3 Tips for How to Prepare Your Natural Hair for Swimming

As we head into warmer months, swimming becomes a popular activity for many naturals. There’s a lot of misconceptions centered around swimming and how you should generally prepare your hair before jumping into the pool.

Aeleise, co-founder of Black Girl Curls, is a former competitive swimmer and is well versed on swimming with natural hair. We’re here to offer you 3 professional tips for how to prepare your natural hair before diving into the water.

Tip #1: Put your hair in a way that it cannot get tangled

We recommend securing your hair in a way that it cannot come loose in the pool. The way you decide to secure your hair is up to you whether that is a ponytail, braids, twists or even a swim cap if you desire.

Tip #2: Wet your hair with tap water first, then get in the pool

Please do not slather your hair in all the oils, butters and leave-in conditioners because what happens is you get into that chlorinated water and all those oil based products are going to leech into the pool.

That makes the pool filter work a lot harder because now it has to try to filter out those oil based products, then you’re just swimming through an oil slick and you’re not necessarily protecting your hair from chlorinated water. If your hair is full of tap water that doesn’t have nearly as much chlorine in it, it’s a bit harder for your hair to absorb into all the chlorinated water.

Tip #3: When styling your hair to swim, pull it back

We recommend pulling your natural hair back before getting into the pool, not up. When you pull your hair up, it allows for the water to drip down your forehead and falling into your eyes. You want the water to drip down your neck as opposed to down your face.

Want more natural hair swim tips like these? Aeleise and Aishia sat down to answer 10 frequently asked questions in regards to swimming. Check it out here.