Swimming’s Impact on Skincare – US Masters

US Masters Swimming site featured Dr. Green in “What Swimmers Need to Know About Skin Care” where they talk about how swimming during the colder months can be a difficult time, due to the dry winter air combined with swimming in cold weather periods.  They discuss what causes the dry skin post-swim overall for instance how ”prolonged exposure to water depletes the protective lipid barrier on your skin, allowing for moisture to be lost.”

Ingredients like Chlorine also factor into play here because of how it “can disrupt the oils on the skin, as the pH of chlorine pools are typically higher than the pH of the skin,” Green says. Chlorine however is of course a key sanitizing element of swimming pools.  They also discuss how to take care of “Swimmer Skin” such as “keeping your skin hydrated before and after swimming is the number one way to mitigate any dry or itchy skin,” Green explains along with what moisturizer might work best post-swim.

Find out more at the U.S. Masters Swimming site https://www.usms.org/ (article requires membership)