How swimming can damage your hair and how to protect it.
By thetis74
@thetis74 (1525)
August 4, 2011 9:38pm CST
Pure water is not at all harmful to your hair. But the water from chlorinated swimming pools can. Chlorine can soften the hair's protective outer shell, its scaly cuticle. It melts this cuticle to be worn away. It takes only ten hours of exposure to do the damage. That is why e are advised to wear a watertight cap or at least wash the hair when we come out of water.
At least there is good news that we can save our hair from the damage if we don't stay that long.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@swirlz (3136)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
Isn't the water from our taps chlorinated too? The ones we use to bathe everyday? The one we use to rinse ourselves after bathing in swimming pools? lol. We're trying to rinse our hair out of chlorinated water with chlorinated water. 
That's funny.
That's funny.@thetis74 (1525)
•
5 Aug 11
Yes, but there is too much chlorine in pools compared to the water we drink because it has to tackle and kill the huge amount of bacteria. The water in the faucet is treated and a small amount of chlorine is added. The bacteria that can possibly contaminate water in the faucet is not the same as with the pools where urine and bacteria coming from the people swimming in them. So too much is never good. Haven't you noticed swimming in the pool you will know from the smell and the dryness of your skin and the stickiness of your hair compared to using the faucet water from bathing?
There is an analogy for this. When you take the right amount of calcium, it will not do you any harm. But too much isn't good for the kidney because they can cause kidney stones.
@swirlz (3136)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
So calcium causes kidney stones? That's something new. I thought kidney stones are caused by too much salt in the body and not enough fluids to flush them out.
Anyway I recently asked why people here don't drink water from the tap anymore and most said it's because of too much chlorine in tap water that's why it isn't safe to drink.
But I get your point. Yeah, the water in the pool feels weird to the skin.
@birdie816 (1276)
• United States
8 Aug 11
i've always been afraid to get my hair wet in the pool mostly because it would mess up the style lol. but i never knew the damage was that bad or else why would people put chlorine in pools? but it is good to know that washing hair after swimminghelps because i usually do tha anyway
@thetis74 (1525)
•
8 Aug 11
The purpose of putting chlorine is to combat all the bacteria and the germs to prevent diseases from spreading to people. The water in the pool is also not replaced regularly and without chlorine all these bacteria from especially urine can both harm swimmers and spoil the pool water as well.
@i_love_dbz97 (40)
• United States
5 Aug 11
wow! I never knew that swimming in swimming pools can make you go bald! I am defiantly going to wash my hair every time I come out of a swimming pool! Well it sure is a good thing that I don't go to a swimming pool that often because I live less then a block away for a lake! :)
