How to Romanticize Your Life — Without Changing Your Whole Life

A simple pre-swim trick for keeping dry, bleached hair feeling softer after the pool or beach.

BY CHOOSE HAPPY · 4 MIN READ

Wet blonde hair after swimming in a pool

There’s nothing better than a summer day spent by the pool or at the beach — until you get home and your hair feels dry, tangled and nothing like it did that morning.

If your hair is blonde, bleached or naturally dry, you probably know exactly what I mean.

I came across this simple hair trick on TikTok, decided to try it myself, and honestly didn’t expect it to make much of a difference.

Now it’s something I always do before swimming.

The trick?

Put a hydrating hair mask in your hair before you get in the water.

It takes less than a minute, but I’ve noticed such a difference in how my hair feels after a day of swimming.

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Why Your Hair Feels So Dry After Swimming

cool days and beach days can be especially rough on hair that is already dry, colored or bleached.

Chlorinated pool water can contribute to dryness and damage, while salt water, sun exposure and repeated wetting can leave hair feeling rough and tangled.

Bleached hair can be especially vulnerable because chemical processing makes the hair more porous.

And if you’re blonde, there’s another reason to protect your hair around the pool: that greenish tint sometimes associated with swimming is actually linked to metals such as copper in pool water — not chlorine simply “turning” blonde hair green.

The more porous the hair, the easier it can be for substances in the water to interact with it.

Which brings me to the little trick I swear by.

My Pre-Swim Hair Mask Trick

Before I go swimming, I like to wet my hair with fresh water first when possible.

Then I apply a generous amount of hydrating hair mask, concentrating mainly from around my ears down through the lengths and ends.

Why wet your hair first?

Think of dry hair a little like a sponge. Wetting it with clean water before getting into the pool means it is already saturated with fresh water, which can help reduce how much chlorinated pool water it absorbs.

The hair mask then adds an extra conditioning layer around the hair.

Once the mask is in, I simply put my hair up.

That’s it.

Wet. Mask. Up. Swim.

The Hair Mask I Use

The hair mask I personally use for this is the Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask.

I like using a rich, hydrating mask through my lengths because my goal is to keep my hair feeling soft and conditioned throughout a beach or pool day rather than trying to rescue extremely dry hair afterwards.

If your hair already tends to feel dry after swimming, this is the kind of product I’d reach for before heading to the water.

Get your hairmask here

Keep Your Hair Up If You’re Not Diving

This is another little thing I do that makes the whole routine easier.

If I’m going swimming but don’t plan on putting my head underwater, I keep my hair high and out of the water.

A high bun works perfectly, but I also love using a claw clip.

Not only does this keep most of my hair away from the pool or sea water, it also means I don’t need to keep applying more hair mask every time I get out of the water.

If I do put my head underwater and soak my hair, I’ll apply some more mask before going back in.

It takes seconds.

What to Do After Swimming

When you’re completely finished swimming for the day, rinse your hair thoroughly with fresh water as soon as you can.

This is especially useful after swimming in a chlorinated pool.

Then wash your hair when needed and follow with conditioner or another hydrating treatment if your hair feels like it needs some extra moisture.

And be gentle when detangling.

Wet hair is more vulnerable to breakage, so aggressively brushing through a head full of post-swim tangles isn’t doing it any favors.

Try This Before Your Next Swim

This is one of those beauty tips that is almost ridiculously simple:

Wet your hair with fresh water.
Apply your hair mask.
Put your hair up.
Then go enjoy your swim.

I originally found the idea on TikTok and tried it out of curiosity. After seeing how much better my own hair felt after swimming, it became one of those little habits I actually kept.

So if your blonde, bleached or dry hair usually feels like straw after a day at the beach or pool, try giving it some protection before you get in the water.

Sometimes the easiest beauty tricks really are the ones worth keeping. ♡