Bathing Caps

Was watching the Olympic swimming. What happened to bathing caps in swimming outside the olympics.

Why don't people wear bathing caps anymore? What was their purpose in the first place. I seem to remember something about keeping women's long hair from clogging the skimmer/filter.

Can you image todays supermodels in hot thongs and the SI swimsuit issue models wearing bathing caps? LOL

I do remember my mom had one with these brightly colored, floppy rubber flowers glued all over it.

Just wondering.

Ummmmm, . . . bathing caps, . . .

I thought they were to protect the hair from the damaging effects of chlorine.

OOOOOOOh! Remember back when bleach blonde hair always turn green in the clorine water.

there was a girl I went to high school with who always denied her blond hair came from a bottle. Until she spent too long in the pool at her boyfriends house one day.

but yes, I think they were intended to protect the hair. I don't think women washed their hair every day 30 or 40 years ago either, so maybe there was some attempt to keep it dry involved as well.

Swimming Cap Fashions - 1950

I didn't bleach my hair until in my 20s, but the sun usually lightened/changed my hair color a lot more than swimming in a chlorine pool did.

Swim caps kept the hair fairly dry, which was the idea back in the day.

Your hair doesn't have to be bleached for it to turn green in a chlorinated pool. It happens to my daughter all the time and she has never had any type of hair coloring treatment.

I wore a bathing cap as a kid & teenager not only to keep my hair dry but also

be able to swim the "crawl" without getting water in my ears.


Diane

Having grown up wearing these God forsaken things, I was glad when the rules changed and female swimmers didn't have to wear them. My guess is that this stemmed from the fact that in the sixties, males began to grow longer hair, and it just didn't fly with the guys. That would have set off a storm of protests from the ladies if long-haired gentlemen could go capless!

As an aside, I never thought they worked very well anyway. I NEVER fastened the chin strap (how geeky!) and put the ear flaps up anyway. About the only thing they were good for was keeping hair from the filters.

There was No Such THING as a "cute" bathing cap!!

Joy