No. I’m actually not. True germaphobes wouldn’t bother asking, because they’d never even consider doing such a thing. I shake hands, I share drinks, I touch doorknobs without a paper towel. The pool thing was just a mystery to me.
Yes, but did you grow up a poor black boy swimming in the swamps of Louisiana?
I didn’t think so! ::grand exit::
This is classic wrongheaded thinking. Even if the pool has some low level of disease danger, the benefits of healthy exercise PLUS the benefits of a joint health that allows you, you know, freedom of movement would massively outweigh the danger.
We see similar thinking with regard to bicycle helmets (Childhood obesity costs greatly exceed the costs associated with bicycle accidents). Exercise has amazing benefits, don’t let low levels of danger dissuade you from it (however, please don’t backcountry ski. That’s legitimately dangerous).
nm
I didn’t say to drench your head in a whole tin of whale blubber. A little conditioner is not going to ruin the pool, even if everyone does it. The pool is a cocktail of chemicals and is constantly filtered.
Most pools though ask you not to do this. A little conditioner for one person won’t hurt; if everyone does it, it will all add up. Or if you do, wear a bathing cap over it.
Filters do not extract single molecules (sweat, hair conditioner, piss) - that is why there is a sanitizer (chlorine being the most common).
We actually had a thread about a motorized wheelchair falling into a pool - people actually thought the pint of acid in the battery would turn 40,000 gallons of water into a death pit.
Actually, pool keepers routinely add acid to adjust Ph.
Then what do you think the point of the signs asking people to please shower are all about?
Anyway, I can’t imagine it would do any good - surely the conditioner would be rinsed away within seconds?
First off, health codes require certain signage at pools. The main health concern here is fecal matter, not hair conditioner, etc. Chlorine does not kill some of the bad stuff instantly, so it’s best to avoid bringing it in the pool.
In my observation though, pretty much no one showers before entering the pool, and those that do just briefly rinse off while already in their bathing suits, so probably there is no reduction in fecal matter anyway.
Bringing sand into the pool is annoying to pool operators. Probably not a huge problem for an indoor pool, but sand and dirt settle on the bottom and have to be vacuumed up, which is time consuming.
The less you disturb the chemical balance of the pool, the less money has to be spent on chemicals, so there’s that. This is why a heavily used pool needs more chemicals. I doubt a dime-sized amount of conditioner could have an impact of more than a few cents though.
An outdoor pool quickly develops an oily deposit along the (usually) tile inner edge. The alternative of course is for the swimmers to just forego sunscreen and quickly burn to a crisp. Needless to say, those that choose this option tend to regret it, but at least they didn’t contribute to the ring of oily dirt that someone must wipe away daily.
And unless you manually scrub away at your head in the pool, most conditioner will cling to your hair. A cap over it is even better.
A lot of people get upset when their hair turns green from swimming in water with metals (generally copper) in it. The conditioner was actually advised by a swim coach to the team. If you’d rather risk green hair, go for it.
PurpleClogs on the offchance that you wear contacts: don’t wear contacts in the pool. Even if you wear goggles.
Please stop spreading ignorance. A little conditioner floats off your hair and makes an oil slick on the water, which can be quite irritating to other swimmers, even if they’re not sensitive to perfumes and such. Also, it is going to be against your local health codes; if an inspector notes someone with conditioned-up hair who hasn’t taken a shower (as mandated by the same health codes), they can close down the pool.
Also, it is absolutely worthless for protecting your hair from chlorine. How do you get conditioner out of your hair normally? By rinsing it out using water. Why the hell would it stay in your hair if you’re immersed in water?
If you want to protect your hair, wear a swim cap. Using UltraSwim shampoo & conditioner is good for reducing chlorine buildup, too. (By the way, not wetting your hair and keeping your head out of the water in the pool is also likely to be against the health codes, and repeated violations by people not taking a full shower can, again, get the pool shut down.)
I don’t think this is a law in every state. On a quick search I was able to find it as part of the regulations for North Carolina, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Utah but not in California or Illinois. My pool in Ohio used to have such a sign but it’s been down for at least a year.
Also according to this article the reasoning for these laws is not hair products or perfume, but communicable disease.
I don’t know (or care) where you live, but it is not against my local health codes.
Pool inspectors generally check your water chemistry, log book, and presence of proper signage and safety equipment. I have never seen or heard of one inspecting the humans swimming in the pool and shutting down the pool as a result. Do you think the inspector watches naked people showering in the locker room and marks the pool down if they fail to scrub their asses well enough before swimming? Plenty of crazy stuff happens in the world, though, so perhaps this has happened somewhere. Can you cite an example of a pool being shut down because a swimmer had any amount of conditioner in their hair? Or for being in a pool without getting their heads wet?
I get conditioner out of my hair by using my hands and a flow of water. The hands are key here. If I stand under the shower without touching my head, the conditioner remains. Maybe after an hour of high-pressure water flow it would go away, but I’d be out of hot water before that, so I guess I’ll never know.
