new thread
Hey everyone,
I've become more and more tempted to start swimming laps to get back into shape. When I was in college (and had short hair), I'd swim every day and was in terrific shape. My concern now is protecting my hair if I were to go back to swimming.
I've read that putting oil in your hair and then wearing a swim cap helps, but it would seem that the cap would be bad for my hair with pulling and tearing, plus I'm sure some chlorine would get onto my hair. I also feel that I'd have to wash my hair more often (I wash it twice a week now and find that to be too much).
Does anyone have any advice on protecting my hair while swimming? Thanks to all in advance!
Rich
Swimming is excelent to get in shape, I swim too.
The most important thing is to soak your hair in the shower before you go swimming. This way the hair sucks up the clean water from the shower instead of the chlorinated water from the pool. Other than that I just tail it and forget about it. After swimming I wash it with water and apply a lot of conditioner.
There are probably beter ways to protect your hair but this one is the easiest and works for my waist lenght hair. I like it but it shouldn't take to much time.
Thanks Vincent! What conditioner do you use?
A dutch brand called Andrelon, don't know if they sell it in other countries.
I recently took up swimming, and this routine works well for me too. Less is more. Thanks, Vincent.
Good to hear that this works for you.
Less is more indeed, I love minimalism do you know the blog from Leo Babauta: Zen habits? He writes about minimalism and I learned a lot from him.
I swim almost every weekday before work. I have been growing my hair for about 1 1/2 years, it's very curly and about 2" from my shoulders. Here's my routine:
1. Wet hair thoroughly before going into the chlorinated pool; hair is like a sponge and will absorb the tap water first which has much less chlorine in it than the pool water.
2. I wear a swim cap I bought at swimoutlet.com by Speedo, it is a "Speedo Silicone Stretch Fit Swim Cap"; it does not pull or snag at all. Regular caps (latex especially and some regular silicone) pull and seem to tear hair out. This cap does not!
3. I wash my hair with conditioner only after each swim, I do not use shampoo as it is too drying, especially for curly hair. I use Suave Coconut Conditioner, which contains EDTA, a chelating agent that helps to remove metals such as chlorine. If "washing" with conditioner you will need a lot more in the palm of the hand than regular shampoo to cover hair, and it will not suds up like shampoo. Good news is this conditioner is very cheap and works well. Using conditioner only to wash takes a few weeks to adjust to... you can search for this on-line, also referred to as CO washing.
4. I always use a few drops of jojoba or olive oil on my hair after each "wash", and I never use any heating products or other chemicals on my hair. I let my hair dry naturally.
Hopefully this help Rich...
Kenny
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Thanks Kenny! That helps a lot.