After Swim Spray to Wash Away the Chlorine

I remember when our pool would go green and my dad had a little chemical testing kit, to take a sample of pool water and add drops of solution to it and then check the colour change against a chart. All very white coat! We would stand around and then the filters would be pumped, and scoops of powder added to the water. We were then told that we would have to wait to swim! Very disappointing for a 7 year old.

Chlorine can cause the children’s sensitive skin to itch especially if they have allergies and eczema. But sometimes it can be caused by other microorganisms that live in the water. Pool chlorine is a salt of hypochlorous acid, i.e. a “hypochlorite” salt, which is added to pool water to keep it healthy for swimming.

The protein and fats in our skin and hair bond to chlorine and that is why after swimming and showering we can still smell the chlorine. Leaving chlorine on the skin causes a chemical reaction, similar to a burn and causes irritation, redness and itching.

The good news is that Vitamin C neutralizes Chlorine. Ok, so there are two kinds of Vit C that will do the job of neutralizing chlorine; sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid. But SODIUM ASCORBATE is the one to use in your own DIY After Swim Spray!

The following reason is that sodium ascorbate has a friendly ph, and it dissolves quickly. This spray is easy to make, but follow the directions and do not make it any stronger than the recipe below.

Use a high quality plastic spray bottle (don’t use glass around pools or in change areas for broken glass and bare feet are a disaster waiting to happen)

Homemade Vitamin C Spray

You will need:

1 Cup filtered water (boiled and cooled)

1 tsp powdered Vitamin C Sodium Ascorbate Crytals (Amazon, iherb or Chemist shop)

Method: Using a funnel add Sodium Ascorbate to bottle, top up with filtered water. Replace lid and spray attachment and shake bottle to dissolve.

This swim spray has no full spectrum preservative so it does not have a super long shelf life. Use your own judgement, but 1 month if kept cool and out of the sun should be ok.

After swimming spray onto arm, legs, back and body (avoid face and eyes) Then straight into a hot shower followed by a good lathering of soap. Rinse well. Dry and apply a good quality body moisturiser to skin.

If eyes are red and irritated after swimming a few drops of saline will flush out and freshen the eyes.

Photo by Cody Davis on Unsplash