It’s summertime which means unbearable heat and wanting to go for a swim nearly every day. There’s just one teeny tiny little problem: what the fuck do you do with your curly hair? It’s easier said than done to just put your hair up in a high bun and not go too deep in the water. But high possibility says you’re gonna be splashed by folks anyway, intentional or not, and if you don’t just dunk your face in the water right now, you’ll feel like collapsing from heat exhaustion sooner than later.
This dilemma dawned on me in the weeks leading up to a long weekend at my parents’ place, and I knew I couldn’t pass up a chance to swim. So I did some quick research, and thankfully the solution was easier than I thought. Here’s how to prepare your hair in 3 steps:
- Pop into the shower and get your hair damp;
- Apply a crap ton of conditioner, root to tip;
- Put your hair in a protective style like a bun or a braid.
Soaking in the SoCal Vitamin D
And then you’re ready to jump into the water without mucking up your hair too much! For this first test, I used the papaya Garnier Fructis One-Minute Mask since it does well to coat my hair without any tremendous weight, and the travel size goes a long way for such a task. Plus it’s cheap enough that I don’t feel guilty about using quite a bit. You can also use coconut oil if you just can’t bear to sacrifice that much conditioner. Also make sure your hairstyle is tight enough that it doesn’t come too loose while swimming, but obviously, don’t put too much tension on your scalp.
And of course, make sure you still rinse out your hair afterwards to get out chlorine, saltwater, or excess conditioner/oil. I recommend using a low/no-lather shampoo or a co-wash (like DevaCurl’s Conditioning Cleanser) to be absolutely certain for a clean scalp without stripping sebum, especially if your wash day was fairly recent. You can also add in a leave-in or styler to bring back curl definition, but it’s totally up to you. I went ahead with a little bit of both Shea Moisture’s Curl Enhancing Smoothie and DevaCurl’s Light Defining Gel. And below is my look after swimming!
I just had a full wash the day before, so I probably should’ve better planned around that. But thankfully my hair didn’t suffer too much. I actually got more curl definition than I did with my full wash (which you can see with my most recent hair care review), and my hair was super, super soft and fluffy. For this, you gotta make sure you put enough styler in to make sure the curls last until your next wash day. But I’m glad I gave this method a try with fantastic results in protection. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for my next chance to swim and adjust this method and see what results I get.
Eliza Vs. The World 