Lingering Chlorine

The scientists at SwimSpray, LLC claim to have invented a simple, all-natural remedy for swimmers longest standing problem: chlorine. According to SwimSpray’s inventor, Dr. Andrew Chadeayne, much of the irritation experienced by swimmers is caused by lingering chlorine, which stays on the swimmer’s hair and skin long after leaving the pool.

The swimming community has long recognized that chlorinated pools can negatively affect hair and skin:

• On the topic of chlorinated skin, Rebecca Soni just team up with Ceva Ve, pointing out that as a swimmer, it’s easy to dry out your skin. (See PR Newswire).

• Many swimmers report always smelling like chlorine. The community is split as to whether this is good or bad. This week on Twitter, Nathan Adrian, noted I know I have been away from training too long when my sweat doesn’t smell like chlorine.” Yesterday, Summer Sanders tweeted about her family trip to the pool: The whole family smells like chlorine and we LOVE it 🙂 Sanders’ attitude exemplifies how chlorine odor has become a source of nostalgia for many swimmers. However, the smell can be alarming to non-swimmers. For example, when Janet Evans returned to swimming, her daughter immediately noticed the smell. As Evans recalls, “I came home the other day and my daughter said, ‘Mommy, you smell of chlorine.’ (See LA Times).

• Regarding chlorine’s effects on swimmers’ hair, Michael Phelps told People Magazine that daily chlorine exposure wreaks havoc on his hair. Phelps explained that his hair, feels dead at times.

While many opponents of chemically treated water suggest lowering chlorine concentration or eliminating its use all together, SwimSpray, LLC has taken an entirely different approach, based on the idea that chlorine belongs in the pool but not on your skin. Dr. Andrew Chadeayne hypothesized that a large part of swimmers problems with pool chlorine arises from not properly washing off the chlorine after swimming: a swimmer can detect chlorine on hair and skin with a simple sniff test – if you can smell chlorine on your body, you are still covered in chlorine.

Dr. Chadeayne notes that this lingering chlorine continues to damage hair and skin long after swimming. Accordingly, properly washing away chlorine after swimming would prevent much of the damaged caused by swimming in chlorinated pools.

Dr. Chadeayne views the lingering chlorine hypothesis as a grounds for compromise on the topic of chlorine-related health effects: Regardless of how you feel about having chlorine in the pool, I hope we can all agree that you shouldn’t walk around covered in chlorine outside of the pool.”

About SwimSpray:

SwimSpray was invented by Dr. Andrew Chadeayne, a former Princeton University swimmer and chemistry Ph.D. from Cornell University.Tired of smelling like chlorine after his swimming workouts, Andrew set outremove chlorine from hair and skin(SwimSpray works where so many other chlorine-removal products (e.g.,swimmersshampoos) have failed previously because SwimSpray’s all-naturalvitamin C based formula breaks this bond, neutralizing the chlorine, and allowing it to be washed away with your favorite soap or shampoo. Follow him on Twitter@swimspray and like him Facebook.