what's actually happening
Chlorine is doing a job, and the job is killing things. It isn't selective — it takes the oil off your skin and hair along with everything else. Salt does a gentler version of the same.
The instinct afterward is to wash hard, and that's wrong twice over. Once because the tight feeling isn't clean, it's stripped. And again because most swim shampoos are built on the same harsh surfactants as everything else, just more of them, sold back to you as the fix for the problem they're part of.
Then sun off the surface, which is why you reapply more here than almost anywhere. Same thing worth knowing as on the hill: only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide have been proposed as generally safe and effective among US filters. The others are still waiting on data.
Rinse early. Wash gently. Put the oil back before your hair dries.
the routine
Rinse. Moisturize. Repeat.
Smooth Sali
salicylic acid and green tea cleansing g
The only exfoliant you need. Once, in the evening.
Routine Skincare Set
all three, together
$117.00 bought separately. Add the kit below and it comes down again.
things worth doing
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Rinse before you get in. Hair that's already wet takes on less chlorine.
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Rinse again the second you're out, even if it's freezing.
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Moisturize before your hair dries, not after you've changed.
things you can stop
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Waiting until you get home to rinse.
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Cleansing hard after a swim. The chlorine already did that.
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Trusting one application of SPF to last a whole session.
