Inside: Understand the steps and products needed to protect biracial hair while swimming
Since the weather is getting nicer and summer will be here shortly, let’s talk about how to protect biracial hair while swimming.
As you may know, biracial hair is already prone to being dry and fragile. When your kids are going swimming in pools with chlorine or swimming at the beach, the exposure to chemicals and the sun can cause even more dryness and breakage.
You want to keep your kids curls healthy, but it’s not exactly realistic to keep them out of pools and beaches!
When I first started taking my daughter to the beach I was not in the know about how to keep her hair protected while swimming.
This led to lots of unhappy bath times after swimming because her hair would be so dry and tangled.
Thankfully I’ve learned a lot more since then and now I know what it takes to keep biracial hair protected before, during, and after swimming!
How to protect biracial hair while swimming
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
1) You want to make sure you thoroughly rinse their hair with warm water right before they go swimming.
The warm water will absorb into the hair shaft so it soaks up the clean water instead of the pool or lake water.
2) A popular tip I’ve come across is to put coconut oil in their hair to seal the shaft and keep moisture in.
I haven’t personally tried this, but if you are finding your child’s hair is still dry after swimming, you may want to give this a try.
3) Whether or not you put coconut oil in, you then want to put lots of moisturizing conditioner in their hair and DON’T rinse it out!
You’ve primed their hair with the warm water to absorb the conditioner to keep it moisturized when they go swimming.
4) Then you’ll put their hair in a protective hairstyle. These hairstyles will keep their hair out of their face, and help keep it tangle free.
5) You can also use a swim cap to cover their hair, which prevents the chemicals from the pool from soaking into their hair, and protects it from the weather and elements at the beach.
6) My recommendation is to have a beach bag or a swim bag that has extra supplies in it. That way if you’re going to a pool or beach, you can soak and saturate their hair right before they go in the water, (versus driving them with soaking wet hair).
Related: Why Sunscreen Is Important To Use On Your Biracial Children
After swimming, I know the instinct can be to wash your child’s hair with shampoo to get all the chemicals or lake grime out, but sometimes you should resist that urge! Shampooing too often will lead to dry hair, which is prone to breakage.
So if your child is only swimming every once in a while, you don’t need to shampoo every time. You can continue with #7.
However, if your child is on a swim team, or they have swim lessons several times a week, you’ll want to use a clarifying shampoo for mixed hair.
7) If you don’t need to shampoo, rinse their hair out for several minutes with water, and wash their hair with co-wash or conditioner. The scrubbing action will work to clean their scalps and hair of the chemicals and grime.
Related: 16 Mixed Curly Hair Hacks To Make Your Life Easier
8) If you’re going to shampoo your child’s hair, make sure you’re following up with some serious hydration. The combination of chlorine and shampoo, (or the weather/sun and shampoo) is going to dry out their hair.
You can add moisture by doing a deep conditioning treatment, or let their regular conditioner sit in their hair for a longer amount of time before washing it out.
9) Once you’ve washed their hair, then you’ll proceed with your regular mixed hair care routine.
10) Once you’ve detangled, you can use the products you normally use after a bath, (these are the hair products I use on my kids).
11) Try to let their hair air dry as much as possible. You want to avoid drying with heat because again, dryness and breakage! (I feel like I’m a broken record at this point, but moisture is key to keeping their hair healthy).
Final Thoughts
Swimming is a favorite summer activity for many kids, (we love the water and are at the beach a lot during the summer!).
However, your child’s mixed hair needs proper care to keep it healthy.
With these tips to teach you how to protect biracial hair while swimming, your family can enjoy the water all summer long!
The Ultimate Guide To Biracial Hair Care is now available! Get the entire mixed hair care routine, tips, and how to maintain it!
Related Reading
Biracial Hair Care Tips To Help Maintain and Define Curls
Why You Should Discuss Race With Your Biracial Kids
10 Crafts and Toys That Support Racial and Cultural Diversity
15 Multicultural Princess Books and Dolls To Add To Your Collection
My daughter is 5 months old and she has weekly swim lessons. Do all of your tips apply to a biracial girl her age? I feel lost! I just learned not to wash her hair every day
Hi Angela! I don’t think all the tips would apply because she’s so young, (and I’d guess that her hair isn’t long enough to put in a protective hairstyle yet) but some of the tips you can definitely use! It depends on her hair texture, if it’s really fine you may not need to put any conditioner in it before you go swimming, you can just co-wash it after and detangle. If it’s a coarser texture, then you may want to try getting it wet and putting some conditioner in it before you guys get in the pool. Then do… Read more »