Beginning swimming hair questions!

[cherrypied]

If you regularly swim, how do you manage hair washing /drying and condition and what do you wear?

I've found this a hassle last time and the chlorine dries my hair and skin. Also my hair is fine and balayage so I don't want that to get damaged

Swimming options
1 : wet hair wear swim cap
2 : dry heave swim cap
3: no swim cap

Washing options:
A: Nothing dry robe* on and shower at home
B rinse hair - wash at home day day
C wash hair and dry at home

It's a council pool so the showers and dryer is rubbish.

Swimming 6-7pm. I'd rather have a shower in the morning if I had a choice

I enjoyed my swim 20 lengths today but I can't get my head around this.

DH swims 5 x a week so I'm
Tagging a long for the essential exercise

*I don't have a dry robe

Always wet your hair before swimming as the plain water gets into your hair minimising the absorption of chorine water.
I always wash hair immediately after, first rinse with a clarifying shampoo to get rid of the chlorine, then after with a moisturising shampoo.
I put my hair up in a towelling turban and go home like that to dry my hair as nothing beats drying it at home

Wet it well. Put on a swim conditioner like Ultra swim, triswim or Boots Sun, Sea, swim. Put a silicon hat on. You can get long hair hats too if you have long long hair. A towelling bobble helps hat stop slipping. Wash it out at the pool asap with a swim shampoo chlorine remover if needed. Don't, don't, don't wait until you get home. You could always re-rinse and style at home.

Some pools don't use a lot of chlorine now if they have a light filtration system it definitely isn't as strong smelling as an 80s public pool!
I always use flipflops in the shower and to get from changing room to poolside, to avoid verrucas and athletes foot🤮. Two towels, one to wrap in and one to dry with, plus a hair wrap.
I find body oil is the best body moisturiser for post swim. Rinse costume in cold water, don't put in washing machine so it doesn't go see through. Rub a teeny bit of liquid soap in googles and wipe out with toilet paper and your googles won't steam up. Keep an old spare costume, hat and googles in bag too just incase you forget your stuff. Leave shampoo and soap in your kit bag, so you never need to remember it and leave kit in car so you can just grab fresh towels and go. That's all my swimming tips for easier swimming Have fun. I really want to go swimming now!

I always shower and get into the pool with wet hair. Unless I am going out , I shower and wash my hair after swimming and put on one of those towels designed to dry your hair. I drive home and blow dry my hair at home. Keep a special toilet bag in your pool bag, ready packed for when you go

I wear a long hair swim cap.

I rinse my hair in the shower after and put conditioner in which I leave in.

I never use shampoo.

If I have time I dry it, if not I don't

Wet hair, swim cap. If driving home I put a towelling turban on and my fake dry robe and go home like that

I soak my hair in the shower and put Philip Kingsley Elastisizer on. Add swimming cap. Swim. Then wash with clarifying shampoo twice after swimming, followed by conditioner. I dry it when I get home. My hair has never been in such good condition!

I use Aveda swimming hair products and they really help my hair. They are expensive but you don’t need to use much.

Do people put dry robes on with nothing under to travel home from the swimming pool??

To the people who say they put on conditioner and then wear a swim cap please can you explain how the swim cap doesn’t slip off? I have read this advice so many times but every time I have tried it the swim cap just pops off… also doesn’t the conditioner get into the pool water?

1c is the best combo to avoid dry hair. I usually do 2b or c, depending on how much time I have afterwards. I don't do 1 as I don't like putting my hat on wet hair, even though I know I should.

TOWEL: I take a small towel which meets my needs. Routine is soap down, rinse off, dry off, get dressed, leave. I don't have time / patience / money to waste on dryrobe nonsense.

HAIR: You won't like my regime.
I have heaps of quite fine hair.
I have Massive undercut at moment to reduce summer volume (& actually fit in a hat).
It was prone to being very dry, flyaway, when I did the conventional frequent wash (remove natural oils)+conditioner (add artificial oils) thing. Decades ago.

Now,
I wash it about once every 6 weeks.
I never blow dry it or put conditioner on.
I wear a cap in water to keep hair out of my face.
After swim, Towel dry & go, brush when I'm home later.

i feel very skeptical scoff at idea that wetting your hair 1st prevents chlorine exposure. wtaf. Find us a science study to support this claim.

Wow thanks Mumsnet! This is also amazing and detailed. I am
So pleased for the replies - going to get som Ultra swim shampoo.

Hair Looked ok this morning but is a bit manky now- I'm have to wash it everyday as it's so fine as fragile and just a total
Pain in the arse hair. cue lots of people to wash it lesss and my 43 year hair problems will be over)

@Tig33 re keeping your hat on - I only use a tiny bit of conditioner and work it through well. Mainly from underneath as that's only really the bit that the pool water gets into.
I plait my hair and use a fat towelling hair bobble, so the hat can grip on. Also make sure no conditioner on your forehead which makes it slippy.

Your goggles should help too, especially if you don't touch/move them from the time you start swimming.
If your hat is old they get stretched. New hats are so tight they should give you a bit of a headache! Or put another hat on top of your goggles which is good if the water is very cold, like after a swimming gala.

I'm really glad everyone is wearing hats as it's horrible coming up for air and finding someone hair across your face or in your mouth. I wish hats were compulsory.
And I wish people would take off their full face of make-up before getting in. Some people swim in red lipstick ffs! Its disgusting making us swim through old makeup and it looks stupid.

I really enjoyed my first two swims! I'm so slow so and my techniques terrible but I'm sure the moving in water is good for me and my arms aches in a Good way

I did the head out the water Brest stroke thing and I need to be brave and do the proper head under breast stroke and a bit of crawl.

Other thanks swimming lessons and "messing about" in the pool Or sea I've never been a "lengths" swimmer before. Husband is like a dolphin can do 25m -he claims -in 20 seconds and does 64 lengths 5 times a week. Kudos to him I'm riding his coattails and using his routine as we go together to get me feeling better.

I'm getting myself a nice treat after 100 swims!

Definitely wet your hair first, and use either a silicone or latex hat as these will protect hair better. They won’t stop it getting wet but do offer better protection than a soft, or no, cap. They’re easy to put on with a bit of practice.

Be careful with applying product to hair before getting in. Sometimes you can taste/smell when people haven’t rinsed before getting in, or have product in their hair as it gets into the water & creates a horrible chemical smell/taste

And I can well imagine your husband could do a length in 20 seconds. My regular pace is just over 20 seconds a length, and if I was going fast I can get under 20 seconds a length.

That's incredible @FlySwimmer kudos to you!

I think I need to get a little competitive with myself!

Wet your hair before swimming but don't put conditioner or anything on it! It washes out into the pool. If everyone did it the water quality would suffer.

I don't know about conditioner or other products, but I do know about long hair. Only swum without a hat once, never again after coming up with it all across my face. It brought a lot of water with it, and I couldn't tell when I was out. It wasn't safe.

@cherrypied enjoy! Swimming is the funnest sport 😉 hopefully you find a good routine for your hair.

Adult DD has very long hair; she used to put it in 2 braids for each swim, but says she's trying hats now. She does 2km in 40 minutes.