When you say you are trying the larger caps, are you using the ones designed especially for long hair? I tried those, (silicone ones from TYR), and found that they were only OK. It did help if I made sure my forehead was clean/dry/non-greasy before putting the cap on - I would use an astringent to remove any oils from my skin. I found latex pulled my hair too much - most of the latex race caps I got were WAY too small and pinched.

I also found that braiding my hair into a french braid helped the cap fit better than if it was in a knot/ponytail. (Eventually I got fed up and cut it all off, but that's an extreme solution!)

Swimmer my whole life....it just happens to some people more than others. Latex tends to be more grippy than silicone, but silicone does less damage. As the latex ones stretch out quicker, they pop off of nearly everyone's head at some point (the silicone ones don't stretch as much). You might try putting the goggle straps under the cap for something to grip onto....I can't do that myself or I wind up with fine hair wrapped all in knots around the straps...

As a distance swimmer, it's just something you get a little used to...some are better than others, newer are better than older, cheap ones provided by races are good only for a couple/few wears....sorry there aren't any good answers from me.

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AW

I have chest length dreads that a pretty hard to pack down into a swim cap and I've been using adult sized lycra/nylon blend swim caps for a while.
Though I usually don't have problems with caps given out at races, it just takes a lot of maneuvering and a stellar french braid :/

I'm assuming that you are using volume caps (caps that allow for longer hair).

Have you tried a lycra cap underneath? This is a textile fabric cap that can help to cover all of the hair easily, and gives the silicone cap something to hold on to.

Otherwise, ensuring that all of her hair is in the cap and not coming out of the front or back of the cap can help to ensure that it stays on better.

jake

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Get outside!

Thanks so much everyone for the advice! We are swimming the Great Ohio River Swim in Cincinnati together on Sunday, so we will be implementing some kind of solution to keep the cap on the whole time!

I am surprised that no one has questioned hair product usage. In my experience, the number one reason why caps slip off is due to hair products such as gels, conditioners, and even some hairsprays. Any product that makes her hair slippery will cause her cap to slip. I do not use slippery hair products for several days before racing, to be sure my cap will stay on.

If she swims in pool meets, soaking her hair in the chlorinated water during warm up will actually make her hair sticky during the meet and will help keep her cap on. Also, I use a different cap for meets than practice, so any product residue in my practice cap will not be in my cap when I race.

Hope this helps!

Will certainly keep that in mind. At present she doesn't use any hair product other than conditioner, so maybe we could try leaving that out prior to swimming.

For the Ohio River Swim, we tried a lycra cap, then goggles, then latex cap on top, and it seemed to work well. Stayed on with almost no slip the entire 25 or so minutes of the swim. So we will stick with that going forward and see if that continues to work well. Thanks again for all the advice and suggestions.

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