SAVE THE BATHING CAP
Fashion


The history of modern bathing cap begins with the invention of rubber in the 19th Century and with its first bathing cap in 1883, made from rubber-like fabric. Before that, men and women are known to have bound their hair with nets made from taffeta. When bathhouses came up it was used a kind of turban and later the Baigneuse (French: Bathing) that mainly was used for morning ablutions and fashionable headgear.

In the beginning of the 20th Century bathing caps became a fashion accessory to complete a full body swim costume worn in public. In the 1940's they served for a perfect fit on film where famous Hollywood star Esther Williams brings the spirit and exuberance of stage dances into the swimming pool while exposing decorative swim caps with stylish bathing suits of the time. Swim caps of the 1950's were colorful and textured by women who spent a lot of time curling their hairs. In the 1960's Swim caps were starting to lose their popularity as a fashion statement, however public swimming pools began to have standard rules for wearing them because of the long hair trends of the day. Competitive swimming in the 1980's and 1990's and the worldwide construction of indoor lap swimming pools for fitness swimming, made the swim cap popular again. Swim caps of the current day are stylish, versatile and affordable. They're available in latex, silicone, and Lycra, neoprene for open swim and scuba diving wetsuits.