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Q: Swimming caps, really??
Anyone else find it weird how hygiene is practically nonexistent in China, yet they make it mandatory for you wear swimming caps when in public swimming pools? This must be for hygiene, what else could it be for? And yet....what the fuck do they think is transmitted from someone's hair into the water which presumably is filled with chlorine?
Where's the stupidity category for this one?
8 years 46 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
Swimming/bathing caps - mandatory.
Getting out of the pool to pee - optional.
(using the actual toilet to pee in - also optional)
The filter and pump manufacturers are foreign brands hence the dire warning of hair being sucked into the traps and killing people is a real threat.
I've been a fairly regular swimmer in several different pools now and every time they make me wear a stupid hat on my head.
I have actually asked why and got some vague answer about protecting my hair or something ( I have no hair) and it being a rule so everyone has to wear a cap cos it's the rule so everyone has to wear a cap because it's the rule and everyone wears a cap while swimming, It's the rule. No why.
I did google it out of curiosity and it might be because all the hair clogs the pool filters which would sort of make sense except that it doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere else I've been.
What I I think is it's just because back in the day when China started making swimming pools they saw pictures of foreign olympic swimmers wearing swimming caps and that became the rule for how a swimming pool should look. Everyone should be wearing a swimming cap. It wouldn't have mattered that the reason those swimmers were wearing a cap was to shave part of a second off their 100m medley, and that was not likely to be a big concern for a Chinese guy wearing water wings and flopping around in a community pool. The protocol was set and nobody would think to question it. You need to wear a hat to swim now. No why
vinceg777:
I suspect because the cheap and dangerous chemicals they really use will either bleach your hair or cause it to fall out and the scalp is particularly vulnerable to absorbing toxins. ;-)
Swimming/bathing caps - mandatory.
Getting out of the pool to pee - optional.
(using the actual toilet to pee in - also optional)
Where I live it's not a problem.....though pregnant women aren't allowed in the pool!
i have friends in another city nearby & one of them once got into a big argument about swimming caps.....they insisted he wear one. Why? Because Olympic swimmers wear them!
He's 90% bald....so shaves his head and has no hair! They still made him wear one!
Another friend (same city/different pool) got into a similar argument & ignored them. One of the AYI's started to bail him out verbally....until her grandson then shat in the pool (through his trunks!!) at which point my friend, in Chinese, verbally ripped her apart for her grandsons lack of control. He didn't go swimming that day for obvious reasons!
fada:
Hahaha, i bet the ayi wasnt even phased by her grandson doing that and continued to think she had the moral high ground with the dirty foreigner.
Observation: You gotta be nukkin futz to get in a public Pool in chiner ! might as well jump in a toilet...
RandomGuy:
No one else beside me uses the pool in my residence. It used to be crowded to hell then, one day, the management made it 10 kuai per month. I am willing to pay that and enjoy the pool for myself.
earthizen:
hahahaha....the water in your toilet at home is way more drinkable than that so-called swimming pool.
Stiggs:
I wonder how many of the people in that big bowl of urine marinade thought.....
"Wow, everyone goes there! it must be famous and therefore the best. Now I want to go there too because everyone else in the city seems to be there." 
Seriously, I have nightmares about being in places like that.
just been to a pool. my wife is learning to swim, to hopefully lose some of that old pregnancy weight. the instructor is a silver medalist in the paralympics no less! one leg of course; the best disability for swimming.
the pool is part of a hotel and open to the public, but most people avoid it because the temperature is so low. low temp pools are not for recreation, but for keeping your muscles cool so you can do more laps. it might not be as quiet on a warm summer day, but i'm rooting for the TCM aversion to cold water scaring people off.
anyway, swimming caps… my wife and her friend arrived without one for their first lesson, but the instructor reccommended they get one ASAP. a group of young guys came in to play in the little warm kiddie pool and throw eachother in the cold pool. they weren't wearing anything, so it doesn't seem to be mandatory there. perhaps town pools are less rigid about rules because locals ignore them.
5 star resort , just an hour or so out of Guangzhou
hot spring place .. cannot remember the name so can't trash it properly.
