With natural hair, you can embrace the waters without having to cover your hair as you would if it was relaxed. We’re all grateful for the natural hair movement for opening up our eyes to improve the health of our hair. So you’re able to wear your hair out in the pool, river or beach without having to cover it up or prevent it from getting wet as you would if it was relaxed. While we’re out there having fun without kinks/coils/curls getting wet, we should ensure that it is protected. protected from what you may be thinking .. the sun, chlorine, sediments in the river, and so much more.
To prevent damage to your hair, here are 5 tips to protect your natural hair while swimming:
1. APPLY DEEP CONDITIONER BEFORE ENTERING THE WATER
if you submerge your hair in the water for a prolonged period, your hair begins to swell. This is why our hair usually gets longer or shows its true length whenever we get it. The water is being infiltrated into our hair shaft. Why would we want chlorine water in our hair? We don’t. so we have to create a barrier to prevent it from getting in. The best barrier is a conditioner or a deep conditioner. Drench your hair in either product so that your hair will absorb as much of it as possible. This will make it difficult for the chlorine to penetrate the hair strand as it is already filled with product.
2. KEEP YOUR HAIR IN AN UP TOP/PULLED BACK STYLE
Keep your hair in a pulled back or up top style. This will keep your coils clustered together at all times. Therefore, if the water wants to penetrate it, it will only get access to a portion of the hair. The portion is the perimeter such as our edges and nape. Therefore, the middle part will be the least likely to get damaged. In addition, keeping your coils together reduces the likelihood of knotting and tangling. Your strands aren’t moving around in the water and getting caught in various elements such as seaweed, stones, or other water particles.
3. KEEP A SPRAY BOTTLE ON HAND
Similar to going to the pool with our drink in one hand, we should have our spray bottle in the other hand. if it’s not in our hand, then in our bag. The scorching sun rays will be penetrating our hair shaft for a prolonged period. So it will get dry, hot, matted and so much more. Spritzing your hair ever so often will keep it in a hydrated state. Although the deep/rinse-out conditioner is already on our hair, the sun will cause it to get dry. So just spritzing it now and again will keep your hair happy
4. WEAR A SWIM CAP (IF YOU WANT)
This isn’t a must, but it can be done. If you don’t want to get your hair messy then wear a swim cap. In addition, there are a couple of swim caps on the market that are made for natural hair. After swimming your hair will not be wet from the chlorine water and it will remain in its healthy state.
5. CLEANSE YOUR SCALP AND HAIR AFTER SWIMMING
After having a fun-filled swim day, it is time to rinse. You don’t want to rinse with any shampoo, but a clarifying one. this should be tailored to remove layers of build-up sitting on the scalp and the hair shaft. They will remove any chlorine, salt or sedimentary buildup that the regular shampoo may have missed.
