Do we need chlorine removal shampoo?

I don't have enough hair left to worry about it, but I have seen it said here that if you get your hair wet in the shower before putting on your cap your hair won't absorb much water from the pool. Skip

As the father of two year rounders I can assure you that caps are not sufficient against chlorine. The shampoo does help.

As someone who used to swim with some regularity: the cap--any type--is key to hair not turning green and disgusting (especially when swimming two-a days--water still gets in but through some sort of magic, it is not as bad for your hair). Pick your shampoo, it is all the same.

Nobody uses caps anymore--they should be required. It's still optional for guys with short hair, but I'm constantly seeing chicks with long hair and no cap. First of all, I don't know how they can see with all that hair flailing around their face. Second, there is nothing quite like trying to swim with some long, black, grody (?sp) hair stuck to my face--I breathe to the right, still there--I breathe to the left..damn man, still there--it's like a booger I can't shake. So in summary, caps for everyone--it's good for your hair and the environment.:oldman:

I have TRIED EVERYTHING...the Y I swim at has more chlorine than water I think sometimes. I went out one day without showering off...was in a hurry and had some work to do outside...BLEACHED MY HAIR and that is no lie! I have tried UltraSwim, TriSwim and a few others...NOTHING gets the chlorine out. I have also tried to put leave in conditioner in my hair before swimming....I swim 5 days a week right now and nothing is working. Next is a cap...with the leave in conditioner...and shampoo/conditioner...:whiteflag:

I'm constantly seeing chicks with long hair and no cap. :oldman: I cannot imagine! I wet my hair, use a cap, follow my swim immediately with TriSwim and a deep conditioner. Now that I'm of the greying years I color my hair and do notice that the color fades very quickly. My stylist is up to almost using black color (I have medium brown hair) to start with and that has helped, but I still get brassy streaks.

Wear a cap, then use Aveda hair detoxifier. I have been wearing my hair longer and this has seemed to have controlled it completely. No chlorine issues for me.

My mom used to complain about how women always had to wear caps in the pool and men didn't--until men started to have long hair. That, she says, is when they got rid of the cap requirements (because men didn't want to wear caps).

Nobody uses caps anymore--they should be required. It's still optional for guys with short hair, but I'm constantly seeing chicks with long hair and no cap. First of all, I don't know how they can see with all that hair flailing around their face. Second, there is nothing quite like trying to swim with some long, black, grody (?sp) hair stuck to my face--I breathe to the right, still there--I breathe to the left..damn man, still there--it's like a booger I can't shake. So in summary, caps for everyone--it's good for your hair and the environment.:oldman: My age group coach back in high school didn't let ANYBODY wear a cap. He thought it trapped too much heat in the head and that it was bad for training. I'm sure it was tough on the ladies to have their hair in their faces (come to think of it, I don't think they were allowed to shave their legs either), but I think the hair clumps are more a filtration problem than a "no cap" problem. I never ran into clumps back then but I've swum at pools that are lousy with them.

No matter what you want to do with your hair, it sure does seem to take work to keep healthy-looking hair when you are a swimmer. There are a number of shampoos that are good at removing chemicals from the hair. I don't like some of the standard over the counter stuff like UltraSwim as I find that it makes my hair flat. Several swimmers including myself have found the John Frieda Collection to work wonders. In addition to the shampoo, consider how much you wash your hair when you don't need to. Shampoo and our drinking water also contain chemicals that are very harmful to your hair. If you weren't swimming, any good hair dresser would tell you that washing your hair every day is bad for it. The oils in your hair are good for it and serve as the best natural conditioner around. Also, consider a filter for your shower at home. I have oily hair and deplore the idea of not shampooing it all of the time. It is nice, however, when hairdressers don't believe me when I tell them that I swim. Suck it up on the days you don't work and/or have to be somewhere nice and let your hair be oily. Heck, you can always put a hat on promoting something you stand for or your favorite candidate for Prez.