African Americans, Swimming, and Hair
Michelle G., Boston
Michelle G. shares the resources she's found to help you care for your hair.
She talked about them on The Learn To Swim Show: African Americans, Swimming and Hair January 13, 2011. Click on dash011311.mp3 when you arrive at that page.
Website Resources
Some of the sites listed below have conflicting information about how to take care of one's hair, i.e. some say put conditioner in before you go in, and another site says not to put conditioner in before you go in because it causes "hair to swell." Some sites advise you to wet your hair with tap or bottled water before going in, but some say not to do that step!
Some sites give information without mentioning whether it's directed to women with natural relaxed hair, &/or extensions.
It has been difficult to verify the authority and accuracy of information.
I starred the one I found most informative:
Black-care-tips-during-swimming.html
From a student in our Colorado
2008 class: "When I found your website,
I was drawn to the link for African
Americans. There's a belief in the
black community that we can't swim.
Your site was the first I ever encountered
that addressed this. How thoughtful!"
"In realizing that my back float
is
a bit more difficult for me in the
deep water, this belief came back to me:
"What are you doing out here. You
know we don't swim."
Not sure if advice is acceptable for natural or relaxed hair:
Long-hair-community.com/forums **
Swimming-with-black-hair
For parents who adopt children of color:
Parenting black children: hair
For natural hairstyles:
Newly Natural
Newly Natural 2
Natural Haven
For relaxed hairstyles: YoutTube
Swimming-and-afro-hair
For those wearing braids or extensions:
Black-hair-media
Long-hair-care-forum
WNYC-radio covered the issue of black women and swimming in general:
Hair-history
Why-many-black-women-wont-go-swimming
However, I found a couple of sites criticizing the WNYC-radio piece. It's such a touchy subject!
Analyzing swim caps:
Nappy me
Finding alternate swim caps: Mesh-swim-caps-for-wig
Suggestions for overseas outdoor trips in general:
Hair-and-backpacking
If you have tips or links to share about hair care, feel free to send them to info@conquerfear.com.
The information presented here is but a small sample of what may be found online. Information is provided with the understanding that you will make your own determination as to its suitability for your purposes.
Listen to African Americans, Swimming and Hair.
We covered these issues on The Learn To Swim Show, January 13, 2011.
Click on
dash011311.mp3 when you arrive at that page.
< Pete from New Jersey is a guest on the radio show. He didn't take lessons for years
due to his hair. Then he decided fun and safety were more important.