It’s that time again.

Of all the exercises in the world, I prefer to swim. When I was younger, I thought this was God's idea of a joke. Black girl, relaxed hair, unable to care for it, and her favorite thing in the world to do is swim. As a family, we were not at the pool often. In all honesty, I can't swim well at all. I am not 100% sure my mother knows how to swim, and my brother is terrified of the swimming pool.

However in high school you have to take two semesters of swimming. So I looked quite crazy for two semesters. With not knowing how to care for my hair anyway and adding swimming on top of all of that, I already knew it was going to be a disaster. My hair broke off and just looked awful.

After I went natural, I got a membership to the YMCA here in Indianapolis and started swimming. It was a whole different experience for me hair wise, because I actually knew how to take care of my hair. Here is what I do, to prevent a whole lot of chlorine damage from the pool:

  1. I ALWAYS rinse myself before going in the pool. I thoroughly soak my hair. I make sure my hair is completely saturated so that it can't really absorb any of the chlorinated water. 
  2. When I am done swimming, I rinse really well again. 
  3. I usually go home immediately after I am done. When I get there, I wash my hair. Not Co-wash, I actually use shampoo. 
  4. I condition and detangle as normal
  5. I protective style. 
5 simple steps, two of which are in my normal routine.
So my question to you is this: 
 What do you do to minimize damage when you go swimming?

Do you avoid the pool altogether? Do you have a routine set in stone? Let me know!!