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:
- 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.
- When I am done swimming, I rinse really well again.
- I usually go home immediately after I am done. When I get there, I wash my hair. Not Co-wash, I actually use shampoo.
- I condition and detangle as normal
- 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!!
Winterizing your Routine
So, how about the weather eh? I. Hate. Snow. Being from Indiana, this is a slight problem, as it snows quite a bit. For example, this was the view outside our garage Sunday afternoon:
This is my reaction to the view outside my garage:
Not happy to say the very least.
In the winter you winterize your house and you winterize your car. You also need to make sure you winterize your hair routine.
When I say winterize, i mean take a few minutes and a few extra steps to avoid unnecessary damage to your hair.
- Wear a satin or silk scarf under your winter hat.
Acrylic and wool are two fabrics that can pull and break off hair. By putting a satin scarf on your head mitigates or entirely gets rid of that risk.
2. Moisturize Moisturize Moisturize!
Basically put, winter suck the life and moisture out of your hair. If you are used to wearing lighter leave-in conditioners and thin oils, you may want to bust out the big guns and invest in some shea butter. I personally like Belle Butters, as she has nifty smelling scents (like pumpkin pie! mmm) and the shea butter is whipped and easily spread on the hair. I also like Pooka Pure and Simple. I did a review on them this week and you can read that here.
3. Protective Styles
In this climate, wash-n-gos are not the best option for me. My hair takes forever to dry and going out with it wet just isn't smart. Wet hair can freeze, and it can break off. Protective styles to the rescue! I co-wash my hair at night and twist it. I then proceed to wear the twists. I have a few things to say about this though. I am unemployed *sigh*. So when I go out, I go out to run errands and do things like that. This means my winter hat can stay on my head the entire time I am out. My twists are haphazard and unattractive. Don't believe me?
I would like to reiterate that I do not have a bald spot at all. I have lots of hair. It is just the way the twists ended up that make me look like that
gangstas paradise bitches!
Yeah, so no, I don't wear these where anyone can see them. But they protect my hair so I wear them. One day I will have the patience to sit there, and carefully part my hair and lovingly place twist in. Today ain't that day. But I know under my satin scarf and my hat, my hair is well protected.
That is all the tips I have for right now. What do you do to protect your hair?
Espionage Cosmetics
