Pool season in Palm Beach never really ends — and neither does what the pool does to your hair while you enjoy it. I've written about salt air and sun; chlorine is the third Florida element, and it's the sneakiest: invisible in the moment, obvious by the season's turn. Here's the honest guide to chlorine and your hair, for brides counting down and for everyone who lives at the club pool.
What chlorine actually does: it's a disinfectant, and your hair is porous — especially color-treated hair, which is chemically more open. The pool's chemicals bind to the strand, lift the surface, and gradually strip the natural oils that give hair its shine. The classic signs show up in order: color that shifts (blondes trend greenish and ashy), texture that turns straw-like, and ends that no mask can quite save. Swimmer's hair is real, and it's cumulative.
The wet-hair rule that changes everything: soak your hair in fresh water before you swim. Hair absorbs what it meets like a dry sponge — a strand already saturated with clean water has no room left for pool water. It's the single most effective thing you can do, it's free, and almost nobody does it. Rinse again on the way out, before the chlorine dries on.
The weekly routine: a chelating or clarifying wash once a week during heavy pool months — not daily, which strips the protection you're maintaining — plus a mask on the ends and, for blondes, a malva or violet-toning product to hold the color honest. My ShopMy storefront carries the exact products I recommend to clients who swim.
The bride's math: pool days and a wedding countdown can coexist, but the six months before photographs are when the wet-hair rule stops being optional. Color takes weeks to recover from a chlorine season — plan like a bride, swim like one too.
Protect the color you pay for. If your wedding is coming, inquire with your date — every styling service is in our instant pricing tool.
The Products I Actually Use
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