London's Danielle Obe originally designed the scarves to help her daughter feel confident swimming

Danielle Obe, 38 from London, came up with the idea for the headscarves – called Nemes – after her daughter Kayla, now six, began to dread going in the pool. The headscarves Danielle invented are based on ancient Egyptian designs and will protect all hair types in the water. They are used by her entire family, including three-year-old Eliora and nine-year-old Zachary.

Danielle created a unique waterproof headscarf designed to protect black hair

The chlorine dries out the hair, causing it to be frizzy, brittle and “thirsty”, which is what causes breakage, hair thinning and – in some cases for women with processed, delicate hair – it falls off if the hair is not thoroughly washed out, conditioned and rehydrated. I discovered that swimming caps were originally designed not to protect hair, or keep it from getting wet, but instead to streamline, so I couldn’t find something to keep Kayla’s hair dry because the product was flawed to begin with. - Danielle

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‘The Nemes can be used by everyone, to swim, steam, spa or shower and protect colour-treated hair in chlorine water so hair colour lasts longer, and most especially designed for afro-Caribbean hair and hairstyles.’ - Danielle

The scarves are available for pre-order on her website now.

Continue reading the post Waterproof headscarves aim to encourage black people to go swimming on MetroUK.