Preventing Swimmer’s Dry Hair Problems
In many ways the hair and skin are alike. The hair like the skin contains natural oils that can become depleted through abuse or from chemicals. Hair can become dry, brittle and damaged. There are days when the inability to manage and style it can be called nothing short of a hot mess.
If you love to swim and spend a lot of time on the beach or in the pool then protecting your hair from loss of natural oils and maintaining its natural shine can be of utmost importance. Chlorine added in swimming pools is a major contributor to drying hair and causing split ends giving it a frizzed appearance (swimmers hair). If you are a blond or have light colored hair it can turn green. Hair turns green because of the mixture of chemicals like chlorine and copper sulphate. Green hair is great on St. Patrick’s Day or if you’re a punk rocker. But short of this most of us are looking for a way to prevent swimmers hair and dryness. A few tips towards that goal are:
- Apply a leave-in conditioner and wear a swimming cap before swimming
- Just wear a swim cap
- Shampoo and condition hair after swimming to help remove chlorine
- If hair is green after swimming use a purifying or clarifying shampoo along with conditioner
- You can also use the juice of a lemon to help remove green coloring.
- Rinse hair with water before and after swimming
- Apply conditioner again after swimming
- Deep condition about once a week
The best shampoo for swimmers are those that contain a chelating agent which helps to soften water and neutralize metal ions in hard water. They are many on the market like L’ANZA Swim & Sun Daily Chelating Shampoo which can be rather pricy but contains an HPF 30 (hair protection factor).
Another less pricy alternative for swimmers is Joico K-Pak Chelating Shampoo.
Even though Chlorine is used to kill bacteria in many homes and public pools; its effects can be counteracted with a little effort and steps towards prevention.
