If you’ve ever watched artistic swimming, you’ve seen the sparkling swimsuits and eye-catching makeup unique to each routine. But have you ever noticed the glossy sheen atop the athletes’ heads and wondered what on earth those swimmers have in their hair?
Traditionally, female artistic swimmers keep their hair long enough to be able to gather it into a ballet-style bun relatively high on their heads. While this may seem simple, there is actually quite a bit of attention-to-detail involved– a team of swimmers will take care to make their hairstyles as uniform as possible, as well as ensuring that there are no bumps at the base of their buns. This usually involves using several hair ties, bobby pins, and hair nets.
“Knoxing” or “gelling” is a notorious part of competition prep for artistic swimmers. The athletes use unflavored gelatine, often from the popular cooking brand Knox (hence the first term), to keep their buns from coming undone during their performances. Powdered gelatine is mixed with hot water until the solid bits dissolve, and is then painted onto the swimmers’ heads. Once the mixture cools and solidifies, athletes are left with a shiny shell over their slicked-back hair.
The longer the gelatine has to dry, the harder and more helmet-like it becomes. But when it gets wet, it returns to a stickier, more gel-like state; especially if the water is warm. Because artistic swimmers will typically be in and out of the pool throughout a competition, the gelatine in their hair will melt and dry over and over. And as a result, the repeated transition from a rock-hard solid to a sticky not-quite-liquid and back again often results in peeling and the need for re-application.
By the time a competition is over, the gelatine in the athletes’ hair is wet in some places and rock-hard in others. In order to remove it, artistic swimmers will use a variety of methods, sometimes bringing unexpected materials into the mix. Some prefer to take a hot shower and scrub the gel out by hand while others claim that lemon juice works wonders. Another popular gel-removal method is to scrape at the remaining gel with a comb. But regardless of the chosen method, full removal of the gelatine can take as long as an hour, if not longer!
Despite the inconveniences of gel application, maintenance, and removal, everything pays off during performance when the athletes’ hair remains slicked back and shiny, contributing to the professionalism and overall impression of the routine. And as an added bonus, hair-gelling is guaranteed to be an effective conversation-starter if you ever meet an artistic swimmer :)
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