I was with about 12 Chinese ... we had a log cabin 4 bdrms, and a hot tub at our fancy rooms.
the girl at the entrance to the hot springs did not like my attire. . She said it is not a bathing suit, which is a requirement.... (this place was new, and I am translating from my friend) ..my shorts did not meet the requirements for access to the spa. of course my bilingual buddy fixed it, but just the ignorance of a 5 star employee to question why my balls would not fit in a regular speedo is ignorant.
then they tried to feed us pretty much nothing better than pigs blood .... 5 star remember ... can't just go to town and get something else..... miles from civilization........ 5 star!!!
I could go on and on about this place.... careful ... 5 star my ass
BHGAL:
but just the ignorance of a 5 star employee to question why my balls would not fit in a regular speedo is ignorant.
xunliang:
Haha! Yeah, fuck those super tight Speedos the Chinese love. I want to have kids some day.
diverdude1:
I bet I've been there too! I mean I was at some place with log-cabin style rooms and a good, but helluva long way from 5-Star restaurant, that was about an hours drive outside of GZ. I guess there couldn't be all that many of them.... this was pushing two years ago, and some of the roads to get there were little more than cow paths. interesting excursion all-in-all.
Long ago I learnt the dark art of swimming pool maintenance. Once you have cleaned a filter of masses of tangled, snotty human hair then swimming caps for all seem like a great idea. Head lice are also a very resilient creature and are completely unaffected by chlorine.
xunliang:
Fair enough. Seems China is ahead of the rest of the world at something. 
Well, I don't mind swimming at all, but crowded Chinese pools are not the place to go.
Wearing caps is kind of annoying but I will wear a cap if they can convince Chinese to stop wearing those tight Speedos that display their (lack of) male fortitude.
nzteacher80:
It seems to me that mothers let their children piss anywhere. How much of that pool is piss? I'm guessing 15%.
One morning I was splashing around in the pool. A German dude was doing the same, our "lifeguard" came and started yelling at the guy for not wearing a swimming cap. The guy was bald as a thing completely without haid.
Lord_hanson:
This sums up China perfectly. The "no why" mentality. They are taught not to question things or even wonder why. It is why he did not think why swimming caps were worn.
Dont forget its totally ok to SPIT IN THE POOL at your leisure while you swim. Ive even seen green lugies floating about. I love to swim, but all that spit in there gets to me....
yongge:
The pool I frequent have a spitting basket at the end of each lane. The first time I went swimming, I also had no cap, but the lifeguard on duty gave me one and said I could keep it. They don't have any other foreigners visiting, so I must be a celebrity
The best part is how they make my bald friend wear a swim cap. God forbid any of his hair gets in the water. But but it's the rule!
the only way i would go swimming in public pool in China is after the truck load of chlorine had settled to a normal ph level
on the other hand it could be a nice little earner charging the girls for white skin
or as i call it .....the Ghost look
My guess is it's about errant hair buggering up the pool filtering system.
That said, I would never swim - with or without cap - in a swimming pool in China. Chlorinated, public, private or otherwise.
You know and I know and everyone knows that the hygiene issue in this country leaves a lot (in more ways than Number 1 or Number 2) to be desired.
So, no matter how seductive a Chinese pool may appear to be, I'll lounge deckside sipping a pina colada or cuba libre, whilst the buoyant and merry many swim and bobble in their pee, poo and snot miasma.
Cheers!
I've been a pool manager, college varsity swimmer (blew out my knee in HS, but both brothers were college All-Americans), etc. Here's the scoop:
1. NZ Teacher is right - swimming caps are useful for helping to keep hair from clogging pool drains and filters. Most U.S. pools only require people with long hair to wear caps.
As for Chinese requiring bald people to wear caps - how stupid can you get?
Answer: pretty stupid, if you have been trained not to ask basic questions, such as "Why?"
BTW, this is also why U.S. pools don't allow people to wear cut-offs. The threads come off non-hemmed clothing and help clog the filters.
2. Others are right - lazy and stupid people pee in pools, and the world has plenty of both. There's an engineering mantra: the solution to pollution is dilution. Pool manager's mantra: keep the chlorine at maximum levels.
3. If your eyes burn, it's not the chlorine, it's the pH that's out of whack. Of course, that could be due to chlorine levels (ever heard of HCl?), but there are other things that can cause pH problems.
