I was just wondering what others do for their chlorine damaged hair. My daughter has beautiful hair that is just getting damaged to the point that it is unmanageable. She goes swimming while I work out, three times a week and won't wear her cap. It looks great when I brush it but by the time we get to school it looks wild. I have joke with the teachers at the school about how crazy her hair can get.
Former Member
Infusium leave in hair conditioner works wonders. for soem reason few swimmers know this. My oldest sister is a hair dresser. She suggested it a long time ago. It keeps my hair soft & manageable. I have curly, thin hair. It really works on everybody I've suggested it to. also, it is relatively cheap. Women can put it in their hair, put on a cap and then go swim.
I use a product called Rusk "Smoother" leave-in conditioner after swimming. You only need a little dab, and it has lots of good things in it (including sunscreen) and cuts down on the frizzies. The down side is that it's only available in salons and can seem expensive (I buy the liters when they go on sale, and a liter bottle can last me over a year).
When I was a kid and swam constantly (at least once a day), the only real solution to the hair problem was to keep it cut short. Anything else wouldn't work until I was old enough to appreciate the work that goes into keeping your hair healthy while swimming.
kae
Coconut oil is used to give hair a reddish tinge in Hawaii. The natives dab a little on, then go out in the sunshine. Within an hour or more, you've got red hair or ehu.
I used to have the same problem when I was a kid. I hated wearing my cap, and went without whenever I could get away with it.
I swim five times a week now, and I've found some things that really work for keeping hair from getting damaged:
first, rinsing your hair before you swim is a good idea, as mentioned in the previous posts. I use L'oreal Kids Sport shampoo, it's inexpensive, and smells like oranges. Then I use a deep conditioner, like Aussie, or whatever, and then I put L'oreal Kids detangling spray in my hair. Air dry overnight, then when I get up for class in the mornings, I just wash my hair again (most of the time) with regular shampoo and conditioner. My hair isn't damaged yet, so I must be doing something right.
Good luck, Shannan!
Steph
Originally posted by clyde hedlund
Coconut oil is used to give hair a reddish tinge in Hawaii. The natives dab a little on, then go out in the sunshine. Within an hour or more, you've got red hair or ehu.
I have blonde hair, swim in an indoor pool and wear a cap -- my hair isn't getting red anytime soon. This is probably for people with darker hair, since it tends to get reddish when you lighten in the sun...
I see a lot of people mentioning Ultra Swim. I have tried it and hated it. Not only it didn't take the green out of my hair, but it also made my hair feel funny, it seems like it coats the hair with something. I read somewhere that to avoid that use first the Ultra Swim then instead of "repeating" use regular shampoo to wash off the coat.
I got a Brazilian shampoo from L'Oreal called "Solar" (my mom sends it to me from Brazil) and that has done WONDERS for my hair, both the shampoo and the conditioner make my hair look so great that I end it up using it even when I don't swim.
Growing up in Brazil the trick was to put milk (really, just regular milk) on the hair, let it dry and wash it off. It used to work for the green (the milk used to drip a blueish tone). Haven't tried that in at least 10 years though!
Ultraswim didn't work with me either. Abnohter cheap product is to take Clairol heat treatment hair conditioner. Once a week put it on under your cap then go swimmikng.
