How To Protect Hair From Chlorine In Swimming Pool

How To Protect Hair From Chlorine In Swimming Pool – Dylan is a freelance writer and director of digital & social media strategy at Loverboy. She has contributed to Betches, Westchester Magazine, and more.

Sophia Emmanuel is an IAT certified trichologist and licensed esthetician based in New York. She owns and operates Crown Worthy beauty salon in New York City.

How To Protect Hair From Chlorine In Swimming Pool

If you’ve ever spent a lot of time in a swimming pool, you know that chlorine can cause damage to your hair, from drying it out to turning it blue. So how exactly can you protect your hair from chlorine? And what exactly does chlorine do for your hair?

Pool Hair Don’t Care . . . But You Should

We turned to trichologist Kerry Yates and hairstylist Clariss Rubenstein to find out; Read on for what they had to say.

The CDC states that chlorine can be found in all different forms, including liquids found in things like bleach, pesticides, swimming pools, and drinking water. Yes, you read that right: Chlorine is used in drinking water to kill harmful bacteria. It can also be found in gas form, is very toxic, and can be identified by its yellow-green color and sharp, pungent odor.

While chlorine does a good job of keeping things germ-free, Yates says it can “literally wreak havoc on our hair and skin.” So what exactly does that entail?

If your hairstylist has ever told you that chlorine will turn your hair green, they weren’t kidding. “It can also cause color to oxidize quickly and even cause a green tint on lighter-colored hair that can be difficult to restore,” says Rubenstein. This is often especially true for blonde and color-treated hair.

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“Chlorine is a bleaching agent and as such, it can change the natural melanin pigment of the hair,” explains Yates. “In addition, chlorine also helps drive various metals and minerals found in the water into your hair shaft, creating a yellow-green color. This color change is evident in blondes and those with fine hair. Color-treated hair is especially vulnerable to hair color.” changes with repeated exposure to chlorine.”

Experts agree that chlorine can cause hair to become dry and dehydrated. “Chlorine can strip away natural oils to ensure your hair stays soft and moisturized,” says Yates. As a result, hair will be dry, brittle and can be susceptible to breakage and damage when heat-styled.”

If you’re looking for shiny, supermodel hair, chlorine is not your friend. “Hair loses its shine because chlorine strips hair of its natural oils,” says Yates. “Hair will look dull and very unhealthy.”

“The more hydrated and moisturized your hair is, the less likely it is to oxidize in chlorine,” Rubenstein shares. “The best way to prevent this from happening is to make sure your hair doesn’t absorb chlorine.” Yates adds: “I always recommend wetting your hair before starting.”

Simple Steps To Protect Your Natural Hair While Swimming

If you do not want to buy the product, this tip prevails. Typically, most pools will have indoor or outdoor showers for guests, and a solid rinse before entering the pool is all you need.

If you’re looking to take the next step in protecting your hair and are ready to purchase the product, experts agree that leave-in conditioner is a great shield against chlorine.

“As an added layer of protection, apply a moisturizing spray all over your hair,” says Yates. “The liquid emulsion will form a protective layer that keeps the cuticle closed, eliminating complete absorption of any chlorinated water.”

Given that experts’ top concerns with chlorine exposure to hair are color changes and dryness, and leave-in conditioners typically combat both, they agree that if If you are planning to buy a product to protect your hair, you should actually use a leave-in conditioner. Be that way.

How To Protect Your Hair While Swimming This Summer

Yates personally recommends Innersense Sweet Spirit Conditioner ($26) for added moisture. The product is infused with emollient oils, aromatic herbs, flower essences and a touch of bee-friendly honey.

Rubenstein notes that adding nutrients to your hair can make a “world of difference” when it comes to protecting hair from chlorine.

Natural oils including jojoba oil and coconut oil are packed with nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E. These ingredients not only help protect hair but are also great at treating dry hair, which can due to exposure to chlorine.

