Pool care articles
Why swimmers' skin itches after your pool
This guide from Sullivan's Pool Service summarizes the cited guidance. Swimmers' skin often itches because chlorine binds to the body waste they bring into the water, such as sweat and pee, and forms chemicals called chloramines. Chloramines irritate skin, eyes, and the respiratory tract, especially when they off gas into the air above the water and settle at the surface, which is also why a strong chemical odor signals a problem rather than clean water.
Chloramines are the usual culprit
When chlorine does its job in a pool, it binds to the body waste swimmers bring into the water, things like sweat and skin oils. When that binding happens, it can form chemicals called chloramines. These are a type of combined chlorine, which means the chlorine is no longer free to sanitize on its own because it is tied up with that waste.
What makes chloramines worth paying attention to is that they do not stay put in the water. They form in the water and then off gas into the air above the surface, which is why the smell people often call "too much chlorine" is actually a sign of chloramines hanging around.
If swimmers are coming out of the pool with itchy skin, chloramines are the usual culprit to check first. The rest of this article walks through how they irritate skin, why pH matters alongside them, and what to test in the water.
How chloramines irritate skin
When chlorine mixes with the sweat, oils, and other residues swimmers bring into the water, it forms chloramines. These compounds are what irritate skin directly in the water, leaving that itchy, tight feeling after a swim.
Chloramines do not stay dissolved. They escape into the air just above the surface, where they settle in a layer over the water. Swimmers breathe and splash through that layer, and it can bother the eyes, the nose, and the respiratory tract. The effect tends to be stronger indoors, where the air over the pool has nowhere to go and the compounds linger close to the surface.
Spectators sitting poolside can be affected too, since they are breathing that same air above the water. Anyone near the pool, not just the people in it, shares that exposure.
pH matters too
Chlorine and bromine get a lot of attention, but pH deserves a close look too. For a pool or spa, pH should sit somewhere between 7.0 and 7.8. When it drifts outside that range, either above it or below it, the sanitizer in the water stops doing its job well. The chlorine or bromine becomes less effective at killing germs, even if the reading on a test kit looks fine.
An out-of-range pH can also bother the people using the pool. Water that is too far in either direction tends to irritate skin and eyes, which is often why swimmers come out of the water feeling itchy or uncomfortable. It does not stop there. Over time, unbalanced pH can also wear on pool equipment itself.
Keeping pH within its proper range protects both the water and everything the water touches.
What to test in your water
When skin irritation shows up after a swim, the water chemistry is worth checking before anything else. Testing the disinfectant level and the pH at least twice a day, and more often during stretches of heavy use, helps confirm that both stay within their recommended ranges. For chlorine pools, the typical operating range is 1 to 4 ppm, while bromine pools usually run between 3 and 8 ppm.
One extra reading matters here: total chlorine. When you subtract the free chlorine number from the total chlorine number, what remains is combined chlorine, which is the fraction tied up with contaminants rather than actively sanitizing the water. That combined figure is what points toward the chloramine problems discussed elsewhere on this page.
A test kit that reports both free and total chlorine makes this comparison simple, and doing it routinely turns a vague complaint about itchy skin into a measurable number you can act on.
Watch for the signs, not the swimmers
Red flags show up at the pool before anyone has to guess at what is wrong. Cloudy or hazy eyes, skin that suddenly feels itchy or dry, coughing or a stuffy nose among swimmers and lifeguards, all point to something in the water reacting with the people around it. A strong chemical smell hanging over the pool deck is another sign worth taking seriously, because a clean pool should not announce itself that way. Visible waste, such as a bowel movement in the water, calls for immediate attention.
The simplest fix starts before anyone gets wet. Rinsing off with a quick shower washes away a good share of the sweat, dirt, and body oils that people otherwise carry straight into the pool. Encouraging swimmers to use the restroom before swimming, and to take that rinse first, keeps the water cleaner from the start and eases the load on your sanitation system.
Sources
In Austin
Fill water matters here. Austin Water reported finished water leaving its three plants in the second quarter of 2026 at pH 9.65 to 9.74, total hardness of 76 to 77 mg/L as CaCO3, total alkalinity of 51 to 60 mg/L, and 2.52 to 2.69 mg/L of chloramines. Those are averages for tap water, not readings of your pool, so test the pool itself after a top-up.
Related articles
- Why swimmers stay out during equipment service
- Why swimmers' eyes sting in your pool
- How to prevent swimmer's ear after a swim
Sullivan’s Pool Service maintains pools in and around Austin, including Northwest Hills, South Austin, West Lake Hills, Tarrytown, Great Hills, River Place, Crestview, East Austin, North Austin, West Campus, Hyde Park, Downtown Austin and St. Johns, and in Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville and Round Rock. See every service area.
Weekly residential service has one fixed monthly price, set by pool size: see pool service pricing for what each size tier covers.
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