I Love Swimming. I Don’t Love Chlorine.
Unfortunately, spending time in the pool means saturating our body temples in chlorine. Chlorine can dry out our hair, skin, and nails, plus affect our health and vitality, if left unchecked. It’s also just gross and smelling it on your body for hours afterwards (when trying to work or chill at home) is not good times. So, I’m going to teach you a trick using vitamin c that works, is completely natural, and is way cheaper than buying expensive chlorine removal shampoos.
As a heavy person with injuries (back, hip, knee, ankle, etc.) who needs to lose a significant amount of weight, swimming is one of the best exercises that I can do, especially since I have really good form (was on a swim team in my youth) and I love doing it. Swimming has been recommended to me by my physical therapist for multiple reasons, I have lost weight doing it, and I always feel stronger, afterwards. I even walk better and move more easily.
Fried Hair, Skin, Nails & Bathing Suits
But, chlorine…blech. Despite my efforts to protect my hair, skin and nails from chlorine, things would always get super fried.
My bathing suits lost their elasticity and got stretched out, super fast, as well.
I even shaved my head, once, because I got fed up with my super fried chlorine hair. I mean, I think I rocked that look, but still…I missed having hair and it took years to grow it back out, again.
Seeking Natural Solutions
A few years ago, I started looking to see if I could find some natural chlorine removal tricks. I was pleased to find one, from a naturopathic doctor in Oregon, called Dr. McKay, who suggested using Vitamin C to neutralize and remove chlorine. I’ve been using it, ever since, and am happy to report that it works.
How to Use the Vitamin C?
It’s best to use Vitamin C powder, without any additives, if you can. Otherwise, you can get vitamin c tablets and crush them into powder with a coffee grinder. You’ll probably need more powder in your solution, if you’re using crushed tablets, to account for the fillers and binders.
Add some powder to your shampoo (1/4 teaspoon per travel size bottle?), along with a bit of water (leaving some room at the top), and shake that really well.
After swimming, I remove my bathing suit in the shower, drizzle some of the vitamin c shampoo onto it, work it in, and then let it sit. I lather it into my hair and let that soak. Then, I slather it on my skin. And then I rinse everything, in the same order.
It’s a bit of a chore, but it’s worth it, in my opinion, to not reek of chlorine, afterwards, and to prevent it from building up and drying everything out. Note: you might smell a bit like vitamin c powder, until your next shower…
There are a couple other things that I do to protect myself from the chlorine. I slather coconut oil on my skin, to create a protective barrier. I also wet my hair, comb conditioner into it, and tie it back. I don’t know if that’s great for the pool water, but if I don’t take these measures, swimming becomes unbearable and I want to be able to do it. So, protecting myself is my main priority.
Unfortunately, you can’t totally protect yourself from the chlorine, because you’re going to be swimming in the stuff, but to at least be able to protect yourself and remove what you can, afterwards, is really helpful. I hope this vitamin c trick works for you, as well as it has for me.
Love and Blessings!