First the easy one ;): Get your hair wet before you put the swim cap on (I stick my head under a shower for a second). Having the wet hair makes my hair suck up less chlorine, and keeps it from being as dried out.

I also have some eczema issues, and found that the best bet was to be sure to shower right out of the pool, and soon after workouts that leave me sweaty. I found a soap that works great for me: it's an all natural peppermint one (smells great!) and I use that after swims. I found some lotions made the issue worse, and some made it better. In the winter I tend to use some lotion after showers (or during flareups) but not the rest of the year. When it is really bad, I have a prescription cream/lotion that is great for helping control it!

As for the indents, I find the goggle ones go away by the time I finish driving to work, so I tend to ignore it.

Perhaps get a referal to a skin specialist and see what they can do for you? That's how I got the skin stuff that works great, and it really helped to just get fears calmed and to realize it would all be ok (I had some VERY bad fully body episodes before I knew what it was that had me worried about it and tris with it -- my first flare-ups were around my first IM).

The chlorine issue may get better in a little while. The pools around here all have super high chlorine levels because of that spyro...whatever parasite that still has all of the pools closed to kids under 5. Let's hope it gets better for you when the chlorine levels come back down to normal.

As for the goggles, I must have a wierd shaped face or something because I always had trouble with my sprint goggles when I was on the local swim team as a kid. I've taken a hint from my SCUBA classes and try on the goggles before I buy them. Look at the floor and push the goggles onto your face without putting the strap on. If they stick, they will more likely be a good fit. TYR work for me but Speedo do not.

Swimming used to dry out my skin BIG time. I was crusty, flaky, gross. Lotioning afterward helped a little, but the biggest help for me has been to apply lots of lotion BEFORE swimming. It acts as a buffer against the pool chemicals. I still lotion afterwards too, and the combination of pre- and post-swim lotioning is that I don't have any more skin problems. Hope it works for you too.

I don't color my hair, so I'm no help on that one :)

I usually do the "wet the hair" before the swim cap but haven't heard the conditioner one.

Kylie, you're lucky!!

Thanks for the recommendation, JCarlson. I'll check it out.

I DO color my hair. I'm in my mid thirties with like 60% gray hair!

I put stuff in, but my cap hasn't popped off. Actually, what I do is before I leave, I put on either some pomade or some leave in conditioner such as garnier nutrisse for colored hair. Then I get it a little wet in the shower just before. I think the hair would be a lot more slippery with wet conditioner. My hair hasn't smelled like chlorine since I started doing that. I guess that is a good sign.

And thanks for all of everyone's tips here! I really appreciate it.

:D :D

That's funny!