Chlorine Question for Experienced Pool Rats

springlering62
springlering62 Posts: 8,686 Member
edited March 2022 in Fitness and Exercise
Have taken up daily aquafit with husband, and shower well afterwards.

I do at least one hot mat class a day, and I sweat profusely.

My sweat smells like chlorine. It’s absolutely grossing me out, and the odor is very, very distracting, too.

Have been breaking out in itchy patches, too, since beginning aquafit, also presumably chlorine related.

Anything I can do?

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Some people are just allergic to certain types of chlorine. I'd say (and I've been swimming 25 years), is to slather on a good cream after the pool. The kind I use is made in Germany and my husband (also a swimmer) uses it too. I've been using it for 10 years. It's by Krauterhof "Creme mit Alpenkrautern". It has shea butter and herbal extracts (alpine herbs).
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,656 Member
    Try and have a hot shower after (if you can in a public pool) as that opens the pores and helps to gets rid of the smell. Ultimately I found that only a hot bath or shower at home worked as the poolside showers weren’t hot enough. And yes then if I sweated later, the chlorine smell appeared. I also found that lemon or mint shower gels were a bit more neutralising with the smell, and slather on the moisturiser after to keep your skin from drying out. Also don’t forget your hair - it absorbs even small splashes and will honk, so if you don’t wear a swim hat then I would put some protective spray on. In the end I just got used to smelling like a swimming pool, and thought at least it wasn’t BO!
  • stephaniek511
    stephaniek511 Posts: 86 Member
    In addition to these tips, I do the following: 1) I do shower before getting in the pool (especially good for the hair, which will soak up the less-chlorinated shower water rather than the pool water); 2) I use the strongest body wash I can tolerate, followed by some body spray and lightly scented lotion; 3) For my especially dry skin areas, I use Eucerine lotion (I will also take fish oil a few times a week but can't do it daily).

    Honestly, even with these things, it helps but the smell never disappears completely...and as a lifelong swimmer, I have gotten use to it although still chuckle when someone points it out to me.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Strange--I've never had the smell everyone is talking about. Maybe here (Italy) they use a different type of chlorine.
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Does your facility have a sauna?

    I shower before swimming, then afterwards with Paul Mitchell shampoo 3 (as shampoo and body soap) to clean off the chlorine. Sitting in the sauna a few minutes will help sweat it out too. Rinse off again quickly after the sauna.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    For hair, there are also swim-specific shampoos that (allegedly) are formulated to counteract/wash out chlorine. (Yes, I used one when I was swimming regularly.) I don't know whether there are similar body wash products.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited March 2022
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Strange--I've never had the smell everyone is talking about. Maybe here (Italy) they use a different type of chlorine.

    Chlorine shouldn't smell. What the strong odor is in indoor pools is Chlorine mixed with sweat and urine. When people say, "the chlorine is burning my eyes..." it's actually that there's so much urine and sweat mixed with the chlorine that it's actually chemically classified similarly to a chemical weapon -- really nasty stuff. There have been studies on it and the average pool has the equivalent of a 50 gallon drum of the stuff mixed into the water -- that's what causes all the irritation, not the chlorine. If chlorine is properly managed and the pool doesn't have people urinating in it all the time, it won't smell.

    My wife developed Fibromyalgia after doing water aerobics. I'm 100% sure that was a major factor.

    We own a pool now (outdoor) but outdoor pools don't have that issue. That's why nearly every indoor lifeguard you talk (or indoor swimming athlete) has some sort of lung issue or asthma.

    To me, it's not worth the risk or health benefit to do indoor pool exercise.

    Sorry to be gross, but this is all true and something that they are starting to talk to swimmers about -- get out of the pool and go to the restrooms.

    https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-details/what-happens-when-you-pee-pool

    A lot of pools in Europe do use other types of systems, not chlorine. Ozonators and UV lights supplement chlorine. Salt water pools still produce chlorine -- that's how they work. We have a UV system that supplements the chlorine in our outdoor pool so not as much is needed.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    If chlorine doesn't smell, why does my household bottle of chlorine bleach smell similar to the pool (but stronger)? IMU, other . . . substances . . . in the pool may strengthen the pool scent (form chloramines), but I don't think that's the whole story. Sure, some pools may be over-chlorinated, too.

    I swear I didn't urinate or sweat into my bleach bottle. I hope no one else did. 😆

    It does seem to be the chloramines (and maybe other by-products) that are most irritating, from what I read. Personally, I find being immersed in the pool irritating, but that's a psychological problem for me, not a physical one. 😉
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    MikePfirrman wrote: »
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Strange--I've never had the smell everyone is talking about. Maybe here (Italy) they use a different type of chlorine.

    Chlorine shouldn't smell. What the strong odor is in indoor pools is Chlorine mixed with sweat and urine. When people say, "the chlorine is burning my eyes..." it's actually that there's so much urine and sweat mixed with the chlorine that it's actually chemically classified similarly to a chemical weapon -- really nasty stuff. There have been studies on it and the average pool has the equivalent of a 50 gallon drum of the stuff mixed into the water -- that's what causes all the irritation, not the chlorine. If chlorine is properly managed and the pool doesn't have people urinating in it all the time, it won't smell.

    My wife developed Fibromyalgia after doing water aerobics. I'm 100% sure that was a major factor.

    We own a pool now (outdoor) but outdoor pools don't have that issue. That's why nearly every indoor lifeguard you talk (or indoor swimming athlete) has some sort of lung issue or asthma.

    To me, it's not worth the risk or health benefit to do indoor pool exercise.

    Sorry to be gross, but this is all true and something that they are starting to talk to swimmers about -- get out of the pool and go to the restrooms.

    https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-details/what-happens-when-you-pee-pool

    A lot of pools in Europe do use other types of systems, not chlorine. Ozonators and UV lights supplement chlorine. Salt water pools still produce chlorine -- that's how they work. We have a UV system that supplements the chlorine in our outdoor pool so not as much is needed.

    Nope--in 25 yrs have never peed in the pool. All I know is that they're always testing. A couple of the lifeguards and, or, instructors have been there since I started, or for years--no breathing problems that I can see. Also, my husband has been swimming at the same pool since he was a teen. No asthma or breathing problems. He's 68.
  • cstuartdc
    cstuartdc Posts: 6 Member
    Lifelong swimmer here. . .Antedotal stories and theses aside about urine and sweat and chlorine, you may need to tinker around with chlorine removing soaps/shampoos. I use Tri-Swim and it helps. . .it also helps to simply not swim EVERY day (esp. in the winter) - I have backed off to 3x/week since I swim from 48 to 72 laps and have a long immersion time (relatively - not like swim team immersion time). I now do weight training and rowing to supplement.

    Good luck.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,686 Member
    Thanks for the tips, y’all.

    Except for @MikePfirrman 😱😱😱😱 That’s the stuff nightmares are made of. I got a terrible, excruciating staph infection from the pool as a teen. It had me in bed for weeks.

    I shudder to think how many Depends may be in use at the Cocoon gym. Average user age is mid to upper 60’s- and that’s being kind. But what a facility! And no waiting in the weight room…..

    I guess ya picks your poisons?

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