5 Ways to Protect Kids Hair from Chlorine – Summer will be here before we know it and that means lots of time spent at the pool! My kids love to swim A LOT and we’ve dealt with our fair share of crunchy, damaged, sometimes even green, pool hair! Chlorine can cause all kinds of hair damage, especially with kids, who are in the pool so much during the Summer months. Today I’m sharing a few tried and true ways to help protect kids hair from chlorine damage while swimming.
I have three girls and two of them have light colored hair that is easily damaged when swimming. We live in Arizona and my kids all love to swim – so it’s safe to say we spend a lot of time at the pool in our free time. You gotta love Spring in Arizona – we’ve already been to the pool a few times this year! We’ve tried a few ways to prevent and deal with chlorine damaged to the kids hair and below you’ll find some things you can try yourself this Summer! This post contains affiliate links.
1. Soak your hair. Number one thing to try when it comes to preventing chlorine damage is soaking your hair before you enter the pool. If you’re hair is already wet from a quick shower, it won’t be able to absorb as much chlorine in the pool. Always have children rinse hair after exiting the pool as well to rinse off any lingering pool chemicals.
2| Pretreat with Conditioner. I recently started doing this with my girls hair and it has worked wonders! Pretreat the hair with conditioner BEFORE getting in the pool. The conditioner acts as a barrier to the pool water to protect the hair. I usually slather a small amount of conditioner on the girls hair at home before we leave to the pool and when they get out I’ve been noticing their hair doesn’t have that crunchy, post-swim feel. It washes out easily and has made such a difference in preventing my little blondies hair from going green!
3| Coconut Oil. Along the same lines as pretreating with conditioner, you can apply a small amount of coconut oil to the hair to protect it while swimming. We haven’t tried this ourselves but many people I’ve talked to swear by this method.
4| Chlorine Removal Products. Always wash hair after swimming. There are specialty products available that strip hair of chlorine and other pool chemicals. I took a poll on the Simple as That Facebook page and these were some of the products people have used and loved:
Ultra Swim Shampoo and Conditioner
Arbonne Fortifying Hair Mask – I use this religiously on my own hair and get amazing results. Aside from the damage caused from swimming, this deep conditioning mask is something I use weekly to combat the effects of hair coloring, blow drying and product use. It leaves my hair feeling softer, fuller and healthy!
5| In the Kitchen. A few at home remedies that have been said to correct chlorine damage including dawn dish soap, vinegar, tomato paste or baking soda.
- Blue Dawn Dish Soap is said to strip hair of chlorine. Wash hair with it then condition as normal.
- Use apple cider vinegar as a natural way to remove pool chemicals from hair. Use one part apple cider vinegar and four parts water and apply to hair.
- Try tomato paste. Apply to the hair, using as much as needed depending on the length and thickness of your hair. Comb through hair, let sit for 30 minutes. Rinse out then wash with shampoo and condition as normal.
- Make a baking soda solution with one tablespoon baking soda to one cup water and lather through hair. Follow up with shampoo and conditioner.
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I would add that braiding long hair goes a long way in keeping it tame!
Also, If you don’t want to invest in a chlorine removal product or mix anything special up, just try some vinegar in water as a rinse, just a few tablespoons in a big plastic cup (about 2cups) will do a pretty good job in a pinch.
As a frequent swimmer I have also previously used Ultraswim, and Triswim, with excellent results, using it on my body as well. My family is now using Malibu , but for my youngest I frequently forget to grab the “good stuff” and just use the California Baby gentle shampoo and body wash, then follow with Infusium leave in conditioner and it seems ok for her long blonde hair that turns to straw from chlorine!
Have a fun summer everyone!
Great tips! Definitely needed for the summer weather we have in California!
Thanks for the tips. Need to try them. My daughter is in summer camp and they go swimming everyday and it messing up her hair. Does then work after she been out of the pool for hours.