AIBU to not wash my kids after swimming?

[siblingrevelryagain]

I seem to be the only one who doesn't-lots of threads I've seen in the past seem to have 50% of parents showering at swimming pool, with the other half talking about bringing them home and throwing them in bath or shower.

I do neither; they get dressed (onesie and pj's in winter!) and come home, and later go to bed without showering.

In my defence, they all have good skin and strong constitutions so I can't see any outward effects of this, but equally I'm prepared to be told if im being dirty/unhygienic.

Super - I'm afraid I think the damage to your hair is done even if you wear a cap, shower and use special swimming shampoo/conditioner. My hairdresser could tell straight away when I'd been swimming just once between visits.

Gwen It is. I wear a cap. I come out and my hair is still drenched.

But I think that leaving the chlorine on your hair is going to do more damage than thoroughly washing it immediately after getting out.

We always shower at the swimming pool. Swimming pools are pretty rank places - changing room floors, poolside. People don't wear the socks of shame anymore when they have a verucca and people still wee in the pool.

I rinse them off quickly at the pool, then they have a proper bath in oilatum and wash hair when we get home. My two both have eczema and would have severe flare-ups if I left it on them. Also it smells foul.

I hope at least they shower before they get in the pool.

The weekly swimming lesson (followed by a splash in the communal showers afterwards, if they can get under a shower) is counted as a wash by my kids (and me and DH). I am lucky if I can get them in the bath or shower more than once more in a week (I have a right load of soap-dodgers).

I always shower ds after his lesson, both of us if I've been swimming with him. We both need to shower and wash our hair (usually every other day, bring on the lynch mob if that's not enough!) so time it right and it's killing two birds with one stone, boom!

Always shower before and after swimming. Mainly because I think it's rather grim not to and afterwards because our pool is always bloody freezing.

DD hasn't been allowed to go swimming for a good while now due to recurrent infections (on consultants say-so). It's made me wonder how well chlorinated the water is too.

People don't wear the socks of shame anymore when they have a verucca and people still wee in the pool.

Yep. DD had a late swimming lesson once. The state of the mucky floors in the changing rooms ans the other unshowered kids and adults who'd just left the muddy footprints etc would just jump right in.

They actually have the foot covers at every entrance but I think some people think they're simply there for ornamental purposes as opposed to hygiene ones.

Yes it's a faff but I get all 3 of mine (2 with long hair!) showered at the end of a swim- 2 minute job to soap up and rinse off! There's no way I wouldn't for all of the reasons others have pointed out!

Some people pee in pools. They also sweat, spit, and snot. Whether the germs are dead are not, my kids are not getting into their lovely clean little beds with other people's rankness all over them.

Each to their own but I think it's really grim, sorry.

Absolutely disgusting. Might as well roll about in dog shit and not brush your teeth before bed whilst you're at it.

As for those people who say everyone should shower before getting in.....when there are regional galas and hundreds of kids there, none of them shower...before or after....and when the gala is over, public swims continue

That doesn't mean people shouldn't shower before swimming, you don't do things that aren't good just because other people do them (cue parents saying "if they all jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?!")
And pools don't need to use as much chlorine if everyone showers before getting in - pools over here don't use as much and you can really tell the difference by the smell in the air.

Natsku.....it does mean it's pretty pointless, ie one person showering before they get in, when hundreds before then haven't. Pretty sure there is a certain level of chlorine they have to put in, they don't measure it by counting how many people have showered!!!!

"you can really tell the difference by the smell in the air."

I googled this yesterday and it seems that a strong chlorine smell can actually mean not enough chlorine is being used (the smell is from the reactions).

"I think that leaving the chlorine on your hair is going to do more damage than thoroughly washing it immediately after getting out."

Agreed. Both for skin and hair. Maybe also for your eye.

Mumzypopz That's why showering before swimming should be compulsory like it is where I am because then you can expect everyone to shower (because others will enforce it if they see you not showering)

I googled this yesterday and it seems that a strong chlorine smell can actually mean not enough chlorine is being used (the smell is from the reactions)

Hmm now I'm googling to try and find out what the levels are! But certainly my eyes don't get as red and sore in pools here than they do in the UK which I put down to the chlorine levels.

Maybe its all those unwashed bodies going into UK pools and reacting with the chlorine causing the strong smell...

Upon further research chlorine use in pools has been reduced here partly thanks to other methods of cleaning pool water (UV light and passing water through activated carbon and other things I can't be arsed to translate) and because of the rule that people shower before swimming - the importance of that rule is heavily emphasised by the swimming pool and life guarding association.

So Natsku....you did your further research in about six minutes there? So pleased the lifeguarding association has an impact on how much chlorine is used where you are....here in the UK, they don't....its mainly the council's who run the pools etc...there are rules around the level of chlorine, and it's tested regularly to ensure pools are safe and clean.i guess here they don't set rules around showering before you get in, because the chlorine does its job.

Yeah didn't take long, first page on google search had a news article that summarised the changes in pool hygiene and their impact on how clean the water is (i.e. its much cleaner these days thanks to the changes)

The chlorine does its job but at a price - the stink and the effect it has on skin and hair and breathing. Do they use other cleaning methods other than chlorine?

Natsku...I can honestly say my kids have been swimming pretty much daily in chlorinated pools and I can never smell Chlorine on them. Their hair and skin is great too.

Well that's good. Children with sensitive skin aren't so lucky though.

YABU

Natsku...if my kids had sensitive skin I would probably review them swimming every day. I still think chlorine does its job. I really don't think there is much of an alternative. Even if people had to shower before swimming in this country Im pretty sure chlorine would still be needed to get rid of lots of nasties that unfortunately bodies have and others need to be protected from.

There are alternatives, well not exactly alternatives as you still need a small amount of chlorine usually but ozone or UV cleaning and sand filtering. But there's no denying that showering before swimming reduces the nasties that people bring into the pool which then reduces the chloramines (what is produced when chlorine reacts with the nasties and makes that bad smell) which are dealt with by adding more chlorine so it becomes a cycle of more and more chlorine being needed instead of people simply taking a shower beforehand.