Swimming with Locs

Guess what y'all? Black Girls Swim! I know, I know...it's a complete shocker for some. I'm one of those Black girls who have been swimming since I was a kid. I don't remember NOT swimming. Each summer as a kid, I took swimming lessons and went to camps where we went swimming often. Family vacations meant trips to islands where we did nothing but swim, jet ski, sail and snorkle. I love the water a whole lot.

But I know I'm a minority in the department because there are a lot of brown girls that don't know how to swim and ain't tryna learn. AND a lot of them (cough, my friends) live in Florida. Living in Florida and not knowing how to swim is such an oxymoron to me. But anyway....

I plan to swim a lot more this summer since I've semi-joined (aka using my co-worker's visitor pass) a YMCA. I love running but sometimes I want to get my work-out in via swimming and so that means coming up with a swim hair regimen. When I jump out of the pool, here is how the locs look:

Nasty, uh? It's a whole bunch of build-up. And don't ask me what from because I don't know!! The good news is, these two products have been zapping the build-up beautifully.

Yes!! I LOVE baking soda. I mix it with a bit of castile soap and it really eliminates the build-up quickly and thoroughly. It's 10x better than apple cider vinegar because it don't stank!

I also received a sample of this...

I'm going to do a formal review of it on Clumps of Mascara but I really like it. It doesn't leave my hair as streaky clean as the castile soap and sometimes that's a good thing. Castile soap can cleanse a little TOO well.

After shampooing, I run olive oil through the locs and then seal the moisture with a bit of Oyin Handmade's Greg Juice. Greg Juice has some glycerin in it and helps to lock that moisture in.

I'll re-twist the front row of locs with aloe vera gel and let the rest air dry. And that's it!! I can't believe how easy it is. I'm sure when the locs are even more mature,  I won't even have to re-twist the front row. I just do it because they look a little too rough for work the next morning.

So yes! Swimming with locs is surprisingly simple.  The bad news is, if I'm going to be swimming a lot more, that means I can't get a summer color like I wanted.

Let's see...

Colored locs OR burning a good 500 cals swimming laps for an hour?


I'll take the swimming for $200, Alex. ;)