What about swimming with dreads? - Dreadlocks FAQ's

You can swim with dreads. Chlorine won't hurt them and salt water can help them mature. You'll always find some new loose hair after swimming but it can easily be taken care of with a Loose Hair Tool.

There's two things you'll need to look out for when swimming with dreads. The first is making sure they get dry afterward. Brand new dreads won't be as prone to holding water. Just squeezing all the water out and letting them air dry should be sufficient. Later on you'll need to keep a close eye on them and make sure they dry. More squeezing and wringing them out in a towel is often required especially for all but the thinnest dreadlocks.

The biggest issue for new dreads is that they are pretty delicate. The more you swim and let them float around the more loose hair and loosening you'll get. You'll probably want to avoid getting them wet a lot for the first month. By the second month they won't be nearly as delicate and you'll be able to create knots using clockwise rubbing which will help knot straight hair at the roots that you'll find after swimming. The A-B maintenance routine that you start at the second months gives you a great opportunity to create knots by dreadballing loose hair & clockwise rubbing loose roots, so you'll be better able to fix your dreads after swimming.

If you are going to be doing a lot of swimming with newer dreads you should really put rubberbands on the roots and tips of the dreads.

Rubberbands and the proper amount of wax will prevent a lot of loose hairs from slipping out. If you're at the beach the hotel pools are usually so full of sunscreen and tanning oil they are a lot tougher on your dreads.... The ocean will help them mature so go dunk those stoopid phat dreadies! That's not to say that you won't get loose hair and some looseness when swimming in the ocean but while looseness may occur at the tips and roots the body of the dread will of become tighter. The Locking Accelerator manages the advantages of the ocean (and then some) but doesn't cause any of the loosening. Woot!

Avoid the temptation to leave wet dreads tied up or stick them in a hat. Remove all the water you can and allow them to air dry. If you swim often you'll probably want to grow thinner dreads. 1/2" or 3/4" sections as opposed to 1" or 1.5" because the drying time will be greatly reduced. Always washing the dreads with Dread Soap also makes a big difference in drying time.

If you can get your hands on an under water camera take some underwater pics of your dreadies and send them too us...Dreads look even "awesomer" underwater!