Chlorine removal from Black Hair, in particular

Hello All,

I'm trying to get to the root, yes, pun intended :), of many people's reluctance to get in the water and go for floatation and swimming, and I had read somewhere that the problem of hair care and chlorine (and sun) damage may be significant components.

As a white aquatic director with straw for hair (but who cares, I love to swim) I need other perspectives here!

I just looked it up at dogpile.com and the best was a discussion at citydata.com as I attach below.

Is there something about distilled or deionized (what is that, anyway?) water that can help, too? I believe I read about that previously someplace.

Our Greater Lynn Y has a 1971 vintage 6-lane SCY pool with a fabulous women's only studio outside the locker room and a whirlpool and sauna and steam so I was thinking of having a beauty night in there with samples and so forth, so I would love any expertise!

So often the Chlorine Removal shampoos are a) expensive and b) very drying, to say nothing of hard to find. I want inexpensive remedies that parents would be comfortable acquiring and using on their kids as part of the lifestyle change we all need for more fitness and water safety!

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Chlorine Removal from City Data.doc, 187 KB

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Permalink Reply by Angela Gray on March 22, 2011 at 10:24pm

The problem with chlorine and black hair is when someone has a chemical relaxer. The chemicals in the relaxer and chlorine clash, and could cause breakage if the chlorine is not removed.

Unrelaxed hair also needs the chlorine removed, but it is not as urgent, as far as I know. The chlorine will build up in the natural hair and be gunky, etc., so you must rinse your hair thoroughly when you swim.

I have tried chlorine remover shampoo, and I think it stripped my hair and made it more vulnerable to breakage when I had a relaxer. The best thing for me was to wash with my regular shampoo and then condition it.

One way to protect black hair from chlorine etc is to wear braid extensions. That's a short-term solution, at least.