Swimmers' Hair Treatments

Prevent swimmers' hair by wearing a rubber cap while you swim.

Splashing in a cool swimming pool feels refreshing any time of year, even if the feeling of swimmers' hair is anything but. Your hair cuticles are porous surfaces, like a sponge, and your strands absorb all the hard metals and chemicals anytime you enter a swimming pool. The result is stiff, dry and discolored hair, often known as swimmers' hair. Treating your hair once it becomes damaged by pool chemicals won't work overnight, but consistent effort and patience will help you restore your swimmers' hair to its former glory.

Things You'll Need

• Towel
• Shampoo for swimmers
• Moisturizing conditioner

Instructions

1. Pat, don't rub, your hair dry with a towel immediately after exiting the pool and before shampooing or showering. Your hair is fragile when saturated with pool chemicals, which means rubbing your locks with a towel causes split ends and breaking. Patting your hair before washing removes the excess chemicals and moisture, letting the shampoo and clean water penetrate the hair cuticle deeper.

2. Wash your hair immediately after swimming with shampoo containing metal removing agents, listed as ETDA on the bottle. When you swim in a pool, your hair absorbs copper, zinc and iron, which cause stiffness, and after long-term exposure turns light colored locks shimmery. Using chelating shampoo after every swimming sessions breaks down these chemicals and removes them from your hair.

3. Wring the excess water from your hair after shampooing and before applying conditioner. Removing the excess moisture is like squeezing a sponge before soaking it clean water. Squeezing your porous strands before conditioning lets your hair cuticles absorb the maximum amount of moisture.

4. Slather a quarter-sized amount of moisturizing conditioner on the lower half of your strands. The moisturizing agents in the conditioner help restore the moisture balance to your hair and protect against future pool-related damage.

Tips & Warnings

• Prevent swimmers' hair by soaking your locks with clean water before hitting the pool. Saturating your hair beforehand reduces chemical absorption while swimming.

• Avoid leaving the pool without washing you hair. Letting chemicals remain on your hair cuticles increases damage.

References

• Go Ask Alice: Chlorine Effects on Hair
• Center for Disease Control: FAQ - Swimming
• Shear Madness for Kids: This May Sound Mean - But Please Don't Go Green!