Friday, September 26, 2014

Chlorines affects on the Skin

Chlorine is one of the worst enemies for swimmers, between rashes, humidity, and dry skin, no one can escape its wrath. This devious element happens to be one of the top 10 most produced chemicals in the United States because of its use in purifying tap water. Also, chlorine is a additive in household cleaning solutions and many other products you may have lying around the house or dorm room. According to the article, "an occasional dip in the pool" may not cause serious flaking or dryness of the skin, but prolonged exposure has a greater chance...so much for my skin. The only effective solution for helping skin adapt to the dryness is to use moisturizing lotion to help alleviate the dryness.
           When you sweat the pours on the skin open up and allow the chlorine to seep in, giving off that distinct sent; which means everyone knows when swimmers are within a ten-foot radius. One of the only solutions to eliminating the chlorine sent is to go into a sauna for ten minutes or so to sweat out the chlorine. Another way would be to not swim at all or take a shower or clean anything, but I wouldn't recommend that.    


Submitted by John Bennet
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1 comment:

  1. Nathan ThorneSeptember 30, 2014 at 11:30 PM

    As a fellow swimmer, I feel your pain! I always assumed that the chlorine smell was a result of having the residual chlorinated pool water on your skin, but I did not know that it was directly absorbed by your pores (that definitely explains the lingering smell, even after a quick rinse). Since pores on the human body open up while you are working out, causing sweat, I would be curious to know if there is a direct correlation between the rate of chlorine absorption by pores and the intensity of a water-based workout.

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