Protecting your hair from chlorine

[Orangerthanred]

I swim a lot in the spring & summer, but my hair is growing out of a relaxer so I'm afraid of the damage.

What can be used to do this, other than a swim cap? I swim for fun not for sport, wearing a swim cap in front of a ton of people who aren't would be really embarrassing, even more so when I go to the wavepool- many of my friends and acquaintances go there.. :P

[CherrySilver]

Short of wearing your hair up and not putting your head in the water (modified breaststroke), oil is probably the best thing you can use to provide a barrier against chlorinated water.

[Vanilla]

I used spray leave in conditioner and wet my hair with it thoroughly prior to swimming, and I rinsed out the chlorine water as soon as I got out of the water.

[Mairéad]

I think many here fully saturate hair with non-pool water and then oil it as well. I think the logic here is, if the hair is already soaked with water if won't soak up nearly as much pool water. And of course the oil acts as a barrier. Also, after a swim I think a club soda rinse can effectively wash away chlorine.

[Kelikea]

Saturating your hair with plain water can help. Also, leave in conditioner or oil, put your hair in ponytail or bun, then rinse chlorinated water out asap. If you still end up with chlorine damage, use a swim shampoo after swimming.

[TitaniaOfFairys]

I don't swim too much nowdays, but few years ago I loved to use Joico Cuticle Sealer after swimming. It's an acid rinse, and removes chlorine from the hair. I never had any damage in my fine hair when I used only this product, but sometimes I washed my hair with shampoo, then used the CS as a conditioner. I still use it during almost every hair washing.
You can also put some oil in your hair before swimming, that protects it too.

[Mannaz]

Definitely get your hair wet and put in some condish or oil, like others already suggested. If you can keep it out of the water, even better .I go aqua jogging and never get my hair wet at all, but that might be more of a problem with basic swimming.

[CherrySilver]

There are already 26 separate threads on hair and chlorine. All you have to do is a search on "chlorine" in the title post. There's a ton of info already there.