Swimming is the perfect workout with one tax: chlorine, which treats hair like an experiment. The straw texture, the mysterious green tint on blondes — all preventable with a four-step ritual that takes three minutes and outperforms every repair product afterward.

The Pre-Wet Principle

Hair is a sponge — pre-soaked in clean shower water, it has no capacity left to drink pool water. The 30-second pre-swim rinse is the single highest-value step in swim hair care: physics doing the protecting.

The Conditioner Seal

A palmful of cheap conditioner through wet hair before the cap creates a sacrificial barrier — chlorine spends itself on the layer, not your strands. Leave-in or regular conditioner both serve; this is the step lap swimmers swear by.

The Cap Honesty

Caps keep hair contained and mostly-dry, not hermetically sealed — silicone beats latex for comfort and coverage, and the pre-wet-plus-conditioner combo underneath handles what seeps. Long hair: braid first, cap second, dignity throughout.

The After-Ritual

Rinse immediately post-swim (chlorine keeps working while it sits), clarifying shampoo weekly for regulars (removes buildup and the blonde-green mineral tint — which is copper, not chlorine, for the record), and a weekly mask for the moisture ledger. Repair is real, but prevention is cheaper.

Pre-wet, condition under the cap, rinse fast, clarify weekly. Chlorine was never negotiable — but its access to your hair always was. Three minutes of ritual and the laps stop invoicing your strands.