have an answer for a person with a problem, seemingly cannot resist the compulsion to have a bit of fun at someone else's expense. in order to demonstrate to the rest of us how witty they think they are.

Change your dye

[vogie]

Folks - thank you for your helpful contributions, somehow I get the impression this forum is visited mostly by jesters.......

I DO have a long white beard and long white hair, and it really turned ugly dark yellow here and then breaks off, which depresses me quite a bit.

To your comments:

• razor: please remember this good advice when YOU have a problem next time - just cut off the offending part
• sewage: you're talking from your own experience?
• swimming pool: appreciate your honest try - but no, I've never been in a pool here
• orange straw hat: kinda difficult to wear a straw hat over your BEARD - usually I'm not walking on my hands with my beard pointing upwards;)

I have noticed alright some people, when they don't have an answer for a person with a problem, seemingly cannot resist the compulsion to have a bit of fun at someone else's expense. in order to demonstrate to the rest of us how witty they think they are.

If you want seriousness maybe try Radio 4, wrong place here methinks.

[slipperylobster]

LOL..

My brother was jealous when my hair turned blond from hanging around the swimming pool (I worked there at 14, it was fanastic). So one day, my brother (who is now a very successful doctor in D.C) decided to use hydrogen peroxide on his hair. It came out ok....a little lighter...but after diving in the pool, he came out with bright GREEN hair. lol.

what a wonderful day that was. Makes me wonder if you had used some sort of darkner/spray/chemical on your hair before your swim?

Edited July 28, 2015 by slipperylobster

[craigt3365]

Pollution could be a cause. I had a friend end up in the hospital here after a swim new a river outlet. Covered neck to ankle with a horrible rash. Only happened one time and we can only guess somebody dumped something into the river upstream.

[slipperylobster]

Pollution could be a cause. I had a friend end up in the hospital here after a swim new a river outlet. Covered neck to ankle with a horrible rash. Only happened one time and we can only guess somebody dumped something into the river upstream.

...........figure the odds !

[WitawatWatawit]

Jesters?????

Go back and look at your OP with fresh eyes, read it as though you have not seen it before. The first reaction will be ... haha, very funny post. First question will be: Is this guy a troll? After all, it's only his second post, and trolls often pose weird questions under a new name because they think they can amuse themselves by drawing people into pointless discussions with fantasy suggestions.

Your post is dumb. With all of the resources of the internet at your disposal, and you offer nothing in the way of research that might help explain this imaginary (oops ... perhaps I shoouldn't have said that?) problem. Sadly, unamusing.

Dammm ... the troll bit me again :) I need to get serious.

[JMWPACIFIC]

Around here, consider yourself lucky it isn't glowing!

[joebrown]

I'm not sure whether the OP was swimming. Maybe he was just going through the 'motions'?

Edited July 28, 2015 by joebrown

[slipperylobster]

Troll or not.

I am going to finish my unwanted input....

The ocean does not dilute some chemicals. Watch an oil slick reach koh samet.

Notice some chemicals (especially oil, soap and light stuff) floats on top. It does not mix and go away.

You can see scum on top of the water in many areas...not just here.

Depends on wind, tide,currents. If you see stagnant water with a froth floating on it, I would suggest you go to the leeward side (of an island).

God forbid, once I had no choice but to take a dump out at sea (300 meters out)..near my board. The wind was onshore, and it was very unfortunate "for others" that I had explosive diarhea. When I reached the beach, may I say, the damage was..."extensive". Possibly sweeping 150 meters of swimmers.

Edited July 28, 2015 by slipperylobster

[WitawatWatawit]

^^^

That was YOU!!!!!!!!!

Curse you. Up till then I had beautiful blond hair. Now it's freaking dirty brown.

[slipperylobster]

^^^

That was YOU!!!!!!!!!

Curse you. Up till then I had beautiful blond hair. Now it's freaking dirty brown.

[The Deerhunter]

....are you sure that it's the water...maybe something is being added to your food.....???

Hair is essentially dead at that length, so it is impervious to damage & discoloration at the ends as a result of chemicals ingested. Hair falling out at the roots would be an altogether different story. Someone I know from overseas had a similar problem to his when a Thai hair-dresser used a color stripper before recolouring her hair. Not suggesting that the gulf of Thailand is filled with colour stripper but external exposure to something that attacked the hair looks the most likely cause.

[glegolo]

Aha, NOW WE KNOW...... The reason for asians to be "yellow".. It all started long time ago when first settlers in Asia took a dive in Hua Hin before they moved on to China and Mongolia....

problem solved.....

Glegolo