Chlorine: How It Affects Your Hair & How To Battle It
Picture this – It’s record-high heat in your neighborhood and your best friend invites you over to hang out at their pool. You immediately agree and race over to meet them for your fun pool day ahead – to which…psst, where’s our invite!? There’s nothing truly like a proper pool day, ready to cool off from the hot summer sun! However, let us remind you that you should be mindful of what you’re about to submerge your whole head of hair into. Now, you might be thinking, “C’mon, you really can’t be telling me I have to avoid pools for the rest of my life!”– which (for the record) is the LAST thing we want! We love them as much as you do – but, all we’re saying is that there are safe ways to go about protecting your hair when you’re ready to bellyflop into a pool!
As you may know, chlorine is used to sanitize the pool water – And just like any regular sanitizer, cleaning comes with chemicals. Chlorine is known to strip natural oils from your hair, leaving it dry and brittle. It, also, can change the color of your hair, especially for those of you who swim in pools often. And, DON’T even get us started on how it affects your hair extensions! Lucky for you, we’re here to share easy ways to help keep your hair healthy while enjoying the pool!
Our top 3 tips to protect your hair from chlorine are…
Wet your hair with clean water BEFORE jumping into the pool. Imagine a sponge that you submerged completely in water. It has absorbed so much water that it is completely dripping and cannot absorb anything else – Now, think of your hair acting in that same fashion. Because it has already absorbed so much of the clean water, it minimizes the amount of chlorine it’ll end up absorbing from the pool.
Pull your hair back. Whether this be in a bun, braid, ponytail or completely pulled up into a swim cap – The less contact all of your hair strands have with the chlorine, the better!
Hydrate your hair back to life. Keeping your hair as moisturized as possible during the summertime is the best hack to protect it from drying out with the chlorine chemicals. Use natural oils (i.e. coconut oil), deep conditioners and leave-in conditioners (our favorite is Innersense’s Sweet Spirit Leave-In Conditioner!) all summer long to combat potential hair damage and dryness!
