You Need These Chlorine-Removing Shampoos for Pool Season

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This summer may call for a dip in the pool, but swimming in chlorine can take a toll on your hair. Chlorinated water can turn your hair dry, brittle and discolored. In order to protect your mane, we recommend rinsing it off with the best chlorine shampoos.

The doctors we spoke with recommend thoroughly washing your hair after swimming in a chlorinated pool. According to Dr. Divya Shokeen, MD, a California-based board-certified dermatologist, the best chlorine shampoos contain EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid) and sodium to help remove chemical buildup. Plus, these hero ingredients neutralize chlorine residue to keep your head healthy and chlorine-free.

And because pool water can dry out your hair, Shokeen says to look for chlorine shampoos with hydrating ingredients like shea butter, coconut oil, and sunflower oil. Ahead, we spoke with our panel of grooming editors and board-certified dermatologists on the best chlorine shampoos to shop now, and the best ways to remove chlorine from your hair.

How We Selected

For this story, we looked for shampoos that had chlorine-fighting ingredients like EDTA and sodium thiosulfate. We also prioritized formulas with moisturizing ingredients like shea butter, jojoba oil, and argan oil. Of course, for an added layer of hydration, we recommend following your shampoo with our editor-approved hair conditioners.

Best Shampoos | Best Beard Shampoos | Best Hair Growth Shampoos | Best Clarifying Shampoos | Best Anti-Dandruff Shampoos

Beauty by Tracee Ellis Ross Hydration Shampoo

Chlorine can strip away the natural oils from your hair, leaving it dry, brittle, and weak. But Pattern is equipped to lock in and rejuvenate with supreme hydration—thanks to a medley of moisturizing oils.

We love how this works better than ordinary shampoos to remove chlorine. Powered by a creamy, gentle formula, it softly lathers to make your scalp feel new again without losing moisture and stripping away nutrients. Also, it contains ingredients we love like matcha green tea and aloe vera, which help our hair look shiny and healthy.

What do buyers say? "I have short hair but it only takes a little for a good wash," says one amazon.com customer. "I like it because I don’t need conditioner."

Detox Shampoo

OUAI's detox shampoo is the holy grail for extracting weeks and weeks of heavy chlorine buildup. Free of artificial dyes and parabens—this concentrated shampoo has apple cider vinegar to exfoliate the scalp and push out any excess oil.

Our editors rave about how it deeply cleanses and returns your hair back to a neutral state. After using only a quarter size, we saw a significant decrease in the buildup. Additionally, hydrolyzed keratin is an active ingredient that helps soften and smooth your hair.

What do buyers say? "I was blown away immediately after the first try!" says one amazon.com customer. "I love how it lathers softly, doesn't have a strong scent, and makes my hair feel and look so healthy after!"

Blue Tansy Clarifying Gel Shampoo

Say goodbye to shredding and breakage, and hello to healing hair. Infused with blue-tansy flower oil and rich extracts, this refining shampoo works to detox, nourish follicles and repair split ends.

After a long swim in the pool, we tested a few shampoos to revive our strands. But, none of them seem to outperform this vegan formula. It reboots and adds strength and shine to lackluster hair. Not to mention, the floral fragrance smells great.

What do buyers say? "I used this product and the shampoo took a bit of work to work into my hair but once I did, it was great and my hair is finally shiny and it has not knotted or been frizzy at all today," says one amazon.com customer.

Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse

Sometimes it's easier to skip the hour-long, scalp-scrubbing shower and ply a rinse you can quickly douse your hair in. Enter dpHUE Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse. The main ingredient is known for its chlorine-dissolving properties and restoring your hair's natural pH balance.

Carefully squeeze the formula across your wet scalp and massage it in. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and then rinse. It acts like a no-foam shampoo to clarify and cleanse your mane of gunk and impurities found in pool water.

"It is not messy and does not have a strong odor smell compared to the ACV at the grocery store," says one amazon.com reviewer. "My dry skin and dandruff buildup has been brought down significantly and my hair looks great."

