How to Protect Hair From Damage When Swimming

Swimming is one of my favorite sport or form of exercise. Apart from the nice relaxing feeling, it also helps in burning those calories, oh yeah!! The only thing I have against swimming is it the damaging effects of the chlorine water. Even worse if you have colored or dyed hair. Hair tend to be dry, brittle and discolored with green tint from unprotected over exposure of high chlorinated water. Hope that the tips below will help to lessen the damaging effect from swimming :)

How to Protect Hair From Damaging Chlorine Water WHILE Swimming

1. Wet your hair before jumping in the swimming pool
 

Here's the reasoning. Dry hair behaves almost like a sponge. If you wet your hair thoroughly using non-heavily-chlorinated water (e.g. from shower pipe usually available beside the pool) before jumping into the pool, your hair will be saturated with the 'safe' water and won't be able to absorb much of the chlorine water. Also, it is best if you rinse your hair with the 'safe' water every 30 minutes or so, so that the chlorine build up is not so severe.

2. Coat your hair using hair conditioner or oil

Another more effective method is to coat your hair with conditioner or oil (e.g. olive oil or coconut oil) before heading to the pool. Oil and water does not mix. Therefore, the layer of oil will protect or seal the cuticle of your hair shaft from the chlorine water. Just apply a thin layer of oil will do.

3. Use a good swimming cap
 Swim Cap with Chin Strap - White 
Speedo Silicone Swim Cap (Pink) 

Choose a rubber-like swimming cap that will fit well with your head. Ensure it manage to cover up all the hair and tight enough to prevent the chlorine water from seeping in.

What To Do AFTER Swimming

Directly head to the showers. Don't allow the chlorinated water to dry on your hair. It's a big NO NO.

Rinse your hair using 'safe' water for about 5 minutes and use a good swimming shampoo to remove all the damaging chemical residue from the chlorine water. Below is an example a good swimming shampoo with good review from Amazon. You can click on it to read more of the product review.

UltraSwim Chlorine-Removal Shampoo