If you are anything like my kids and I, you would also love having a really good time in the water.
We stay in an apartment block where there is a swimming pool on the 8th floor.
Since it is rain, shine or rain and shine in this tropical country, we get to have summer and swim almost the whole year.
This is great but if I want to grow long hair naturally, how do I take care of my scalp and tresses as I'm regularly exposed to chlorine? I used to have dry hair with split ends.
Sometimes I had flaky and itchy scalp.
So I usually kept my hair above shoulder length as it would get into knots and kinks and become hard to manage.
Since chlorine dries up hair, my hair texture got worse after every swim in the pool.
There are products out there made specially to care for hair while you are having fun in the swimming pool under the hot sun.
However, I am on a 'grow long hair naturally journey' where I prefer to stick to the ways or ingredients that I have discovered that works for effective scalp and hair care.
This is basically what I do to care for my scalp and hair to grow long hair naturally while getting to enjoy myself regularly in the pool and in the sun: Step 1 - I do my hair treatment the late evening or night before.
After washing my hair as usual, I massage virgin coconut oil onto my scalp and apply a bit on my hair ends, then leave this on overnight.
Step 2 - When I wake up the next morning, I tie or braid my hair.
I usually tie my hair in two loose pony tails.
At times I clip my fringe and sides up.
This keeps my hair from getting tangled up as I swim.
A note here, if you have especially dry hair, you may want to apply a bit more oil to your hair ends before doing that.
Step 3 - Before I jump into the pool, I always take a shower to thoroughly wet my hair which protects my tresses from chlorine's bad effects.
Then it is fun time! Step 4 - Whenever I want to get out from the pool to get a tan on my body, I would jump into the shower by the pool and rinse off the chlorine water.
Then I lie down on the long chair.
I will always cover my head or hair with a hat, scarf or something you like.
It is important to protect your scalp and hair while you get a tan.
Step 5 - After all that fun in chlorinated water and in the hot sun, to grow long hair naturally, I do oil treatment on my scalp and hair.
Step 6 - I carefully and slowly slide the hair bands from my hair.
Then I use my fingers to lightly shake and loosen my hair.
Then I use a wide tooth comb to comb my hair carefully.
Step 7 - I rinse my hair thoroughly (sometimes I carefully comb my hair while I rinse, using a wide tooth comb).
Add several drops of oil into my shampoo and shampoo my hair.
Then I rinse.
Step 8 - Then I add honey into my conditioner and massage my scalp as I condition my hair.
I take my time here.
Step 9 - Then I rinse thoroughly.
I dab dry my hair.
Then I comb my hair using a wide tooth comb.
Then I massage oil onto my scalp.
Then I vigorously rub some oil on my palms (this warms up the oil) and apply to my hair ends.
Alternatively, I can also use my homemade hair spray or hair mist.
Step 10 - Then I leave that as it is for the day or at least 3-4 hours.
What I have shared with you here is a pretty condensed version.
I have the full version in my blog.
And you can still tweak it to better suit you or your situation.
You can tweak the oils that you like to use, the steps you want to do (if your hair is not too dry, you can skip certain steps here or in my full version), how you want to do up your hair when you swim, etc.
And if you find my full version tedious to do on a regular basis when you swim, this basic one here works well too for the most part.
This works great for me in our tropical weather.
I hope it works great for you too as you grow long hair naturally.