[Bathing caps and germ shedding of human scalp hair]

With three groups of 30 test subjects each, having short, medium-long and long hair, as well as with a model test using a woman's wig it was possible to show that by wearing bathing caps the transfer of germs from the scalp hairs to the swimming-pool water can be reduced considerably, either by the isolation of the hairs from water when snugly fitting water-tight bathing caps are used, or by a reduction of the germ-carrying hair surface rinsed by the water, which is always the case, even when using water-permeable caps. The effect is the greater, the larger the natural hair surface is. The rule that persons with long hair of either sex should wear bathing caps proves again justified although the prescriptive use of bathing caps by "the long-haired" earlier was based on other concepts. The population of germs settling on bathing caps does not in the least reach the germ counts discharged into the swimming-pool water when no headgear is used. Nevertheless, the issue of disposable bathing caps, which is occasionally practised, must be welcomed for reasons of hygiene. The use of bathing caps not only diminishes the discharge of colony forming units (CFU) but also prevents the indicators of pollution, pathological and occasionally pathological germs being washed into the water from the hair. Reference is also made to the possibility that a snugly fitting bathing cap protects the swimmer against the risk of contracting otitis.