By Akane Fujimura
Why does the pool damage students’ hair when swim every day? This question arose among swimmers on the HHS swim team. Some of them thought that the chemicals in the pool, chlorine, affected their hair after spending hours in the pool every day, while others felt they could prevent the negative effects.
“Definitely my hair got damaged when I started to swim,” Tian-Eu-Liu, sophomore swimmer team, said. “Before I joined the swim team, there were no problems with my hair, but when I started to swim every day my hair started to fall out, it comes out by the handful when I wash it. It freaks me out.”
Anna Borland-Ivy and Rebecca Hardy, coaches of the swim team, think wearing caps are important for swimmers to avoid hair damage. “Caps help prevent damage. Not wearing a cap makes dry, bushy hair. Blond hair can turn green and dark hair gets reddish, like rust.”
Many of the swimmers wear caps while they're swimming.
There are other strategies people can use to protect against hair damage. “It is important to wash hair right after swimming. There are also special shampoos and conditioners that take chlorine out of hair,” said Coach Rebecca.
Regardless of how swimmers approach the pool, their chlorine nemesis persists.