Earlier this week, we announced a contest to add another blogger to the Swim Brief. Applications have been pouring in. If you want to submit, write to us at SwimBrief@gmail.com. We've decided to give some of these bloggers a "tryout" by writing a guest blog. Here is a blog we received from Rebecca Boston. Click the following for the first two guest blogs from Lisa Stephens and Reed Shimberg
The Martini Treatment for Swimmer’s Hair
After more than two decades of swimming, you’d think I would have learned to embrace swimmer’s hair. That I’d love the dryness of my hair, because at least I don’t have to deal with greasy hair as do the runners. That I would “own” the green tint as a feature that made me look edgy – hey, it works for the teenagers!
But I don’t. I obsessively rinse my hair within minutes of every swim, pat it dry instead of rub, and have tried about every product on the market – from ultra swim to hot oil treatments – to combat my swimmer’s hair.
I’m since moved on to DIY tricks, and recently read in Marie Claire magazine that the best solution for removing chlorine deposits is to mix half a cup of vodka with four cups of hot water and pour it over your hair after shampooing. The magazine had a number of other remedies that included apple cider vinegar, eggs, honey…but the truth is, the only ingredient I had in my house was vodka. I’m in my late 20’s and unmarried – what else would you expect?
But, I had some reservations about giving my hair the martini treatment. What if it made me smell like a mini bar? I could just picture myself in a meeting with my boss: he’d make a sniffing noise, wrinkle his nose and accusingly say, “Heavy partying last night?” and I’d respond, “No, of course not! I went swimming!” Right…
In the end, the martini treatment may have removed the chlorine, but I think it dehydrated my hair at the same time, so I would not recommend it.
What works best for you in the endless battle against swimmer’s hair?
While it is hilarious to picture you going through this process to ward off swimmer hair, I curse Marie Claire and shed a tear for all of the vodka wasted by their loyal readers who are doing this regularly. Of course I have to wonder though, if you us Popov Vodka, would it make you faster?
ReplyDeleteI drink the vodka. Seems to work well for my hair!
ReplyDelete@The Screaming Viking - I think there is something to your point about Popov Vodka - all my greatest swim coaches and biggest competitions growing up were Russian swimmers - was it the vodka? Is that the secret they've been keeping from all the rest of us?
ReplyDeleteThis is quite the conundrum. Not even UltraSwim works? Three suggestions:
ReplyDelete1. For your martini treatment, I suggest that you condition after the alcohol treatment to prevent dryness.
2. Connect with some of the physicists at one of the fine institutions near you (with access to a nuclear reactor) and ask them to do a neutron activation / gamma ray spectrographic analysis of your hair to find out if there's something particular in it that be bonding to the chlorine so strongly or in larger amounts than average. Once you know that, they might be able to suggest an effective way to counteract the problem. Elaborate, I know, but likely effective: It's science!
3. Instead of trying to remedy the effect after swimming, perhaps there's something you can do or some way to treat your hair before you swim that will help to mitigate or block the effect of the chlorine while you're in the pool.
In college, I just shaved my head. Could be your next blog post, Rebecca. Try it out and report back.
ReplyDeleteAlso, can we discuss how crazy unhealthy it must be to swim 4+ hours a day for 10 years of your life in chorinated waters? My college roommate at Northwestern had hair that was 5-6 inches long in the beginning of the swimming season. At the end of the swimming season, it was maybe an inch long. He did not get a haircut. You could tear his hair like tissue paper. I imagine the same sort of thing is happened inside my lungs.
@Saleem Khan: It's too bad that Marie Claire doesn't have any physicists on their staff
ReplyDeleteEasy. I just shave my head. No more swimmers hair. And does wonders for my shampoo budget!
ReplyDeleteHmm since this dried out your hair, I wonder if the greasy haired peeps should give it a try and see if it works?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up my hair was black. Not dark brown, black. When I starting swimming full time at 17, it started going translucent, until it was a colour off the hair colour spectrum. It wasn't grey, it wasn't white, it wasn't blond, it was just clear. It looked different colours depending on the angle you looked at it.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I'm all for dousing oneself in alcohol for the purpose of sport (ahem) but what about my 8 year olds? Any suggestions for me? One that will not bring DFS to my door?
ReplyDeleteLisa, shirley temples or virgin pina coladas?
ReplyDelete