Hair and Chlorine

[Larke]

I have spent the last 15+ years of my life swimming in chlorinated pools. Needless to say, I have also spent the last 15+ years of my life with my hair never reaching past BSL, at best. Since joining LHC this fall, I stopped swimming completely, mostly due to an extremely busy schedule, and during that time, I grew almost 3 inches. My split ends practically disappeared, and I finally have reasonably healthy hair for the first time in ages. But now I have some free time in my schedule, and I really, really would like to get back to swimming. Hair is my first priority, so I will stop swimming if that's what it takes to get it to grow, but what I'm wonder is if that is necessary.

I do have a new swim routine, the results of which are yet uncertain. I wet my hair thoroughly, then load it up with conditioner and finish it off with a swim cap. After the swim, I wash everything out, shampoo, condition. I don't currently use any special shampoo or conditioner, but I have used Malibu-C Swimmers Shampoo with success in the past (I just don't feel like paying for it if I don't have to).

I think this routine is probably fairly good, but the issue is that the swim cap tends to slide off the edges of my hair a little, on my forehead, neck, around the ears, etc., and I'm worried that if I go back to swimming 1-2 times a week, this will eventually lead to damage.

Is there any way to find out if this is a good routine without actually risking damaging my hair? Alternatively, does anyone here have a foolproof method for protecting hair while swimming? Anything I should change in my current routine to improve it? Or should I give up and find a new sport? :P

Thanks!

[FennFire911]

Your method of getting it wet, putting in conditioner, and putting on a cap are what I will be doing with my hair as I resume swimming. The gym I go to has a bromine system and I got my hair wet there for the first time this afternoon. I had dampened my hair first but nothing else. When I got out my hair felt terrible. I had to do a clarify/chelate "reset" this evening.
Getting my hair wet and putting in conditioner is what I do whenever I swim in the ocean. Adding a cap is exactly what I would do in chlorinated water, and what I will be doing from now on in bromine.

I used to be on swimteams when I was a kid, in Texas and in Hawaii. My hair was never longer than BSL, but it was healthy and it would have grown more if I had let it. I really don't think you're going to have to give up on swimming. I think your proposed routine is going to keep your hair in good shape.

[BerrySara]

Just wanted to add that if you also add oil to your hair after you lather it with conditioner, it would seal your hair and repel the water (like when you cook with oil and then rinse with water, the water doesn't mix with the oil and glides off the surface). Might be worth trying.

[lapushka]

Is there any other way you can work out? Besides swimming? :flower:

But if you love it, I would put the hair in 2nd place. That's just me.

It doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other though. Your routine in taking care of it for swimming sounds OK to me. You can only test it out and see how far you get.

We used to go swimming weekly (school) and my hair grew despite the chlorine. Now if you do this daily, I don't know what could happen. Maybe it's the shampooing every day on top of the chlorine? IDK. Just thinking out loud. Normally washing daily doesn't cause hair to not retain length.

I mean, it grows, no doubt I'm sure, but it's about retaining length.

[Lady Stardust]

There’s a great article on Scienc-y Hair Blog
http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/your-hair-on-chlorine.html

Conditioner + swim cap seems to give reasonable protection, and coconut oil is also recommended. There’s also a recipe for a citric acid rinse which is cheaper than swimmers shampoo.

[bunneh.]

Since joining LHC this fall, I stopped swimming completely, mostly due to an extremely busy schedule, and during that time, I grew almost 3 inches. My split ends practically disappeared, and I finally have reasonably healthy hair for the first time in ages.

How did you take care of your hair before joining TLHC? Could it be that your hair is growing now because you're taking better care of it now (deep conditioning, wearing it up, detangling gently,...)? I wonder if swimming is the culprit for your hair not growing or if it was a lack of good hair care in the past. I noticed your hair is fine, it could just be more fragile and require more care to grow.

Personally your plan of wetting and conditioning your hair as well as putting a swimming cap on top sounds good to me. What I would do if I were you is try swimming for a few months and keep track of your growth to see if swimming truly is the culprit and then go from there. If you do decide to give up swimming though, there are plenty of other sports you could try, so there are other options too.

[Larke]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Any thoughts on how to get a swim cap to stay on? Conditioner makes it slide off too easily. I haven't tried coconut oil yet, but that's the plan for next time.

bunneh., I definitely did not have quite the best hair care, but I also think swimming was the main issue because there was visible chlorine damage on my hair. I did try to take care of my hair before I stopped swimming (not as much as now, but I was hardly a monster to it), and I didn't really get any good growth until I addressed the chlorine issue. 15 years of swimming 2-3 times a week was perhaps not the best idea. :P I know better now, though!

[milosmomma]

I'd go with oiling. I've had the best results with it and sometimes it even feels like a treatment because it's still oily afterwards(which is good because it's not all in the pool) And maybe a swim cap to keep it all in place?