Today, many of us regularly visit swimming pools. Someone in this way relaxes and rests from working everyday life, and someone is engaged in swimming, to keep the body fit and maintain health.
It’s no secret that the water in the pools is chlorinated: today it is chlorine that is the most common disinfectant. In this article, we will consider the following questions: Does chlorine really harm the hair? How to protect hair from the effects of chlorine? What kind of care is needed for damaged hair?
What does chlorine do to your hair?
Hardly any of us would want to bathe in dirty, contaminated water. To avoid this, chlorine is used in many pools. Chlorine destroys dirt, fat and bacteria. Short and infrequent exposure to chlorine does not harm the hair. But the regular action of chlorinated water in the pool can lead to significant damage to them. The fat-damaging effect of chlorine can dry out hair, make it dull and porous, and in some cases, if you do not take any measures to protect your hair, cause more significant harm.
What hair is at risk of chlorine damage?
Everyone, whose hair regularly contacts with chlorinated water, risks harming the hair. But some types of hair are damaged faster and much stronger. If your hair meets one of the following criteria, then you need to take additional measures to protect them:
- your hair is dyed and especially if you use unnatural dyes;
- your hair was subjected to chemical treatment (chemical perm, straightening, etc.);
- you have dry hair;
- you have thin hair;
- your hair is already damaged (for example, by the sun).
How to protect the hair in the pool?
To protect your hair from damage with chlorinated water, you can take several steps immediately before and after swimming:
1. Moisten the hair. Before entering the pool, wash the hair with clean water. The hair itself is like a sponge. Have you ever noticed that the drier the sponge, the more water it absorbs? With a sponge full of water, water simply flows down. It is suitable for hair as well: if it is saturated with clean water in advance, they will less absorb the chlorinated water of the pool. That’s the very common method of how to protect your hair from chlorine.
2. Use the cap. It protects hair well from contact with chlorinated water. Before you put on the cap, saturate your hair with clean water and apply a hair conditioner to them. It’s a good way for
how to protect hair when swimming everyday.
3. After visiting the pool, rinse your hair thoroughly with clean water to remove chlorine from them.
Use shampoo. Washing the hair with clean water immediately after visiting the pool is the best way how to remove chlorine from hair and protect it from damage to the hair. If you swim in the pool often, using a shampoo will help remove chlorine residues and protect it from accumulating in your hair.
5 tips for caring for chlorine-damaged hair
Determine that hair is damaged by chlorine is not difficult. Chlorine damaged hair is dull, if it’s dry, like straw, if it start to curl, especially at the tips, if the hair splits, just know – your hair is damaged. These tips will help you revitalize damaged hair:
1. Eat well. Our hair is 90% composed of a protein substance such as keratin, so to strengthen hair affected by the harmful effects of chlorine, eat more protein-rich foods – sour-milk products, cheese, eggs, fish, poultry.
2. To remove accumulated chlorine from the hair, rinse them after washing with apple cider vinegar. That’s how to remove chlorine from hair naturally without shampoo.
3. To strengthen the hair and return the lost moisture to them and the scalp, use ordinary eggs. They are a wonderful natural shampoo and conditioner for hair at the same time.
4. To eliminate delamination and split ends of hair, before washing, rub coconut oil into the scalp and hair. Do this at least an hour before washing. To enhance the effect of oil, cover the head with a polyethylene bag and top with a towel.
5. Use one of the recipes for moisturizing hair masks.
If your hair is severely damaged, contact a professional. In the hair treatment clinic you will not only appreciate the degree of hair damage, but also prompt other effective methods of treatment.
And in conclusion, be very patient. Care for damaged hair is not easy. It takes time to restore damaged hair.