Swimming can be a wonderful hobby - it is gentle on the joints, trains the whole body and is simply fun! Whether on vacation or as a sport - swimming is part of life for many people. As a child, I was also an absolute water rat - on vacation, my parents could hardly get me out of the pool or the sea. However, this enthusiasm waned with the onset of my hair loss.
For one thing, water causes the apparent hair volume to decrease - if a woman already has bald spots on her head anyway, it definitely doesn't get better with wet hair. Especially in puberty, however, always wants to show its best side - henceforth swimming with head under water as passé for me.
Never swimming again because of a hairpiece?
When I got my first hairpiece at 20, swimming became even less convenient for me. Hair is dead material, so if it gets damaged, there's nothing left to do but cut it off. This is even more true when the hair no longer grows from your own scalp. Hairpieces and wigs made of real hair are therefore very susceptible to all the damaging influences of everyday life. These include sunlight, which bleaches the hair, heat exposure due to blow-drying, straightening and curling, but also contact with chlorine or salt water.
Sun, heat, chlorine and salt - poison for hairpieces
To prolong the life of a hairpiece or wig, you should keep these influences to a minimum if possible. Therefore, I always use heat protection when I straighten or curl my hairpieces. Of course, there's not much you can do about the sun, so if your hair is bleached out, it needs to be dyed again. What I never let get to my hairpieces, however, is salt and chlorinated water.
But that doesn't mean you can never go swimming again. There are some possibilities to go into the cool water despite hairpiece or wig. Many women buy a cheap hairpiece made of synthetic hair especially for swimming, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't look nice after a while. The hairpiece may not look perfect then, but to be able to go with the head under water, it is enough.
Another option would be to use a hairpiece that has already had its best years. A faded, split hairpiece made of human hair would be ideal for this.
The best solution: Swimming without a hairpiece
On my last vacation in Rhodes, I finally took the plunge to go into the pool completely without a hairpiece - and the feeling was terrific! Feeling the cool water on your scalp is just wonderful and shouldn't be ruined by worrying about expensive hair. Since I don't really go out in public even without a hairpiece, I just put on a wide hair band and tied my few strands together into a little chignon. This worked wonderfully and no one reacted negatively to it.
I have come to the conclusion that I don't want to let my hair loss spoil anything anymore. For so many years I denied myself things I enjoyed doing before hair loss/hair replacement. But who benefits from me hiding myself and my hair loss? Why do I care about others and their opinion of my appearance? The answer is no one and not at all! So I can really only recommend you to go to the pool or the more without a hairpiece or wig. You will have much more fun if you don't worry about other people or expensive hair.
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