Aftercare and swimming

Not sure about salt water, since I'm a mountain girl, but I follow the same aftercare for swimming in fresh water that I do for bathing and showering.  Never on the same day that I do the henna.  The next day, I coat the design with a non-petroleum based water barrier which I check every half hour or so to make sure that the water is still beading off of the design.  I have tried swimming on the day that I do the design, but even with the water barrier the design never fully oxidizes.

We have a salt water pool at our apartment with traces of chlorene.  I've been swimming most days and my henna stains still darken, and last for about a week.  Although I don't know what's going on cause I never leave my henna on for more than a few hours, or avoid water for long periods cause I'm Muslim, and we wash before we pray five times a day.  But yeah, my stains still darken after I wash off the paste with soap and water, and they stay for at least a week as long as I leave the paste on for a couple of hours or more.

(I hope that made sense :))

It seems to me that extended water exposure encourages exfoliation.  So any long soaks would cause the stain to demise at a faster rate than if it was not exposed.  That being said, I have four small children and am merciless with my henna.  Despite much handwashing and the lots of water exposure that comes with bathing babes and housework, my henna stains beautifully.  I try to set the expectation that the stain will be killed by water exposure though.  Sort of, under promise and over deliver...

When I henna kids that are going to swim whether I like it or not, I suggest they get a design somewhere higher on their body like a shoulder where it won't be in the water as much.

IMO exposure to chlorinated pool water, even for a few minutes, in the fist two days will keep the color from ever maturing at all. Lake water or salt water doesn't appear TOO bad, especially after the color has matured, but long term soaks in any water are not good news.

I see all these experiences about henna and skin, but what about with hair?  I'd assume hair and skin are very similar, but I'm not quite ready to experiment, haha.  I recently started using henna and am growing out my chemical dye.  I'm about halfway!  But, I haven't swam in all this time, and I normally swim and/or run 5-6 days a week.  It looks like from what everyone has said that I should wait til the henna is done oxidizing to hit the pool, but what about how the henna takes on hair that is "chlorinated"?  I had experiences in the past with chemical dyes taking weird from chlorine.  Any experiences would be very helpful!

 I swim laps for exercise.  Everyone's skin is different, but if I henna my hand at night, then wake up, wash the paste off, and go swimming in a chlorinated pool for an hour... it always turns out just fine.  I never even thought about it before this thread.  :)