When you live in Georgia, summer vacation is spent at the swimming pool. Honestly, it’s just too darn hot to do anything else.
When you live in Georgia and have a daughter on swim team, you tend to spend even more time at the swimming pool. Swim practice is three days a week, plus swim meets.
That’s a lot of swimming.
And, don’t get me wrong, all that swimming is well and good.
But all that chlorinated water is really doing a number on my daughter’s hair.
We shampoo and condition her hair every evening after she swims in the pool. Her hair always feels soft and smooth when I rinse it in the shower.
But the problem arises after I blow it dry.
Her hair ends up feeling kind of “coated.” As if there’s a bunch of product on it, only there isn’t. For lack of a better description, it almost feels sticky — and a little dry. It tangles like crazy, and detangling spray doesn’t offer much help. I’ve used a few different shampoos. I’ve conditioned till the cows come home. None of it seems to help.
I searched online for “what to do with chlorine damaged hair” and came up with nothing. Just a few random shampoo suggestions.
So, I’m throwing it out to y’all. Anyone else ever run into this issue? Any suggestions on what I can do to get my daughter’s hair back to normal? Is there a specific shampoo? A fantastic conditioner? Do we need to do a hot oil treatment?
I’m open to suggestions and if I find something that works, I’ll be sure to come back here and share it with y’all.
Pinkie promise.
So don’t be shy. Please, if you’ve got any ideas, comment away.
I’m all ears…
About Melissa
I can’t help with the “after” but before she gets in the pool, thoroughly wet her hair. Hair soaks up water, so if you wet it well before she swims, it will be soaking up a lot less chlorine.
I doubt blowdrying is going to help anything. I would definitely try to let her hair air dry. The heat is just going to hurt her hair worse. And have you tried a leave in conditioner?
Get swimmer’s shampoo. They usually have a few options that will declorinate hair. Also, don’t blow dry it unless you really have to,and use leave in conditioner.
Hope that helps — I spent 8 years on the swim team and that was usually my routine during summers
I don’t know about chlorinated hair, but I went from my natural dark (almost black) hair color to a blond in just a few months and COMPLETELY ruined my hair. It felt like sticky straw whenever I washed it and it was completely dried out. I found the WEN product through a TV infomercial – you do NOT have to get the automatic 90 day shipment. It worked WONDERS on my hair. Here is their link: http://www.wenhaircare.com/index.php?uci=ous116&refcd=GO006894s_wen&tsacr=GO3649604236&s_kwcid=TC|8124|wen||S|e|3649604236
Try Nexxus Aloe Rid. That’s what I have always used. Seems to work!
I had this problem when I was a kid and I tried everything!
One thing that sticks out for me was Nexxus Humectress conditioner and hot oil treatments. It helped get rid of the frizz. Also, a good clarifying shampoo 1 or 2x a week will help get the chlorine out.
And at the end of the summer, she needs to go to a salon for a Malibu treatment and a trim to help get ALL the chlorine out. One summer I got 2 treatments IN A ROW because there was so much gunk in my hair. Nasty!
I’m training for a sprint triathlon so am also spending a lot of time at the pool these days. After my workouts, I wash with Ultra Swim Chlorine Removal Shampoo. It works wonders!!
Skip the shampoo!
Wet and then comb conditioner through hair befor swimming, then afterwards rinse it out, apply more conditioner and rinse most of it out…leave a bit in. Shampoo strips the hair, conditioner keeps it shiny. It sounds weird but try it for a week and see the difference…then wash it once a week with a gentle shampoo, no more often than that.
Using a pre-swim treatment should help. We use the one from Circle of Friends. Otherwise, I hear really good things about Aloe Rid.
Good luck! That sticky, straw-like hair is the worst!
I worked in a hair salon for 3 years before I was a lifeguard. This is the best product for damaged hair – Bone Marrow. I am a blond, so my hair was easily damaged by both the water and the sun. We used it in the hair salon for women who had damaged their hair with too much “sunIn”. 🙂 the good old 70’s!
Here is a link for the bone marrow – I hope the link works in this comment section.
http://www.thefind.com/beauty/browse-lamaur-bone
HI, Aveda makes a great shampoo specifically for chlorinated hair. i use it all the time and it is great!
Hi!
I am a natural blond with very fine hair and my hair has tangled my entire life, I remember back when I was small all they had was “No More Tangles” by Johnson&Johnson. My hair was what they called “Cotton-top” because it was almost white. It has always bleached out every Summer because of the Sun and swimming. As I got older my hairstylist told me to use a really good conditioner before I went swimming, just wet my hair and use a generous amount and leave it in until you wash it. I have to call her tomorrow anyway and I will ask her for some tips because she is one of these that is all about protecting your hair that’s why I have used her for3/4 of my life. If she has anything new I can add I will definitely let you know.
I swim 5-6 times per week and, chlorine aside, have super dry hair. I’ve got a routine that has helped me a lot. First, I get my hair sopping wet before I swim, stick a little bit of conditioner on it, and wear a swim cap. Second, I use UltraSwim after every swim – it’s key to do it right after you get out of the pool. I use a super rich conditioner plus a leave in (Aveeno Spray) and an anti-frizz serum. Finally, once a week, I do a deep conditioning treatment with regular shea butter. I bought a big hunk online and just keep it in the fridge, which is way more affordable than buying products with shea in them. I use it for my skin too.
I had to ditch out on the hair dryer and straightener – it was just too much for my hair to handle. Now I straighten if I have somewhere special to go, but otherwise I just let it air dry.
Grew up in So Cal, so I spent every moment I could in a swimming pool. (Had green hair by the end of summer.) With my own daughter, the options had improved tremendously and I swear by swimmer’s shampoos for her silky hair. As for blow-drying in summer? Skip it…put her hair in a braid or a pony tail or in a bun or a hair band, but ditch the blow-dry whenever you can.
Try Paul Mitchell’s Shampoo Three, it is a clarifying shampoo that helps with all the gunk left in hair from swimming. Also, maybe once a month have your daughter get a Malibu treatment. It is a conditioning treatment offered in salons that gets all the build-up out of hair.
Hey, this exact same thing is happening to me this year! It’s been super hot so I’ve been in the pool at least once every day. Here’s what I do…
Right after I get out of the pool, I shower off my bathing suit (the chlorine tends to break it down) and and rinse all the chlorine out of my hair and put conditioner in it. I don’t use shampoo then because that will just make it drier if it’s already dry. I wait until my actual daily shower to use shampoo. =]
Then I let my hair air dry. Without protection, a hairdrier can make hair really icky. If it’s still gross after that, when I’m taking my actual shower, I put the three-minute masque from Garnier Fructis in my hair. That usually makes it really soft. They also have a leave in conditioner that works nicely if that doesn’t work.
A staff writer at my blog wrote a post about the products she uses for her dry and damaged hair if you want to check it out http://modstylelounge.blogspot.com/2010/05/attack-of-dry-and-damaged-hair.html
There’s some shampoos out there that are specially designed to get rid of chlorine and product build up in the hair. They are called chelating shampoos and basically what they do is, they “de-gunkify” your hair. That also means that they are super drying so you should try following up with a deep conditioner and only use it about once or twice a week. my favorite is Joico KPak Chelating Shampoo and either their Deep Penetrating Reconstructer or Intense Hydrator from the same line. I hoped that helped! If you have any questions, just check out the website or ask!
Have an awesome day!
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