Learning to swim (total beginner) in mid-20s - has anyone done it?

[Loka123]

Hi all,
I'm mid-20s and last time I "swam" was about 17 years ago.. and even then it was very basic "level 2" in the swimming levels if anyone remembers the swimming grading system.

Has anyone learnt to swim at mid-20s and beyond as a complete beginner? If so, how long did it take you? how often did you take classes per week? Any tips/techniques? I genuinely can't remember how to float :/

Also, bit of a silly concern, but my hair is the dry/frizzy kind and I'm worried the chlorine water will make it even more so.. did you notice this? & those swim caps are darn painful to put on as I have very thick, long hair.

My mum learnt to swim at the age of 55 from complete beginner and with a fear of getting her face wet. She had adult beginner lessons once per week and thoroughly enjoyed herself. I'm not sure how many lessons she had or how long it took but by the time my son came along just before her 60th birthday she was a fairly confident swimmer and was happy to take him to baby swimming classes.

Ah awesome, sounds really encouraging :)

Learnt to swim over ten years ago, aged 32. So pleased I did. Have swum 50 lengths once or twice a week ever since. I tried group lessons but they didn't work so well for me. I made much more progress by taking a course of one-to-one lessons; it didn't work out that much more expensive because I needed fewer lessons. In the private sessions the teacher was in the pool with me, and that made a huge difference. In the group lessons, the teacher stood on the side of the pool, but I couldn't translate what she was doing with her arms/head/legs while standing up into what I was meant to do while being face down in the pool! I use AquaGuard hair defense, from Amazon.

I learned to swim at 32, after years and years of friends and family members trying to teach me, with no success. I went to once-a-week adult lessons, and I was swimming by about lesson 5 - all it took was the correct instruction. I love swimming now, and do a lot of it.

The only bad thing is that the instructor said that my breast stroke would never be perfect because of the age when I started swimming - but you are younger than I was then, OP, so that may not apply to you.

I learnt when I was 23 - there was about five of us in a group in the baby pool alongside the toddlers!

I spent about the first four weeks choking and spluttering as I just couldn’t work out timing my breathing, but I did get it and I loved swimming by the end. I don’t swim heaps now, but I’m really glad I did it then.

Another with a mum who learned in her 50's despite serious water phobia.

Re hair there's products you can put on before you swim I think that can protect hair from damage?