How to Care for Your Skin Before and After a Swim

The best way to enjoy the summer is to spend a lazy day at a lovely pool. With summer quickly approaching, you’ve undoubtedly packed your beach bag with new swimwear, a towel, and clarifying shampoo. However, before you go in, you should spend some time preparing your skin.

While chlorine’s severe effects on the hair (and its terrible habit of turning your hair green) receive all the press, pool chemicals can be just as harsh on your skin if you’re not careful.

Here’s how you need to take care of your skin before and after a swim.

  1. Prep Your Skin With A Barrier

I’m sure you didn’t realize swimmers are at a higher risk because of the dryness and protein degradation we experience. Every morning or before swimming, a little SPF or pre-swimming lotion will go a long way. It forms a protective layer on your skin that blocks chlorine while also allowing your skin to retain a reasonable quantity of moisture.

This is more significant than you might think because chlorine can settle into your skin if you don’t have a consistent skincare routine. This can also lead to rashes, acne, and premature ageing in swimmers.

  1. Take A Shower

There is no time to waste in this situation. When it comes to your skin’s health, it’s crucial to shower or rinse off as quickly as possible after swimming.

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Also, if you’re thinking about taking a hot, steamy shower, reconsider. Warm water will open your pores just fine without hurting your skin, as enticing as a hot shower seems (who doesn’t love a hot shower?). If you change the water to a cooler temperature when you’re done, your pores will tighten up again, letting the moisture stay in.

  1. Go an Extra Mile With Your Swimwear

Chlorine damages swimsuit fabrics more than both fresh and saltwater. It is obvious that wearing the same, chlorine-filled suit every day without washing can cause vivid colours to fade over time, but it is also unhealthy for your skin.

If you really want to go the extra mile and take good care of your suits and skin, adding a couple of tablespoons of vinegar to your wash will assist to neutralize chlorine and avoid discolouration. Also, the scent of chlorine that individuals emit when you walk past them may be less noticeable as a result of this, which is always a plus.

  1. Wear A Cap

Not only will wearing a cap make the pool cleaner and more enjoyable to swim in, but it will also help keep the fresh water in your hair and the chlorinated or saltwater out!

  1. Clean Some More

After you’ve finished swimming, give your hair and body a good rinse with fresh water. If you wait too long to rinse the pool water out of your hair and skin, the chlorine or salt will evaporate, leaving you with a dry and irritated feeling.

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There are special shampoos and body washes, such as Triswim, that can assist remove the chlorine and salt from your skin and hair after you’ve rinsed. Applying a thick leave-in conditioner or oil, such as coconut oil, to your hair and lotion to your skin after showering will help keep your natural oils in check.

  1. Use A Towel

You might be tempted to just lie on your blanket and let the sun dry you off after a refreshing swim. Experts warn that this isn’t the best idea.

The popular belief is that air-drying is excellent for your skin, however, this is just not true. Air-drying causes the skin to become drier. They suggest cleaning with clean water (as described above) and then drying with a cotton towel. After that, it’s time to resume your sunbathing—after, of course, applying extra SPF.

  1. Hydrate

You can apply all the lotion you want, but it won’t make your skin hydrated from the inside out. If we don’t hydrate enough as swimmers, our skin will absorb the pool water every day due to a lack of moisture in our skin.

Aside from regulating body temperature, keeping joints lubricated, preventing infections, and improving sleep quality, cognition, and mood, being hydrated is the best thing you can do for your skin and overall health.

  1. Extra Care

Conditioner and lotion should not be reserved on days when you go swimming. It will go a long way toward preventing straw-like hair and dry, cracked, and itchy skin from the pool if you use them on a weekly basis to preserve healthy skin and hair.

  1. Take Care of Your Nails

Constant exposure to chlorine affects the healthy top layer of your natural nails, making them brittle. Resist using acetone nail enamel removers too frequently if you want to pay special attention to your nails. Massage your cuticles with ordinary olive oil or cuticle oil every night, and protect them with a hydrating base coat before a manicure.

  1. Take Herbal Tea

You might be hesitant, yet it has been demonstrated to work and makes perfect sense. Any herbal tea with a high level of antioxidants will be beneficial to you and your skin. It helps to relieve the stress of oxidative damage to your skin while also providing antioxidants.

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Free radicals injure your skin, whereas antioxidants counteract them. Green tea, in case you were waiting for my view, never disappoints. Red fruit herbal tea and matcha tea, on the other hand, are also excellent choices for antioxidants and other health advantages.

Conclusion

Summers are made for lounging by the pool, whether it’s to get a tan or to stay cool and swim. Swimming is also a great summer sport and a great way to get some fitness.

So we won’t stop you from stepping out and making the most of the season by doing what you enjoy. We’re sure these tips will help you keep your skin and hair safe from the harmful effects of chlorine.

You can keep coming back to this guide for more help in the future.

Filed under: Beauty, Skin Care, Tips and Myths


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