4. One of the swimming teams I was on when I was a kid had a boy, about ten (so old enough to control himself), who had some sort of mental or developmental problem(
. Eddie shit in the pool. Sb yelled, "Get out, Eddie crapped in the pool!" We all hopped out and sb pointed out the "floaters". The pool was closed, drained, cleaned, and re-filled. What would Chinese pool managers do? Probably scoop the poop and not even close for a minute. The incident happened in California. With their drought, they might just superchlorinate the pool, leaving it closed for 3-4 days, so they wouldn't waste the water. Not sure what the current health regs say.
5. Are you sure there's chlorine in your Chinese pool? At any U.S. pool used for competitive swimming I can easily find the pump/filter/chlorinator room by following the chlorine smell and the sounds. I can't do that in China. Better control of fugitive emissions (leaking chlorine gas), or non-use of chlorine? I'd bet on the latter. It's a lot cheaper to make up chlorine levels on your pool records than to actually add chlorine. (I suspect quite a few records here are completely fictitious.) I have NEVER seen any pool personnel test the water. At my pools (as a competitive swimmer and as a manager) the water was tested at least every two hours, often every hour. Look at #2 again. Happy swimming!
I've been a pool manager, college varsity swimmer (blew out my knee in HS, but both brothers were college All-Americans), etc. Here's the scoop:
1. NZ Teacher is right - swimming caps are useful for helping to keep hair from clogging pool drains and filters. Most U.S. pools only require people with long hair to wear caps.
As for Chinese requiring bald people to wear caps - how stupid can you get?
Answer: pretty stupid, if you have been trained not to ask basic questions, such as "Why?"
BTW, this is also why U.S. pools don't allow people to wear cut-offs. The threads come off non-hemmed clothing and help clog the filters.
2. Others are right - lazy and stupid people pee in pools, and the world has plenty of both. There's an engineering mantra: the solution to pollution is dilution. Pool manager's mantra: keep the chlorine at maximum levels.
3. If your eyes burn, it's not the chlorine, it's the pH that's out of whack. Of course, that could be due to chlorine levels (ever heard of HCl?), but there are other things that can cause pH problems.
4. One of the swimming teams I was on when I was a kid had a boy, about ten (so old enough to control himself), who had some sort of mental or developmental problem(. Eddie shit in the pool. Sb yelled, "Get out, Eddie crapped in the pool!" We all hopped out and sb pointed out the "floaters". The pool was closed, drained, cleaned, and re-filled. What would Chinese pool managers do? Probably scoop the poop and not even close for a minute. The incident happened in California. With their drought, they might just superchlorinate the pool, leaving it closed for 3-4 days, so they wouldn't waste the water. Not sure what the current health regs say.
5. Are you sure there's chlorine in your Chinese pool? At any U.S. pool used for competitive swimming I can easily find the pump/filter/chlorinator room by following the chlorine smell and the sounds. I can't do that in China. Better control of fugitive emissions (leaking chlorine gas), or non-use of chlorine? I'd bet on the latter. It's a lot cheaper to make up chlorine levels on your pool records than to actually add chlorine. (I suspect quite a few records here are completely fictitious.) I have NEVER seen any pool personnel test the water. At my pools (as a competitive swimmer and as a manager) the water was tested at least every two hours, often every hour. Look at #2 again. Happy swimming!
hi2u:
Ya I really don't think the public pools in China are chlorinated, there is no chlorine smell. They just try to clean the water with the filters (shudder).
Wow! I used parentheses to indicate alternatives (problem or problems). eChinaCities' program left the first paren., but decided the " s)" meant I wanted to draw what looks like a derogatory emoticon about people with disabilities. WTF? Not what I meant!
Wow! I used parentheses to indicate an alternative (problem or problems). eChinaCities' program left the first paren., but decided the " s)" meant I wanted to draw what looks like a derogatory emoticon about people with disabilities. WTF? Not what I meant!
Another WTF.
I noticed and edited a small mistake, so edited my comment, and eChina decided to keep BOTH comments? What's the point of editing?
Another WTF.
I noticed and edited a small mistake, so edited my comment, and eChina decided to keep BOTH comments? What's the point of editing?
because they are lazy and don't want to clean the hair out of the pool, OR, the chemicals they use are so bad that they will either bleach your hair or cause it to fall out.
I think Option 2 is most likely. They probably use diluted bleach to save $1 a year.
