Chlorine Turned My Son’s Hair Gray, and Now It’s Thinning

Hi,
I just read your article about the swimmers at GW University experiencing thinning and discoloration of hair due to chlorine levels at their swimmin pool. My son is experiencing the same conditions. The first time was a couple of years ago; he was practicing twice a day in a pool that the chlorine pump was malfunctioning. We didn’t know what was going on until my sons blond hair turned colorless (gray) and it was fried off and thinning. It probably took a year for it to grow back. Now I just found out the pool he is practicing at, last week the chlorine pumps put to much chlorine in the pool, some kids experienced rashes, but my son is very noticeably losing his hair (in a weeks time). It is discolored, fried and extremely thinning. I believe the chlorine pumps are fixed now, but is there anything he can do about his hair? Is there any shampoo product that can help his hair grow back? Is there a shampoo for swimmers to help prevent this from happening?
thank you so much.

The hair color will reverse with time as the new hair grows in and replaces the white hair that he now has. Chlorine in high concentrations might cause hair loss. I have not seen this finding but nevertheless, it has been reported. The New York Times published a short write-up about this issue, and they point out a study published in 2000 that showed 61% of swimmers showed signs of hair discoloration compared to non-swimmers, but no increased rate of hair loss.

There’s no shampoo to prevent discoloration problems that I’m aware of, nor is there shampoo to regrow hair that is actually proven effective (products are sold that claim various things, though).