Blue rinse
Encyclopedia
A blue rinse is a dilute hair dye
used to reduce the yellowed (or translucent, showing scalp colour) appearance of greying hair
on older women. The ability to see blue decreases with age due to the development of cataracts , so an older woman perceives her uncolored hair to have a yellow-tinge, and the blue rinse brings the color back to a perceived normal color in their eyes. In a manner similar to laundry bluing, the blue rinse can make yellow-white hair appear blue-white, but an inexpertly applied blue rinse will leave a distinctly unnatural tinge behind.
The "blue rinse" may also stem from a popular trend in the 1930s, popularized by film star Jean Harlow, for young woman to dye their hair with peroxide and then follow with a rinse of methylene blue
to take out the yellow, creating the desired platinum white effect.
The phrase entered popular culture as a term for elderly women, the blue rinse brigade
. An alternative term is "blue hair." It has declined in popularity with the increasing popularity of home dyeing, the reduced prevalence of smoking (which yellows the hair), the increased ubiquity of cataract surgery, and with society's more relaxed attitude to ageing.
Notable characters from British television series with blue rinse include Phyllis Pearce from soap opera Coronation Street
and Mrs. Slocombe in sitcom Are You Being Served?
.
Hair coloring
Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...
used to reduce the yellowed (or translucent, showing scalp colour) appearance of greying hair
Hair color
Hair color is the pigmentation of hair follicles due to two types of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Generally, if more melanin is present, the color of the hair is darker; if less melanin is present, the hair is lighter...
on older women. The ability to see blue decreases with age due to the development of cataracts , so an older woman perceives her uncolored hair to have a yellow-tinge, and the blue rinse brings the color back to a perceived normal color in their eyes. In a manner similar to laundry bluing, the blue rinse can make yellow-white hair appear blue-white, but an inexpertly applied blue rinse will leave a distinctly unnatural tinge behind.
The "blue rinse" may also stem from a popular trend in the 1930s, popularized by film star Jean Harlow, for young woman to dye their hair with peroxide and then follow with a rinse of methylene blue
Methylene blue
Methylene blue is a heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with the molecular formula C16H18N3SCl. It has many uses in a range of different fields, such as biology and chemistry. At room temperature it appears as a solid, odorless, dark green powder, that yields a blue solution when dissolved in...
to take out the yellow, creating the desired platinum white effect.
The phrase entered popular culture as a term for elderly women, the blue rinse brigade
Blue rinse brigade
"Blue rinse brigade" is a somewhat pejorative term used, particularly in the United Kingdom, to describe elderly middle-class ladies usually of a conservative socio-political persuasion...
. An alternative term is "blue hair." It has declined in popularity with the increasing popularity of home dyeing, the reduced prevalence of smoking (which yellows the hair), the increased ubiquity of cataract surgery, and with society's more relaxed attitude to ageing.
Notable characters from British television series with blue rinse include Phyllis Pearce from soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
and Mrs. Slocombe in sitcom Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
.