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Salty Hair

Anonymous

Good news! There is now a new pool near a couple of my offices I've been swimming 3 1/3 miles each week (40 laps 3x week). Good for my physical and mental health, not so good for my hair.

The pool has salt water. Better than chlorine, but I've started having to wash my hair every day, cause it feels and looks really grotty if I don't. I do use Paul Mitchell shampoo which is meant for swimmers (#3 I think) and their normal conditioner. I'll probably start doing Malibu treatments more often too.

That said, I do color my hair (from a box) when the greys start bugging me, but haven't since the pool opened. How would it interact with the saltwater? Should I give up on trying to keep it dark and embrace the faded color?
I had pondered getting a Brazillian Blowout at one point, but is that a bad idea?
Anyone have any other hair advice?

ETA- at some point there will be a pool near my other office, so I'll be swimming 5 days a week when that happens.

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28 replies

Latest reply was from

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Do you wear a cap? It might help mitigate damage. I have heard that you can even put conditioner in your hair before putting the cap on, although I never tried that.

Anonymous

I used to, when I swam in chlorine pools, but it did no good. The water just leaks through. Plus they're really uncomfortable and I end up fussing with it every few laps. I've tried both kinds of caps and hate them both.

The main reason I swim is for my mental health, to combat the 8 hours of sitting in my office!

Carla

Veteran

I felicitate you on the fitness routine, but commiserate with the hair problems. You can’t just leave pool chemicals in your hair, and even the gentlest of shampoos is going to wreck havoc with colouring. Well, not the shampoo, but rather the frequent washing.

When I swam with a Masters group, some of the women would comb conditioner through their hair before donning their swim caps. I’m not sure if that was great for the pool, but the caps are pretty snug.

Swimming, and the fugitive nature of red hair dye was the reason I gave up colouring my hair after a brief flirtation in my 50’s. My current solution for hair health is to keep my hair on the shorter side and let it air dry with leave in conditioner products. That’s not always practical (winter).

I wear a Speedo cap for long hair. I don’t really have long hair, but rather thick hair, and find it more comfortable and better fitting.

https://www.sportchek.ca/categ.....ong-hair-s

Good luck!

Anonymous

My hair is quite thin, and only a bit beyond shoulder length, but maybe I'll see about the long hair swim cap.
I think The Little Mermaid lied to me!

JAileen

Veteran

I used to swim several times a week. I used a cap that was hard to get on, but once on, my hair stayed more or less dry. I do have a big head. Maybe your cap was too loose. Most recently I swam in a salt pool and it made me very thirsty.

Lesley

Veteran

Ultra Swim Shampoo helps!

Minaminu

Veteran

I completely understand the motivation to swim for the mental benefits, there is something really soothing when moving in the water!

When I used to swim regularly, I used to apply a thin layer of argan oil on the hair and then a tight cap, it did help a lot!

I would be careful with the Brazilian blowout as this hair treatment includes formaldehydes which can be carcinogen.

merwoman

Veteran

Hello suntiger! How wonderful that you have access to a salt water pool! I’m verrry envious. I spend about an hour 3-4 times a week in a chlorine pool and find it hard on my nose and resp. system, however benefits outweigh the ill effects.

Agree with others here, in that I would absolutely recommend you wear a bathing cap. Runcarla has linked to a very good one, essential that the cap is silicone ( as opposed to latex) for ease of getting it on your head. Some long haired swimmers I know wrap/roll their hair tightly into a bun shape and then put the cap on. They say this helps keep their hair dry. Mine is always wet, but I do think the cap helps minimize how much chlorine is getting into my hair.

I only wash my hair on pool days. Once a week I use neutrogena TGel shampoo, this helps combat the dryness. The rest of the time I use just a regular shampoo, and conditioner with Argan oil. I don’t colour my hair, and according to my hair stylist, my hair is in excellent condition.

good luck and happy swimming!

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Things I have never thought about! Yes it does seem that finding the perfect swim cap is the solution, and I wish you luck with that. Totally understand the mental health benefits of exercise, I am completely dependent on it and am lucky it doesn't affect my hair .

Staysfit

Veteran

I swam masters for a while also, and since my hair is particularly thick and frizzy used the conditioner under a swim cap trick. My hair was always very short when I swam because it never dries otherwise. The conditioner trick worked fairly well. I had a snug cap. If I had to do it now, I might try using a product like Emollience by Original Moxie, or maybe just coconut oil. Anything that will repel the salty water.

Oops, I forgot to add that I was coloring my hair at the time…..

