The Adventures of Working at the Lifeguard Store

I spoke with a coworker a week ago, and I asked her what swim cap material is best to wear; silicone, latex, or lycra? Her preferred cap was latex, because she believes that it protects hair the most, but there’s also great perks to the lycra and the silicone caps from what I’ve heard. Working for The Lifeguard Store, you would be surprised to know that some of us aren’t swimmers (weird, right?). There are indeed swimming professionals who work among us (and thank God for them), but I am one of those sore thumbs that stick out among the inexperienced. I work up in the web department, the only girl amidst a group “techy” guys. I was curious one day to try on three of these different caps to see what I’d look like, and so I thought I’d share it with you. To acquire these caps, I had to venture far down the mountainous staircase to good old “Graphics Land.” You see, Graphics Land is a wondrous, magical place where all The Lifeguard Store’s art requests are brought to life. There are two, incredible Photoshop magicians there, and they spend their days concocting artistic brilliance over a computer screen to delight the hopes and dreams of our happy custom team customers. In Graphics Land, I humbly requested three swim caps from one of the magician’s I was lucky enough to befriend, and she procured two of them for me. But, the last one she told me I had to seek out through customer service. Oh, customer service, defenders of the innocent, and the greatest problem solvers in all The Lifeguard Store; so noble and vigilant they are. I eventually received the third cap, and I quickly made my way back up the mountainous terrain once more to return to my own department. After such a long, tiresome journey of about 10 minutes, I sat back in my cozy office chair and looked with delight upon the treasures I had obtained. The two I tried on above are silicone (left), and latex (right). I realized quickly that when I put on the silicone, the reason it didn’t stay on was because it wasn’t the right size for my enormous head. I didn’t want to part with it for an alternative size because it was a kitty cap! I mean, who wouldn’t want a kitty cap? I really did like the texture of the silicone cap, it seemed like it would provide a comfortable fit when worn. Another great feature of silicone caps is that they are a perfect alternative for people with latex allergies. When I put on the latex cap, it reminded me of my swimming days as a kid. Believe it or not, I was once a part of a summer league back in my hometown for a year or two (whoa, surprising, right?). But, this one was more comfortable than the one I wore as a kid probably because we had a cheaper version of latex. I remember taking baby powder and filling up the cap, rubbing it back and forth, and then shoving it on my head because one of my teammates said that it would make it more comfortable to put on. I don’t remember it being as comfortable as this one, and I certainly don’t remember how the baby powder helped in adding to that comfort. Either way, when I put this one on I felt very much like pro-athlete…. Or maybe not… maybe more of a superhero. The last one I tried on here was the lycra. It was for sure different than the other two, but nonetheless of great quality. I have never even heard of lycra swim caps until I started working here, but everyday coming to work I’ve learned a lot of super interesting swim-related tidbits that I had never formerly known. One of my coworkers shared with me that sometimes lycra caps are great for swimmers with long hair. I can see that by the flexibility of the fabric. As you can see in the photo on the right, at this point I was just ready to get them off. But less about me, and more about YOU! What swim cap do YOU prefer? And why? Tell me what you think of lycra, latex, silicone swim caps—or even neoprene, if you use those. You have the experience that I don’t, and I would love to hear what you have to say.