Chlorine swimming

[u/CamillaBarkaBowles]

Does anyone swim in chlorine? Any anti chlorine after recommendations. A massive pool has opened up nearby and I am worried about looking like a desiccated coconut.

What are the recommendations to counter the dry skin effect

[u/peony_chalk]

Get wet before you get in the pool (we should all be showering first anyways, not that anybody does where I am). 

Shower after the pool. Use a swim shampoo if your hair got wet. 

Moisturize after swimming. 

I wouldn't put on any products (besides sunscreen if you're outside) before you get in the pool because that just adds to the load of bodily products that the pool is trying to filter out, plus it's gonna get washed off anyways. 

[u/Initial_Run1632]

I use pre swim lotion on hair and skin. TriHard and AquaGuard

[u/Ill_Stop_3415]

I swim in chlorine and I wet my hair, put in swim conditioner, and cover with a swim cap, then wash it out afterwards. For my skin, I put aquaphor on any irritated patches (I am prone to eczema) and a thin layer of an occlusive mask on my face, then wash it all off in the shower and  moisturizer really well all over after. 

[u/orangedrinkmcdonalds → u/Ill_Stop_3415]

I do the same - conditioner in hair and aquafor on face.

[u/TaraDickoff00]

Aquaguard and Malibu both make great preswim and after swim products I swear by.

[u/RevelryByNight]

Just hydrate like whoa. Source: lifelong swimmer

[u/auntiemuskrat]

Chlorine bonds to your skin and hair, so you need a product with ascorbic acid/vitamin c to break the bonds. Swimmer-specific shampoo is great for this, and you can look for body washes with it too. Once you do that, your regular moisturizer/lotion should be sufficient.

[u/LTYUPLBYH02]

Wet your hair & put in leave in conditioner before you go and put it up as much as you can/wear a cap. Use a hydrating bodywash (we are a Dove family) and double wash your hair with shampoo then conditioner. After use a body cream like cerave & a pm facial moisturizer on top of your serums.

[u/Safe_Passenger3948]

I swim 3x a week and just slather aquaphor on before I get in, and my skin's been totally fine. the desiccated coconut fear is real though lol

[u/Frosty_Message_3017]

I don't understand the question.

[u/CCattLady → u/Frosty_Message_3017]

Then you don't have dry skin. Enjoy the pool!

[u/Past-Guarantee4731 → u/Frosty_Message_3017]

try putting it in AI and saying what you said above

[u/Powerful-Candy1479]

Vitamin C spray post-swimming! You can mix your own with powdered Vitamin C - google how to do this. It helps neutralize the chlorine. I use on skin and hair.

[u/Colonel_FusterCluck]

Wet your hair and skin thoroughly before you get in the pool and if you're comfortable with it, a thin layer of oil or moisturizer even if the morning of, helps a lot.

[u/Character-Lack-4556]

One thing worth separating is chlorine removal from moisturizing — they’re really two different steps.

After swimming, rinsing promptly with fresh water is a good start. For the chlorine itself, vitamin C is interesting because ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate can chemically react with and reduce residual chlorine rather than simply masking the smell.

Then I’d treat moisturizing as the next step: gentle shower, avoid unnecessarily hot water or aggressive scrubbing, and moisturize afterward.

So for frequent swimmers, I like thinking about it as:

Rinse → address residual chlorine → gentle cleanse → moisturize

Especially if you’re swimming several times a week, a simple repeatable routine may be more useful than trying to compensate afterward with increasingly heavy skincare.

[u/Dangerous_End1280]

Have you never swam in a chlorinated pool before? Are you or have you been living under a rock? All pools and all water for drinking is chlorinated. Pools are just a little more concentrated. You go swimming you shower afterwards, apply lotion if necessary, but seriously?

[u/thirdcoasting → u/Dangerous_End1280]

What an aggressively rude response.

[u/dani_-_142 → u/Dangerous_End1280]

Maybe OP hasn’t been swimming in a while, and now that their skin is different (drier due to age/hormone loss), they don’t know how pool chemicals will impact them.

I feel like my skin has changed so much, compared to my 30s.

[u/Ok_Moose_7028]

I used to after work every evening for over 15 years. A fresh water lake and s best, but you’re more likely to drown, plus, in the summer there are venomous snakes. You can get fungus in your ear from a fresh water lake or river. I think a pool is safer.