Protecting Hair From Swimming

Along with the tasks of not spending any money and not using heat on my hair, I also need to protect my hair from the deadly chemical of chlorine. I am training for a triathalon that will be sometime in the early fall, so I will be hitting the pool 2-3 times a week.

Back in my relaxed days, my best friend and I took swimming lessons three time a week one summer. How did my hair fair? Well let me just say that was when I discovered wigs if that gives you any indication.This was the first time in my life when wigs became a mask of sorts for me to hide behind.  The second was after my BC, but I digress.

Anyway, back to those lessons. There was a girl with natural hair who was a great swimmer  in those classes. My friend and I soon discovered that swim caps were pretty much laughable for keeping the hair dry and just abandoned them all together.

The natural girl saw us in the pool without the caps and told us “Ya’ll need to wear swim caps because ya’ll have chemicals in your hair”.

She however was blissfully without one. And now I know that she was also blissfully ignorant.

Natural heads need protection from pool water, just as relaxed and other chemically treated heads do.

But what is so terrible about pool water? Why is it so damaging? What is chlorine?

From Wikipedia:

Chlorine is a powerful oxidant and is used in bleaching and disinfectants. As a common disinfectant, chlorine compounds are used in swimming pools to keep them clean and sanitary.

Chlorine being an oxidant, or an oxidizing agent, is what makes it so damaging to hair. How exactly? (If you don’t want to read all this, the main point is that “Chlorine=Bad for Hair”)

According to Chemical and physical behavior of human hair, someone named Allworden was the first to test the effects of chlorine on hair. He used wool fibers and exposed it to chlorine. The chlorine created bubbles and sacs across the surface of the epicutical, or the thin layer of material covering the hair of mammals  (that’s us ya’ll!! ).

These sacs form as a result of diffusion of chlorine water into cuticle cells and weaken the protein of the hair. The product of this reaction is unable to diffuse out, causing swelling which creates the sac.

Now, these were very highly concentrated levels of chlorine used in the study, so the effects might be a little exaggerated, but it still sounds scary.

Here are some things that I have found suggested to fight against chlorine damage:

• Wet your hair with tap water before entering the pool
• Saturate hair with conditioner before entering the pool
• Club soda rinse after exposure

• Wear a silicone swim cap
• Wrap hair is saran wrap before applying swim cap
• Avoid chemical processes such as perms, relaxers, coloring and heat
• Use a shampoo with sodium thiosulfate in the ingredient list
• Rinse hair with tap water following swimming, handling very gently

I don’t plan on trying all of these methods, but I thought I would just post them here. I went swimming for the first time yesterday and here is what I did.

I took a page from Chicoro‘s book (haha, pun!), using parts of her baggie regimen. I included Vaseline in my plan. Yes, I said Vaseline. Though I am personally against using petroleum jelly in my everyday hair care, I figured it would make an excellent barrier , especially if my hair was soaked in conditioner before hand.

1. Dampened hair, sectioned hair off for big bantu knots
2. Liberally applied Suave Coconut Conditioner to each section, combed it though with wide toothed comb, followed by Vaseline.
3. Twisted hair and pinned in bantu knots, secured with jumbo bobby pin.
4. Used a silicone swim cap while swimming. Silicone caps are supposed to keep out the water better than rubber ones.
5. Rinsed hair after swimming with tap water. Drove home.
6. Shampooed hair with diluted AO Swimmer’s Shampoo.
7. Oil rinsed with olive oil. Deep conditioned with Smooth as Silk.

Be aware: This was not a hairdo for style, it was purely for protection.  I’m well aware of how hideous it looks. My hair felt fine afterwards, though I think the bantu knots made my swim cap slip off more in the front and also made it less effective.

So, as of now, the only thing I will be changing is the bantu knots.  This will take some experimenting on my part. I will have a review up on the AO Swimmer’s Shampoo sometimes this weekend. The only true test to see how effective this regimen will be is the test of time.

I will be keeping ya’ll updated!