If your conditioner is so oily, how are you rinsing it out with water anyway? I just grabbed two conditioners out of my shower and took a look at the ingredients. Neither contains any amount of oil. I’m sure some do contain oils, but that is probably going to stay on your hair until you use soap or shampoo on it. Ever try rinsing oil off your hands without soap? It requires a lot of manual action, not just immersing your hands in a tub of water.
The health codes do not say “no fools with conditioner in their hair”, the health codes require full-body showers. If you have conditioner in your hair, or your hair is dry, obviously the health codes are not being followed.
Yes, pools are shut down because the health codes for showering are not followed. It was threatened a couple times way back when I was a lifeguard, and the Y where I swim has gotten closed for the day twice in the fifteen years I’ve been there (for dry-headed ladies in watercise, I believe).
I have also had to throw someone out of the pool because she had gooped up her hair with conditioner to “protect” it, and it had predictably spread across the pool to the annoyance of everyone else. Likewise, I’ve had to complain to the guards several times to get people tossed out for sliming up the water with their hair-protection nostrums (presumably, conditioner). Personally, I could care less about the dry-heads, but have no wish to share your conditioner/perfume.
Conditioners are not oily because of the amount of oils in them; they’re slick because of the amount of surfactants – most of which are rinsed out (some bind to the hair). Surfactants are most likely what leaves the film on the pool water.
ZipperJJ the health codes are usually local, not statewide. I know most of the pools in southern Illinois deal with local county codes, and where I live in Missouri it’s the St. Louis County health ordinances (and inspectors).
I don’t use mine, not because of the germs but because it’s always being used by 150-year-old Korean guys swimming the world’s slowest laps.
So as far as you know, zero pools have been closed ever because of conditioner. That matches with my experience as well.
In my extensive YMCA pool deck observation (~4 hours per week for over a decade, various states), I have not seen anyone told by a lifeguard or other worker to shower before getting in the pool since the '70s. There are signs to the effect that they should and the signs are ignored by almost everybody, including lifeguards, swim coaches, swim instructors, and swim teams.
“Oily” means containing oil and I suspect any film or visibly “goopy” product you have observed is not conditioner, but actual oil. Coconut oil is often used on dry curly hair.
Having owned and operated a commercial pool, I am quite certain that where I live there is no responsibility on the part of the pool operator to enforce any kind of showering or monitor people’s hair products. It would be quite pointless anyway, as in my county, 99% of pools are outdoors, which means vast quantities of oily sunscreen. It made cleaning the pool more of a chore, but there is obviously no way around it.
That is not at all what I said, as you are no doubt aware given the way you attempted to reparse what I said to support your conclusions.
Pools are closed for patrons’ failure to shower completely, by health code inspectors. Conditioner-laden hair would be evidence of failure to take a complete shower, as is having dry hair. I absolutely have seen pools closed because the health code regulations for taking complete showers are not followed. Locally, that is one of the items on the inspectors’ checklist – including cleanliness of the water, visibility of the water, adequate lighting, chemistry of the water, etc. Most often, if the inspector finds a problem, he or she will just mention it. It takes repeated violations (such as at the Y I currently belong to) before they’ll go so far as to close the pool down.
As an owner or operator of a commercial pool, you should absolutely be aware that it is your responsibility to enforce the health codes. Even if you think it is “quite pointless”. Most pools comply by posting signs and reminding swimmers to follow the regulations.
So you DID cite evidence of a pool being closed because of conditioner in someone’s hair?
You talked about yourself throwing someone out of a pool, but even this example did not involve a pool being closed. That makes no pools to my knowledge and yours.
As I stated, we have no health code in my area disallowing conditioner in swimmers’ hair, so no enforcement necessary on my part.
One more vote for never seeing the “shower before entering the pool” rule enforced since I was a little kid about the time that the city public pool was forced integrated and the lifeguards made all of the black kids take a shower before they were permitted in the pool.
Regardless of whether urine, conditioner, or anything else is sterile or a health risk, it’s yucky and I don’t want to be swimming in it. People should make a reasonable effort to maintain the pool as clean as possible. That may mean it’s more inconvenient for you and you have to wear a swim cap and your hair is dried out, but it means the overall enjoyment of the pool will be better for everyone.
It’s not surprising to see people arguing that they think it’s fine to slather their hair in conditioner before they get in the pool. There are many people who don’t seem to consider their actions on those around them. Like at work, people leave dirty dishes in the sink, leave stinky food in the fridge, and heat up stinky food in the microwave. If it’s your own house (or pool), then it doesn’t matter. But when using a shared resource, you should make reasonable efforts to keep that resource as good as possible even if that means you’re inconvenienced.
No one has recommended any “slathering,” urinating, etc.
When you have to exaggerate the action for it to sound objectionable, the action is actually fine.
If swimming in a public pool is too yucky for you because it’s used by the public, that’s understandable. People can be quite yucky. Expecting that they will all scrub and rinse themselves to your specifications is unrealistic. They are going to yuck up the pool with their gross hair, boogers, fecal leakage, bacterial/viral/fungal infections, urine, hair products, toenails, deodorant, soap scum, band-aids, fake eyelashes, perfume, conditioner, parasites, and occasionally even vomit, whether you like it or not.
Sorry, germaphobes.