It has been known for ages now that water from swimming pools can lead to hair loss and discoloration. The extent of damage is often over-hyped, with people not know what exactly causes the damage or how to prevent it. Misinformation may lead to people giving up swimming, which is completely unnecessary. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun has the potential of causing skin cancer, which does not mean that we stop going out in day light, does it? Ghst.org highlights here the cause and extent of hair damage due to swimming and also gives simple precautions to take in order to prevent it.

Swimming pool water is treated with chlorine and other chemicals in order to keep it bacteria and virus free. Although most swimming facilities take care to maintain acceptable levels of chemicals used, this cannot be guaranteed at sub-standard facilities. Chlorine has oxidizing agents that can reduce your hair moisture, leading to breakage and split ends. The other form of damage due to swimming pool water is hair discoloration. This is caused by copper present in the water bonding with your hair and then reacting to high pH levels, giving a greenish tinge to your hair. Although it true that water from swimming pools or at other man made aqua sport’s pools, can cause such damage, it is important to note the amount of exposure that is needed for this to happen. Hair damage and discoloration only occurs with those who swim regularly and do not take the necessary precautions to keep their hair safe.

The basic swimming etiquette of wearing a swimming cap is usually enough to prevent hair damage as it does not let pool water wet your hair. You can wet your hair with clean water before going for a swim as this saturates your hair and reduces soaking of chlorinated water. Rinsing your hair with non-chlorinated water immediately after a swim or between long durations spent in the pool washes off chlorine and copper and does not let it cling to your hair. Follow these steps to keep hair safe and enjoy a swim!