Effects of Chlorine on Your Skin and Hair

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact is, summer is slowly but surely coming to a close. Depending on where you live and the weather, you may still have some warm months ahead of you, but it’s never too early to take inventory of your skin and hair after the major summer months and do some recon work.

Odds are, you’ve spent at least a little bit of time in pools and in chlorine this summer, and odds are, you can probably tell. While chlorine is basically a must for swimming in pools to help keep bacteria at bay, it can do some major damage to your hair and skin, particularly stripping away massive amounts of essential moisture. That’s not such a big deal – as long as you’re proactive about keeping your skin and hair moisturized and hydrated to combat the dryness created by chlorine.

Your best rule for dealing with the havoc chlorine can wreak on your hair is to get in the pool with your hair already wet or with a protectant like a leave-in conditioner already coated on your locks. If your hair isn’t able to absorb all the chlorine (like it would if your hair was completely dry), you are already helping yourself out. If summer is over and you’re just learning this trick, don’t worry.

The same thing goes for your skin on your body and your face as it does with your hair. If you’re wearing your SPF, then the skin isn’t able to absorb as much chlorine and it acts as a friendly little defense for your skin, helping to lock some of that essential moisture in your skin, rather than depleting it completely.

But again, if you’re just learning this trick, don’t fret, because we’ve got the ultimate hydrating mask that will help restore your skin back to its younger and more radiant days, before you overindulged in the sunshine.

Good practice after getting out of a pool or even the ocean is to rinse off as soon as you can. Get rid of the salt water and chlorine so it doesn’t continue to damage or allow the sun to bake in those chemicals. If you aren’t near a shower, you can use a bottle of water, but make sure you reapply your sunscreen after rinsing off!

You can also check out our beauty wish list for August for some new anti-aging products that will help you bounce back to that beautiful and youthful glow.