Bond Through Bleach
Many people question the reasoning behind why swimmers bleach their hair. Liberty swimmers explain why and what they sacrifice when they bleach their hair.
The West-Liberty Varsity Boys Swim team poses together after winning a meet.
“Time, energy, sleep, and hair. Especially hair,” Boyd Skelley, sophomore, said when asked what he sacrifices during the long, brutal swim season.
Skelley is just one of the many swimmers on the conjoined Liberty and West swimming team who annually bleaches his hair for the state tournament.
“I’d say about 5% of the team doesn’t bleach their hair. Maybe not even that, there’s sixty of us and I think only two kids didn’t bleach their hair. That’s a good ratio.” Skelley said.
Kirk Brotherton, sophomore, is also one of the swimmers that sacrificed his hair for the team and the tradition.
I dye my hair for more of the team chemistry than anything else. It’s really important that everyone on our team is on the same page. We all have to have a very strong bond. — Kirk Brotherton
“I dye my hair for more of the team chemistry than anything else. It’s really important that everyone on our team is on the same page. We all have to have a very strong bond,” Brotherton states. “It’s also for tradition, though. We do it every year and we got to keep the tradition rolling.”
The origin of the bleaching tradition is unknown. According to SwimmerPro, a site founded by retired professional swimmer Roman Trussov, “It is unclear when and where the bleached hair tradition began. Some say it was in a time before caps were used when swimmers would do something silly with their hair and then shave it off.”
12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte rebirthed the tradition in 2016 when he bleached his hair for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Lochte’s bleached hair became an internet sensation after the platinum color turned into a light green color. The change in color was caused by the chlorine in the pool and is just one of the many risks of bleaching their hair.
Some other risks of bleaching your hair include bleach burn, discoloration of the hair, and hair loss. But, if done right, the chances of the process going wrong are very unlikely.
The bleaching process took place in a West High classroom and was done by the team moms who volunteered to help.
Cam Whitehead, sophomore, was one of the swimmers who chose not to bleach their hair. He did not swim varsity this year and will not be competing in the state tournament.
“I just didn’t see the point in doing it if you weren’t on varsity.” Whitehead said, “I felt like with just a few practices left there wasn’t much of a point.”
Whitehead’s decision is respected, but the choice comes with friendly and playful banter between him and his teammates.
After the state tournament occurs and the high school swim season ends, most of the bleaching participants will shave their heads completely. The next few months after that will be used as both a time of relaxation after a long season and of regrowth for the hair that was sacrificed.
Luke Bollier, junior, is a second year staff member. He plays on the baseball team and is involved in Difference Makers here at Liberty. He enjoys being...