Water Works Clarifying Shampoo

Ouidad shampoo is a game changer during swim season. With a bevy of botanical and citrus extracts, this clarifying wash removes buildup of any kind and enhances the shape of your curls.

This product comes highly recommended by Dr. Brendan Camp, MD, board-certified dermatologist of MDCS Dermatology. He says Ouidad's formula helps fix brittle, dull hair to bring back that high shine.

"This shampoo is thorough enough to remove all the product buildup but gentle enough not to leave my hair dry and brittle," says one amazon.com reviewer. "Definitely worth the buy."

Lemongrass Tea Shampoo

This lemongrass tea shampoo avoids the use of sulfates (which can strip away too much moisture from your hair) and doubles as a body wash. Pool day or not, we found that it's gentle enough to use on a regular basis. It's enriched with natural ingredients like hops extract and juniper berry to wipe out product build-up and debris.

We've been fans of this shampoo for months now because it also helps our hair look thicker and shinier. Best of all, it makes our hair feel healthy, soft as a pillow and smell fresh and clean.

What do buyers say? "This brand is great! I don't have much hair, but this shampoo makes my scalp feel really clean without harsh ingredients," says one amazon.com customer.

Ultra Swim Chlorine Removal Shampoo

If you're looking for a budget-friendly shampoo that removes chlorine, this drugstore formula is right up your alley. In addition to getting rid of chlorine, Ultra Swim conditions and nourishes hair with moisturizing ingredients like Vitamin E and aloe.

This is also suitable for everyday swimmers, according to Dr. Rahi Sarbaziha, MD, a Beverly Hills-based Integrative Aesthetics Doctor. As a EDTA-based cleanser, it goes above average to remove copper deposits and other oxidized metals that can contribute to a greenish cast on lighter colored hair.

What do buyers say? "I swim a few times a week and have tried multiple products to get chlorine out of hair and off skin," says one amazon customer. "Ultra swim shampoo is the best especially for the price."

Swimmer's Shampoo

Spending all your time in the pool this summer? Ion has a chelating shampoo specifically formulated with swimmers in mind. Its vegan formula contains EDTA and vitamin C—which help break down chlorine molecules and dissolve residue.

Some of our grooming editors, who are regular swimmers, swear by this product. It gets chlorine out of gummy and tangled hair better than a traditional shampoo. We recommend using it immediately before and after hopping in the pool. Be sure to follow with a conditioner.

What do buyers say? "It gets the chlorine smell off your skin way better than the body washes I've tried specifically designed for that purpose," says one amazon.com customer. "Ion shampoo does leave your skin a little bit dry but if they could increase the moisturizing properties just a tiny bit, they'd have a wonderful dual-purpose product."

Clarifying Shampoo

If you want to keep your hair soft and pliable, the Odele balancing shampoo makes it easy to do so. This dermatologist-approved product is boosted with lathering cleansers and chelation technology to wash away residue from hard water deposits, and does a decent job of removing chlorine.

We've been using this as a weekly treatment, and our hair has never felt cleaner or healthier. In just one wash, you see a huge difference. Plus, its fragrance carries fresh notes of ylang ylang, oakmoss and cucumber, which smells amazing.

What do buyers say? "Clearly stripped your hair, clean of impurities and old product, but it also leaves it somehow feeling softer rather than dry and brittle," says one odelebeauty.com customer. "With super thin, fine hair this is the first shampoo that has somehow managed to do both for me. Super happy with this product!"

Swimmers Wellness Shampoo

One of the many harsh effects of chlorine: it can turn blonde hair green. For our light-haired brothers, we recommend this formula from Malibu C, which is loaded with EDTA and Vitamin C, a two-in-one punch that removes chlorine and prevents green hair.

This product is an expert-approved pick and a staple for swimmers we consulted with. On top of mitigating chlorine damage, it defends against dryness to restore hair texture and vibrancy.

What do buyers say? "I have never again had to worry about post-swim tangles, discoloration, dryness, or damage while using this product," says one amazon.com customer.

More Chlorine Shampoos We Love

Blonde Shampoo

Chlorine can be harsh on color-treated hair, but Sun Bum's blonde shampoo is specifically designed for protecting it. It contains a special blend of blue spirulina and violet extract to fight against frizz, humidity, UV oxidation and dullness.

