We all know that drying feeling we get in our hair after a swim. The chemicals in swimming pools are there to purify the water but they can be quite damaging to our hair and scalp. You may think that a swim cap is sufficient to protect your locks but if yours is anything like my daughters’, it slips open, giving the chlorinated water access to your hair. Most school children swim every week, exposing their hair to the drying elements of pool water.
Here are five tips to make sure you or your child enjoys swimming without worrying about damage to your hair.
Aloe vera gel
Try making time to apply aloe vera gel to your scalp as you prepare for swimming. You could be finding that after every swim, your scalp or your child’s scalp itches a lot and may even become flaky. Applying super soothing aloe vera gel and massaging into the scalp will quickly calm it down and create the first layer of protection against the swimming pool water.
Oil mix
After the aloe gel application, apply an oil mix to your scalp to seal in the aloe gel applied earlier. To create an almost impenetrable barrier, you can also use a heavier oil such as castor seed oil on its own without other oils. Castor seed oil is an exceptional seal over the aloe vera gel, providing double protection against the chlorine. Castor seed oil is exceptionally high in ricinoleic acid which help keep away fungus and bacteria.
Leave-in conditioner
Apply a layer to your hair strands by massaging a leave-in conditioner to your hair. When my daughters are going swimming, I get them to spray our leave-in conditioning spray or use our leave-in conditioning cream. Either one works just fine. Most times, their hair is in twists and massaging is an effective technique to ensure maximum coverage and absorption.
Schedule wash day
There’s nothing more frustrating than to spend all that time caring for your child’s hair at the weekend only for the school’s swimming session to be on a Monday! Instead, skip the hair washing at the weekend and schedule it for Monday evening. And because you have spent time boosting the hair with nutrients of the oils, aloe gel and the leave in conditioner, the hair has effectively been pre-pooed (the act of preparing the hair for cleansing or shampooing)! If you follow the shorter wash day method, you will find it even easier to detangle with your deep conditioner.
Hope this helps.
