POOL HAIR. REAL LIFE.
Competitive Swimmer Hair Care
We've curated high-performance hair care products and routines to help competitive swimmers keep their hair healthy, strong and easy to manage.
COMPETITIVE • UNIVERSITY / U SPORTS • AGE GROUP • MASTERS
Why does swimming affect hair?
It’s more than just chlorine.
Pool water contains chlorine along with other minerals, and frequent exposure can change the way your hair looks and feels.
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Chlorine
Repeated exposure can lead to dryness and weaken the hair.
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Copper + minerals
Mineral deposits can build up on hair. Copper can cause a green cast, especially on lighter hair.
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Repeated wetting + drying
Constant exposure can make hair more porous, brittle and prone to breakage.
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Friction + tangles
Caps, towels, brushing and detangling can add extra stress to already compromised hair.
Hair care that matches your effort in the pool
Whether you’re swimming a few times a week or training every day, your hair deserves care that keeps up.
The Woodland Edit
Our swimmer hair-care favourites
Start with a convenient kit, or build a routine that suits your hair.
A simple place to start
Shampoo, conditioner and a mineral-removal remedy in one convenient kit.
Your conditioner, your choice.
Keep a conditioner you love, or choose one that supports softness, detangling and helps reduce breakage.
Your Swimmer Hair Routine
Protect Your Hair from the Pool
A few consistent habits can help care for hair exposed to chlorine and pool water.
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Before swimming
Prepare
Wet your hair thoroughly with fresh water before putting on your swim cap. Keep hair secured gently to limit pulling and tangles.
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After swimming
Rinse & Cleanse
Rinse promptly after leaving the pool. Use a shampoo formulated to remove chlorine and pool buildup, then condition to support softness and easier detangling.
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Between swims
Care & Restore
Adjust your conditioning care to how your hair feels. If it becomes coated, discoloured or difficult to manage, consider a targeted mineral-removal treatment and follow its directions.
More Pool Time?
Swimming Often? Think Bigger.
Larger bottles are a practical choice for frequent swimmers and families sharing a routine. Explore our jumbo shampoos and conditioners.
Shop by hair concern
Find what your hair needs.
Start with how your hair looks and feels.
FAQ
Swimmer Hair Care, Explained
It takes more than cleansing to address everything pool water leaves behind.
Chlorine can be neutralized. Vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid reacts with active chlorine, converting it into chloride - a form that no longer has the same oxidizing action on your hair.
Metals and minerals need to be removed. Chelating ingredients bind metals such as copper, helping release the deposits so they can rinse away.
Colorproof Clear It Up contains ascorbic acid alongside mineral-binding ingredients and cleansers. Malibu C Swimmers Wellness Shampoo also combines cleansing with chelating ingredients and contains a vitamin C derivative called magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. Both are formulated to help remove pool-related buildup.
Shampoo has a short contact time before it is rinsed away. With repeated pool exposure, metals and minerals can accumulate on the hair faster than your washing routine removes them.
Chelating ingredients bind metal ions, such as copper, forming complexes that can be rinsed away. How effectively a formula does this depends on its ingredients, concentration, pH and contact time - not simply whether it contains a chelator.
A dedicated treatment adds a separate mineral-removal step. Colorproof Pre-Tox contains tetrasodium glutamate diacetate, a chelating ingredient, and is applied to dry hair before shampooing. Malibu C Swimmers Wellness Remedy contains EDTA and ascorbic acid, combining metal binding with vitamin C’s chlorine-neutralizing action.
If your hair remains coated, heavy or discoloured after washing, this additional step may help. But removing deposits cannot reverse existing damage to hair’s proteins or protective oils. Hair that remains dry or brittle also needs conditioning to reduce friction and help limit further breakage.
Chlorine is an oxidizer. It can alter the protective lipids and proteins in your hair, leaving strands rougher, less flexible and more vulnerable to breakage. Mineral deposits can add to that stiff, straw-like feeling.
That means your hair may need two different kinds of care: removal of pool buildup and conditioning to reduce friction. Conditioner helps smooth the hair’s surface and makes detangling easier, but it won’t remove accumulated metals. Likewise, removing buildup won’t undo existing damage.
Copper is usually responsible - not chlorine alone. Copper in pool water can deposit on hair, and chlorine can contribute to the chemical reactions that produce the green discolouration.
The tint is more noticeable on blonde or lightened hair. Bleached hair is also more porous, making it more susceptible to deposits.
Chelating ingredients bind copper so it can be rinsed away. If the colour persists after using swimmer shampoo, a targeted mineral-removal treatment such as Colorproof Pre-Tox or Malibu C Swimmers Wellness Remedy may help lift the remaining buildup.
No - but frequent swimming can leave your hair needing extra moisture, conditioning and slip.
Slip is what helps tangles release without pulling. Conditioning ingredients lubricate the hair’s surface so strands glide past one another, reducing friction and helping limit breakage during wet detangling.
Both Malibu C Swimmers Wellness Conditioner and Colorproof Moisture Conditioner contain silicones alongside other conditioning ingredients. Malibu C combines dimethicone with fatty alcohols and glycerin. Colorproof combines silicones with glycerin, panthenol and fatty alcohols to support softness and easier combing.
What matters is how your hair responds: it should feel softer, and tangles should release gently. You can pair your swimmer shampoo with either conditioner - or another that gives your hair the care it needs.
