Help! What happened?

[desertgirl]

I went swimming recently in a chloronated pool and when I was done my hair became very sticky! I tried to use a wide tooth comb on it, but it wouldn't work. It took about 4 washings to get rid of the stickiness!

I've been trying to think of some chemical reaction that may have occurred, but the only two things that should have been in my hair was my oil and the unavoidable dust here. I would love to be able to go swimming again, but do not want to deal with that sticky mess (or the split ends that followed!). Any ideas?:confused:

[Anje]

Strange... Have you done any chemical treatments to your hair that might cause it to react oddly? (Straightening or perms to change the texture, dyes, bleach or peroxide, for example)

Another possibility is that the pool water was quite alkaline, which could make your hair feel sticky in a waxy, uncombable way. (I have heard that cloudy-looking pool water is an indication that it's too alkaline, but I don't know much about pool maintenance.) If it could be that, a vinegar rinse might set things right.

[Madame J]

Did you try a club soda rinse? Maybe your hair is just really sensitive to chlorine.

[desertgirl]

No chemical additives to my hair. I've been avoiding all products and chemical treatments for about three years.

I don't remember the pool looking particularly cloudy... It's possible that was it. Once I was finally able to wash it at home (I tried to wash it at a friends house with regular shampoo), with my normal routine of baking soda and acv, it cleared right up!

[desertgirl]

It's been a while since I've went to the pool, but I don't remember having a similar problem before...

I will definitely keep the club soda in mind if it happens again! Thanks!

[euphrasyne]

I swim every day in the summer and fall.
When the chlorine content of my pool is strong and I've got any product in my hair (such as oil, leave in conditioner, sunscreen, etc.) it tends to get a bit sticky. It is really bad if I use a silicone based product like suave or pantene shampoo before or after. I have to give up all silicone stuff when I swim.

cheryl

[heidi w.]

No chemical additives to my hair. I've been avoiding all products and chemical treatments for about three years.

I don't remember the pool looking particularly cloudy... It's possible that was it. Once I was finally able to wash it at home (I tried to wash it at a friends house with regular shampoo), with my normal routine of baking soda and acv, it cleared right up!

OK, yeah, it didn't sound like you had washed your hair and had hopes of getting out of the pool and having your hair dry and be "normal".

Many pools do indeed have too much chlorine placed in it. This tends to be less so for lap pools such as adult swimmers might use. But pools that are more "public" allowing children in, may actually have more chlorine in it. So that's one possible explanation.

But even if normal amounts of chlorine, not washing hair after a swim will result in hair being somewhat tacky and tangly. It's as though any oil, any sebum and so on doesn't keep out all the chlorine, and more than likely the chlorine sets up on top of the hair strands causing this degree of tangliness ETA rather blending with all that product on hair.

I recommend in future, that before you hit the pool to swim, you thoroughly wet the hair in shower water. This is good hygiene for a pool anyway, to rinse off before a swim, plus the hair will then have absorbed water already, and the theory is that once hair is swelled to capacity with water, then the potential for the hair to be further affected by chlorine is reduced to a degree. Also, if you swim regularly, I do recommend a swim cap. Not popular I know, but it can help prevent the bulk of hair becoming wet at all! (I don't like the thin caps that pro swimmer's use, which is the popular choice now. I recommend the thickest cap you can find. I had a link and bought some swim caps from this one supplier, but now it's a link that has gone away. They're commonly referred to as bubble caps. I used to have this cool link that explained the design of bathing caps, and choices, and why hair gets wet or not. Think 1960s bathing cap, and you'll have an idea of the suggestion I'm making.) END ETA

Those who swim a lot do use "swimmer's shampoo" -- a type of shampoo that helps remove the chlorine from the hair. This shampoo is used immediately after a given swim. (You may have heard of swimmer's hair. Blondes, especially lighter blondes, over time if swimming a lot will tend to turn a greenish or even yellowy tinge. Brunettes and darker hair colors might get a glossy hue to the hair known as "brassy" over time.)

When anything sets up on the top of the surface of the hair, it is time to "clarify" the hair -- which is what a baking soda shampoo is. It removes from the hair any "buildup" on top of the surface of strands. It generally will not remove anything bonded to the hair at the cortex level -- that is known as "chelating" to achieve that goal.)

The ACV rinse is not a "clarify" from the angle that once stuff is dried on to the surface of the strands, this type of rinse will not remove that. It only removes remaining product in that specific hair wash alone, such as hard water minerals that may be present in your water supply. The primary benefit of an ACV rinse is that it helps to re-set the pH balance of the acid mantle. And to a degree, ACV is "binding" in that it assists the cuticle in lying flatter and closer together (in the context of one's hair type -- curlier hair types have more open cuticles than compared to straight hair types). This binding nature of ACV can help a little bit with improving the sheen of hair.

So, you did the right thing. You clarified to get all the gunk off the hair -- the chlorine that lay on the surface of the hair.

I hope you also conditioned well, too!

Conditioning is an important feature of quality hair care, particularly important when clarifying. Some are able to use ACV rinse as a kind of conditioner, yet most will not experience this benefit. It's relatively few in the hair world that have this result from ACV rinses (or any type of vinegar). Whenever one clarifies (baking soda is a clarifier -- home product), removing all product, hard water minerals, oils, sebum, conditioner, dust, grime, dirt.....then one must immediately replace what's been removed (a type of coating or moisture).

Anyway, glad to see you solved your problem. This was the correct solution, and what I would have recommended to you.

heidi w.

[desertgirl]

I must confess I have been chlorine ignorant. I don't swim that often (about once a year it seems), and I knew chlorine was hard on the hair (drying it out), but I didn't even consider any reaction it would have with the oil in my hair!

Since you hinted at it, do you have any suggestions of what I could include in my regime to moisturize it a bit more? Currently I BS & ACV (with lemon) about once a week, applying a light weight oil as or after it dries. Do you have ideas of what I can add that's natural?

I've thought about taking the ACV out because it tends to dry out hair, but I've never found my hair so easy to comb after washing since I started using it!