One of the best parts of summer is taking trips to the pool. However, applying makeup and prepping your hair and skin for the pool can be difficult, as your pool and makeup will get ruined in the water and heat and your skin can dry out significantly when exposed to chlorine. If you don’t want to head to the pool completely bare-faced and hope to leave with healthy skin and hair, keep reading to learn some tips for pool-ready beauty.
1. Treat Your Hair
Chlorine in pool water can strip your hair and turn it dry and brittle. If you have light hair, it can also turn your bright blonde locks a putrid green color.
Before you head to the pool, treat your hair with a leave-in conditioner to hydrate and nourish it as well as protect it from getting dried or dyed by chlorine in the water. Be sure to wash your hair thoroughly right after you return from the pool as well in order to eliminate chlorine and other chemicals and bacteria from your hair.
2. Don’t Forget Sunscreen
Applying sunscreen is one of the most important parts of prepping your skin for the pool. Thirty minutes before you go to the pool, slather your skin in a lotion that includes AT LEAST SPF 30 sun protection; you can’t go wrong with SPF 45 or 50, either, especially if you’re particularly pale of sunburn-prone.
It’s easy to forget to reapply your sunscreen throughout the day, but the harsh chemicals in pool water dissolve sunscreen quickly, so frequent reapplication is a must for sunburn protection. Dry off completely and slather on another full coat of sunscreen every forty-five to sixty minutes if you’re swimming and every ninety minutes if you’re tanning on the sidelines.
3. Use Oil
The chlorine and chemicals in pool water dry out your hair, skin, and nails, leaving them looking and feeling stripped and brittle.
Before and after you go to the pool, use a hydrating, nourishing oil such as coconut oil or jojoba oil on your cuticles, skin, and hair. This oil treatment will help protect your nails, skin, and hair from drying out in the water.
4. Braid It
It can be extremely challenging to choose a hairstyle for a pool day. The work of any products and heated styling tools you use will be immediately undone once you step into the water, anyway.
To create a cute and easy pool-ready hairstyle, sweep your hair to the side and braid it. Tie the braid securely with a hairband and spray salt water over the braid and your roots to finish the beachy look.
5. Try Tinted Moisturizer
Don’t ever try to wear foundation or heavy skin makeup when you go to the pool. Chances are it will inevitably melt off as soon as you start sweating or get wet.
Instead, use a tinted moisturizer before you head to the pool. Tinted moisturizers provide minimal coverage that evens out your skin tone and masks blemishes without feeling too heavy. Plus, they usually contain a high SPF so you don’t have to smother your face in thick sunscreen.
6. Shower Pre-Pool
It might seem pointless to take a shower in the morning of a day you plan to spend at the pool. However, showering right before you go to the pool can hydrate your skin and prevent chlorine from drying it out.
Plus, showering immediately before you swim allows you to clean and condition your hair so that it is hydrated when you swim and does not absorb as much damaging chlorine.
7. Use Tinted Chapstick
Using tinted chapstick can be a great way to add a pop of color to your lips as well as keep them hydrated and protect them from the sun.
Make sure that the tinted chapstick you use includes a high SPF and active ingredients that really hydrate and nourish, such as aloe, jojoba oil, and shea butter.
Successfully achieving pool-ready beauty can be extremely difficult. The next time you head out to the water, however, use the tips in this post to learn how to flawlessly prep your skin, hair, and makeup for a day at the pool.
