Dry Itchy Skin In The Pool: Swimming, Skin & Pool Chemicals Pt 2

Last time we talked about some of the effects that long term exposure to pool water can have on your skin. So what can you do if you are suffering from dry and itchy skin in the pool?

Wait... Get Your Lesson Plans Here

Here are some more alternatives you can try:

Use a wet suit.

I did this for quite some time as a swim teacher. Now you have to you have to plan this because the chlorine will cause the wetsuit to have a much shorter life span that it would normally. But there are ways that you can minimize that:

1. Buy three wetsuits at once and rotate them so that they are in the water every third day.
   
   Now I know that sounds expensive because you can't buy the really cheep wet suits as they die too quickly; but you don't have to buy the expensive ones either. I have found that in the pool water the mid range price ones last just as long ans the expensive ones.
   
   
2. The other alternative that have never been game to try, was to throw the wetsuit into the washing machine each night after use. A fellow swim teacher used to do this to her wet suit and she swore by it. I also have to say that her wet suit seem to keep its color much longer than mine but I was never able to determine the long term effects of it as she left before I had a chance to see.
   
   Regardless this is only a partial solution however as you hands and feet are still exposed to the pool water.

• Use petroleum jelly (Not the Vapor Rub kind)
  This works great except or until your skin is so sensitized by the pool water that you get an allergic reaction to the jelly or if you are just plan allergic to petroleum based products. You also have to be careful that you rub the jelly off and into you hands so that the students are not too slippery.

I have more alternatives that I will talk about next time

Enjoy
   Richard