I have been swimming consistently for a while, and I have noticed my natural black hair turning brown. Is there any way of making my hair back to its natural black colour? I noticed even some of my arm hairs have turned brown, it’s getting annoying now. After I swim, I do sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi - idk if this makes the situation worse.
I am aware that this happened probably because of the chlorine in the swimming pool. What steps can I take to prevent this from happening further and what can I do to return my hair back to its natural colour?
@Meade
It’s not permanent. My hair was almost bleach blonde to the roots from when I swam competitively from like 11-19. I took awful care of my hair, using 2-in-1 and using chlorine remover MAYBE once a week. Took 3 years off, never shaved my head, and my hair became dark brown/dark blonde. I now swim almost as much as I used to and take much better care of my hair and it’s stayed the dark brown. I even went through a bout of hair thinning, got on HIMS hair spray and my hair is regrowing, all while still swimming in chlorine. I don’t even use a swim cap. Start using separate shampoo and conditioner if you don’t, and use a fortifying shampoo that explicitly states it can remove chlorine twice a week and you should be good in a few months.
@Adrian
Ok this is great to hear!! Thanks for sharing. I would have thought that the colour change wasn’t permanent either. This gives me hope. I probably can’t shampoo only twice a week though, as I swim damn near every day might have to wear a cap I guess. I’ll defo use the shampoo + conditioner though, which ones do you recommend?
@Meade
I meant that you shampoo+condition every day, use the chlorine remover shampoo twice a week along with your regular shampoo + conditioner routine. I used Native for a bit, and before that I think it was Cremo. If you’re a man who is at risk for thinning hair or balding, I now use Soulspa Pure Biotin Shampoo and conditioner which is filled with keratin, DHT blockers, and like 14 other vitamins and other ingredients good for the hair. It’s helped my hair a lot as I haven’t been using HIMS long enough to see any crazy benefit. I’ve been using the Soulspa for like 2 months and my hair is already thicker and growing more. For the chlorine remover, Paul Mitchell fortifying shampoo is all I’ve used since I was like 14 as it says explicitly that it removes chlorine. It’s also been recommended by every hairstylist I’ve been to.
Do you rinse off after getting out of the pool but before your sauna etc? Cause if not, that’s likely accelerating the damage to your hair from the chlorine. You need to rinse off properly and saturate your hair with fresh water before going into anywhere that’s going to heat it up even further.
As for the damage already done, if you want black hair again you’ll probably need to dye it or cut it - you can’t reverse the damage you’ve done to that hair now.
@Darian
Yes, I rinse it off with water before getting into the sauna, steam, and jacuzzi. Do you recommend warm water or cold water? Ok that’s fine, it’s mainly the ends of my hair that are brown so I think I’ll be able to cut that off
Search this sub for ‘hair’ and you’ll get a lot of advice about how to prevent damage (get it wet with fresh water, maybe use something like aqua guard, and afterwards wash your hair with chlorine removal shampoo like ultraswim. Condition.
For NOW, no, you can’t fix the hair other than by dying it.
Xavi said:
Biggest difference is wearing a cap over your hair after wetting your head with fresh water. My hair felt like straw and turning brown before that.
Wearing a cap after wetting my head and before swimming right? I will try that.
Ripley said:
Try oiling your hair before it goes in the cap. It’ll absorb a lot less water that way.
Will do. To be honest, I wasn’t wearing a cap at all this whole time but I have been oiling it before swimming. I will start wearing a hat. Is it ok to remove the hat in the jacuzzi or is it better to keep it on?
might have to wear a cap I guess. I’ll defo use the shampoo + conditioner though, which ones do you recommend?