Anonymous

Thanks all! I used to swim a few days a week in chlorine pools BC19, but the saltwater has a Very different effect on my hair than chlorine. The chlorine was very drying, but the salt is more of a buildup situation, so adding more conditioner could just make it greasier. It doesn't help that I have a lot of rust, etc in my well water too.

I have a latex cap and a silicone. Both are really uncomfortable, but the latex is not as bad cause it's thinner. I really hate to have to wear it again, but I also don't want to ruin my hair :/

Lucy

I am definitely no expert, but it sounds like you are on the right track with using a specialty shampoo for swimmers. You may just want to check with your stylist if it is best for saltwater pool swimming (vs chorine), since as you noticed they impact your hair differently. You may just need to use a very gentle shampoo everyday (to avoid build up but not dry out your scalp) and some sort of additional at home hair treatment once a month or week?

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I find that wearing a swimming cap and putting a hair mask on ,there are ones especially for swimming in,underneath my cap prevents my blonde highlights from going green.l wash it off after my swim obviously.

Roberta

Veteran

The only thing I can add is to make sure your hair is thoroughly wet before you get in the pool. Once I tried putting conditioner on dry hair under my cap, and it kept slipping off! Amusing but not helpful. I have read that if your hair is wet already it will absorb less chlorine or salt.

I swim for my mental health too - the pool is so zen when I have earplugs in and can't hear anything but my own heartbeat.

kkards

Veteran

When I go to the beach (which is not exactly like swimming in salt water) I wash every other day and condition every day. That gets the sticky build off off but doesn’t over wash/dry my hair and scalp

Star (Lise)

Veteran

I don't have any advice regarding swimming/salty hair but I was wondering why you are considering a brazilian blowout. Is it to help with the effect of the regular swimming or just an aside that you mentioned it? Apparently they are so heavy on chemicals, much more than dye, and can be really toxic. Also you have the same problem with re-growth as you do with dye, Your untreated growth will have a visibly different texture to the smoothed hair.

Anonymous

I was thinking about a Brazillian blowout cause I just want my hair to be straight and low maintenance. It often will flip up at the bottom, plus it waves in a way I don't like at ear level And it gets frizzy in summer.

Chiara

I have fine hair that shows build up quickly, so that means washing with shampoo after swimming in salt water. And then it shows damage quite quickly too, which can occur with frequent washing. So I get knots, thin ends. I try to manage this by limiting brushing/combing, air drying, and once a week I use an at home Olaplex treatment. The latter seems to help greatly with repairing damage, reducing knots and keeping the ends dense.

Anonymous

I have been considering Olaplex, but haven't tried it yet. There were some reviews about it on Amazon that worried me.

Helena

Veteran

My stylist also recommended the conditioner trick - keeps your hair from absorbing the chemicals she says!

cat2

Veteran

You might try a different swim cap. I just swam at a pool at a women’s club that requires caps. My BFF brought us those thick old lady caps with the rubber flowers and the darned things kept our hair dry much better than my thin latex swim cap. I would not get a Brazilian Blow-out, I had one ages ago when we had a condo with a salt water pool; the salt water will destroy the treatment.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I agree with everybody who said to get some water and conditioner /oil on your head before swimming, so it can’t soak up do much salt. The cap might help, but don’t expect one to keep your hair completely dry/out of pool water. I always shower at the pool, and find the pre-conditioning helps the pool chemicals come out more easily afterwards.
Whatever you do for your hair, just keep swimming—it really is magical!

Chiara

I bought my Olaplex direct from the manufacturer, I was concerned about potential fake products. Personally, I’ve found it very helpful- my ends are staying dense, and I’m not getting issues with knots and split ends. It’s the end of summer here- so usually my hair is at its worst, with sun and swimming damage.

Anonymous

Swimming is the best part of the week for sure

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I am no help with your hair, but am happy you like swimming. It's a healthy sport!

Anonymous

Quick update- I picked up this set from Trader Joes last week. I just used it one but it seemed to work well.

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Anonymous

The ocean & pool water is precisely the reason I got back to my natural color during the pandemic. I haven’t thought much about shampoo & conditioner because I use shampoo & conditioner designed to treat my scalp. I have rosacea on my scalp, oh joy. I started out using dandruff products & then switched to psoriasis products, which seem to work a little better. Ugh! Oh, & our condo has hard water, which we don’t drink. We drink & cook with bottled water.

Anonymous

Our water is super hard at home too, that's why DH and I have been using that swimmers shampoo for years. We have a house filter, but there's still tons of rust. When we build the new house we'll add a water softening system!