Swimming and Natural Hair: What to do to Save Your Hair from Chlorine

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Swimming with natural hair requires a routine

It's summertime --- prime pool season. If you're like most with natural hair, you don't want the chlorine and salt water to wreak havoc on your strands.

Chlorine and salt water can severely damage the hair. They weaken the hair over time by stripping away hair's natural oils.

Here's a fool-proof guide to protecting your natural hair while you're swimming at the beach or at the pool.

1. Wet your hair before your go into the water. I know it seems counter intuitive: My hair is already going to get wet anyway, right? This is true, but wetting it before hand creates a barrier between your hair and the chlorine. Your hair absorbs the good stuff -- the water -- and not the bad stuff.

2. Use conditioner and oil to coat your strands. I'd rather leave a cloudy mess in the pool than to dip my hair unprotected into chlorine. Use a rinse out conditioner and coat your stands with conditioner after wetting it. Follow it with a light coat of oil (coconut, olive, grapeseed) for extra protection.

3. Immediately after you finish in the pool, rinse your hair with water. Follow up with a Swimmers' shampoo. This will strip the chlorine from your hair, protecting your strands.

4. Detangle and follow up with a deep conditioner. Make sure you add protein to your regimen, if your hair isn't protein sensitive.

How do you protect your hair during swim season?