Swimming Caps

Whether you’re a leisure swimmer who wants dryer hair at the end of the session or a competitive swimmer who wants to stop your hair from slowing you down, a bathing cap is a low cost and sensible addition to your kit. 

Swimming caps are as much about health and hygiene as they are speed and efficiency.  And in some pools and certain circumstances they’re a must.

The right fit of cap will keep your hair dry and also prevent it from escaping into the pool and clogging up the filters.  And if where you dip is chemically treated – as most public pools are – you’ll be protecting your crowning glory from the full exposure to chlorine.   A swimming cap keeps your hair out of your eyes and streamlines your head, enabling you to swim more efficiently.

In competitions the colour and design of the cap are used as markers and if you’re braving an open water venue – river, lake or sea, they’re a great way to retain body heat too.  In fact cross-channel swimming rules don’t allow the use of wet suits so a swim cap is crucial if you’re crazy enough to attempt the 21-mile swim in temperatures as low as 17 degrees Celsius.

The most popular modern materials are latex and silicone; latex is the cheaper and thinner of the two while silicone is warmer, more expensive, longer lasting, stretch resistant and can be even moulded to be ‘hydrodynamic’.  

However there is a downside to silicone, it retains much more heat than latex so if you’re wearing a cap for a vigorous water workout or in a warm climate for your swim latex is actually a better option.  If latex is the way you go ensure you get the longest possible life out of your cap by patting it dry inside and out after every swim.