Just as you must protect and wet your hair before exposure to chlorine, you must remove chlorine from your hair as quickly as possible after exposure.

How To Get Chlorine Out Of Hair: 8 Expert Tips And Tricks

“Always rinse your hair thoroughly for 5 minutes after getting out of the pool, then wash with a mild shampoo and silicone-free conditioner,” shares Yates. This can help you remove chlorine and keep your hair healthy, hydrated, and free of the dreaded green color.

The best way to ensure protection from chlorine is to avoid it altogether. How to do it? By not exposing your hair to chlorine in the first place.

Just as swimming goggles protect your eyes from chlorine, you should consider using a physical layer of protection to avoid wetting your hair completely. (Especially if you’re looking to go completely deep.) Enter: Swim cap. They may not be the prettiest, they may not be the prettiest, but overall they are the best way to protect your hair from chlorine exposure.

If you’re leaving this article wondering how chlorine can simultaneously be a toxic gas, a pool cleaner, and in our drinking water, you’re not alone. This multifaceted element serves many purposes—but blending in with hair isn’t one of them.

Tips To Protect Your Skin And Hair From Chlorine In The Swimming Pool

Experts agree that overall, avoiding chlorine exposure to your hair is the safest way to protect your strands. If you know you will be in the pool and your hair will be exposed to chlorine, always use protection in the form of water, conditioner, and post-swim rinse. Green, go away.

Take every opportunity to use high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the factual information in our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we keep our content accurate, trustworthy and reliable. We love summer because it’s the season of cookouts, vacations, and pool parties. The weather is gorgeous, and the dark, dreary winter is a distant memory. But those family pool parties can take a toll on our hair, causing it to dry out and even turn it blue!

Pool water is rough on our hair because chlorine is used to kill bacteria in the pool. At low levels—like the amount found in tap water—chlorine doesn’t actually harm our hair. But at the increasing levels found in swimming pools, it’s important to protect your hair from chlorine because it strips our hair of its natural oils. This leads to frizzy and dry, damaged hair.

So how can we protect our hair from chlorine while still having fun swimming with friends and family this summer? Read on to learn more about how to protect your hair from chlorine and how to prevent your hair from turning blue in the pool!

How To Protect Your Hair From Chlorine Without A Swim Cap

Chlorine is a chemical that breaks down the natural oils in our hair and scalp as well as the amino acids in our hair. We have small amounts in tap water to keep it clean, but these small amounts are not enough to mess with our hair. Swimming pools have much higher concentrations and these levels can damage our hair.

It’s important to protect your hair from chlorine, especially if you’re a heavy swimmer. Repeated exposure to chlorine causes our hair to become brittle and dry, which can lead to breakage, and chlorine can even change the color of our hair. High porosity hair is especially vulnerable to chlorine damage because porous hair is more absorbent, allowing more chlorine to penetrate the hair shaft.

To protect your hair from chlorine when you dip in the pool this summer, you need to make it difficult for the chlorine to penetrate your hair. Preparing your hair before swimming and adding a physical barrier between your curls and the water will help keep your hair healthy and hydrated!

Adding a hydrating avocado hair mask before swimming will protect your hair from chlorine. Look for a deep conditioning product that contains dimethicone to coat the hair shaft, help seal the cuticle, and provide a physical barrier that prevents swimming pool chemicals from penetrating the hair shaft.

How To Protect Your Color Treated Hair When Swimming

We love the Avocado Revitalizing Hair Mask for maximum protection before a day at the pool. It’s formulated with argan oil and our proprietary margarine blend to lock in moisture, leaving your hair even more protected from dryness, brittleness and damage after a day of swimming!

Those of us with longer hair know how difficult it is to wade around the pool without getting the ends of your hair wet! A high ballerina bun is the perfect style to protect your hair from chlorine. This style is suitable for wet or dry hair, but if you style your hair while it’s wet, remember to use a wide-tooth comb to avoid damaging your hair!

To get the look: Tie your ponytail as high as possible and secure with a soft hair tie.