Some shampoos will cause your hair color to fade or wash away, but not this one. Instead, it brightly tones and provides an intense cleanse from the root to the tip. For the best results, follow up with the brand's blonde purple conditioner.

Purifying Shampoo with Citrus

This gentle-yet-effective clarifying shampoo uses citrus pulp and lactic acid to remove buildup from products, oil, dirt, hard water and even chlorine from your hair. If you’re spending a lot of time in the pool or at the beach, use it regularly to keep your hair healthy instead of dull and dry.

Sunday Shampoo

This ultra-deep cleaning shampoo is meant to only be used once a week because of it’s sheer cleansing prowess. It instantly removes any trace of dirt, oil or buildup from your scalp and hair and even helps remove chemicals like chlorine. Think of this as your best chance in getting your hair back to zero.

No. 4C Bond Maintenance Clarifying Shampoo

Color treated hair need to be treated differently because the ingredients found in traditional shampoo can dry out hair (which is already prone to dryness when color treated) and dull the color. This weekly deep-cleaning shampoo is designed to preserve and restore color treated hair even when you need to get really, really clean post-swimming.

What to Look for in the Best Chlorine Shampoos

When searching for the best chlorine shampoos, look for ingredients like apple cider vinegar, ethylene diamine tetra acetic-acid (EDTA), sodium thiosulfate, charcoal, and crystallized vitamin C to effectively remove chlorine.

Chlorine can also dry out your hair, so make sure to look for shampoos that have hydrating ingredients like shea butter, or cocoa butter. Or, make sure to follow up your chlorine shampoo with a moisturizing conditioner.

What Does Chlorine Do To Your Hair?

Chlorine can negatively impact the health of your hair. For starters, it dehydrates and strips your hair of natural oils that keep it soft, pliable and moisturized. Without sufficient oil, hairs become dry, brittle, and prone to damage according to Dr. Camp. Exposure to chlorine and copper in pool water can also lead to discoloration, turning your hair greenish or giving it a dull appearance.

How Do You Get Chlorine Out of Your Hair?

Immediately after you get out of the pool, rinse your hair with regular water. This will help to remove any excess chlorine. Then, follow up with a clarifying shampoo, and let the lather sit for two to three minutes to allow it to penetrate the hair. Follow this step with a conditioner to replenish the scalp and hair shaft with moisture and hydration.

How Do You Get Rid of Chlorine-Damaged Hair?

After you use a chlorine shampoo, make sure to follow up with a deep conditioning treatment like a hair mask, to give your locks extra nourishment.

Additionally, cutting off and removing split ends may help prevent them from traveling up the hair shaft. Consider using protective serums, which can feed the hair and prohibit additional damage.

Why Do Men Need Shampoo for Chlorine Removal?

Repeated exposure to chlorine can leave men’s hair brittle, dried out and damaged. Chlorine strips away all the natural producing oils out of the hair and scalp, which leaves it in a vulnerable state.

In order for men to prevent and/or reverse this result, they need to replenish the hair by re-hydrating it, according to Dr. Marisa Garshick, board-certified dermatologist of MDCS Dermatology. There are special shampoos and conditioning solutions on the market that men should use to repair swimmer’s hair and make it healthy again.

What Shampoo Ingredients Remove Chlorine?

Ingredients like ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) or sodium thiosulfate are known to forcefully remove chlorine. Other contents with chlorine-dissolving properties include apple cider vinegar, Vitamin C, activated charcoal and spearmint essential oil.

While sulfates can also remove chlorine, they tend to dry out the hair. That's why you should seek out moisturizing agents, like jojoba oil, argan oil, and aloe vera to help restore moisture to the scalp and hair shaft.

Meet the Experts

• Dr. Marisa Garshick, board-certified dermatologist of MDCS Dermatology.

• Dr. Divya Shokeen, MD, board-certified dermatologist at Ocean Skin and Vein Institute.

• Dr. Brendan Camp, MD, board-certified dermatologist of MDCS Dermatology.

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