ElleRose

I have a class for school, I swim 3 out of 5 days and the pool water is drying my hair out and turning it into a dry frizzy dull mess, i wet my hair before getting into the pool, and condition it when i get out..but it still is dry..any ideas??

curlisue1

I used to swim a lot and never found anything to stop my hair from drying short of using a swim cap. What a great fashion statement! But it saved my hair.

akhavish

The year or two I was really into swimming, my hair got longer and healthier. Here's how:

For most of that time, I had this ritual before the pool:
Shower, cowash and detangle, then leave in lots of conditioner, braid my hair, and put a silicone swim cap over it (sometimes I used two caps, one fabric-lined underneath and silicone above, but this may not be important).

After the pool I did this:

Rinse out the conditioner (perhaps doing a second rinse with more conditioner), then leave in AOHR, AO Swimmer's, or AOWC. I would usually wear my hair in a braid or two.

I have also tried using an oil spray (on wet hair) instead of conditioner, with okay results. It may be that the oil is better at keeping out chlorinated water (since conditioner is more water-soluble), but I'm not 100% sure because I haven't done it too many times and I wonder how well it can be distributed. If you can distribute it effectively, it could be a good choice. Then you would cowash it out and continue with leaving in a heavy conditioner. You can mix EVOO, EVCO, sweet almond oil, jojoba, scented oils, etc (in some combination or other) and put them in an olive-oil mister. I have heard of some people using this method without a swim cap, but I'm too concerned about my hair to try that.

Do not try putting a swim cap on dry hair!

belwillcoily

I don't have type 3 hair but rather type 4 but I just wanted to comment about my experience.

My hair is naturally prone to dryness and once I really began to take care of my hair properly, I got the moisture balance correct and my hair was happy, healthy and moisturized for the first time in my life.

Now, with that being said, my sons, husband and I spent 2 to 3 days a week in the pool last summer. I was nervous about throwing my thriving hair into some sort of set back but what I did is thoroughly wet my braided hair, apply Suave Naturals conditioner root to tip then top with EVOO concentrating the oil on the hair along my edges. I then slipped a swim cap on and off we'd go to the pool and we'd be there AWHILE (mind you).

Afterward I'd rinse the conditioner and oil out with plain water then apply a LI. Once a week, I'd actually shampoo (alternating between low 'poo and an sulfate 'poo to take extra care that no chlorine was lingering in my hair). Not only did I not experience any sort of set back (as in breakage, dryness, or brittleness), but the moisture balance of my hair actually improved.

I'm actually having more of a challenge this winter with keeping the moisture balance of my hair intact than I did last summer when I was in the pool so often.

I really think the key is applying layers of protection:

Protection layer 1: Braiding the hair. Whether you put in 1 braid or 25 braids, I think it tucks your strands and makes them compact so the chlorinated water has to work harder to get in there.
Protection layer 2: Plain 'ole H20 (saturate your hair with it before getting into the pool with chlorinated water and very little of the chlorinated water can get in there)
Protection layer 3: Conditioner of your choice (gobs of it; another wall as the chlorinated water swirls around your tresses)
Protection layer 4: Oil of your choice (oil and water don't mix so it a great barrier from the chlorinated water)
Protection layer 5: Swim cap (the ultimate wall)

Like someone said, the swim cap isn't such a great "fashion statement" but there are some cute ones out there (believe it or not). I purchased my swim cap to match my swim suit and I paid a little more money for it but it was worth it so I could feel cute and sexy for my husband while swimming and protecting my hair and having a blast with my sons.

HTH

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