Niles West Boy’s Swim Takes Bleached Hair to a New Yellow

As students bustle through the halls, some may notice an alarming number of bright yellow heads floating through the sea of students. It is an ongoing tradition for the boys swim team to bleach their hair at the end of the swim season. After bleaching their hair, many shave off the potentially damaged locks for the final big swim meets of the season.

“It’s a really fun tradition that’s pretty known throughout the swimming community, so it’s always something underclassmen or new swimmers are excited for or curious about,” junior Zachary Guerrero said.

Even though it looks a bit odd and intense, many swimmers find it enjoyable. “I think having a bleached head is fun, and I really enjoy seeing some of my other teammates with bleached hair,” senior Logan Bobiles said.

The decision to bleach or not is a big one and many things are taken into consideration. “This is the first year I bleached my hair. I was too scared my hair would never grow back and my loved ones wouldn’t look at me the same,” Guerrero said.

“I chose not to bleach my hair because I didn’t want to mess up my hair as it is. I think that it would’ve been a lot of fun to bleach my hair since I’d get to do it with all my friends and try something new, but I didn’t feel like the effects it would have on my hair would be worth it,” sophomore Marcus Moldovan said.

Ten members of the boys swim team chose to bleach their hair on Saturday, Jan. 28.

“Not a lot of people have been bleaching these past years so I didn’t really see a point in it. But, this year the team was a lot closer than other years and a lot of the freshmen this year were thinking of bleaching,” Guerrero said. Guerrero also pointed out that most of his teammate’s hair was not bleached as planned. “We were supposed to be platinum blonde.”

Some outside of the boys swim team can see the positive effects of the hair bleaching. “I think that overall it is a really good bonding point at that time in the season when it can be really hard to keep going, and it gives them something to look forward to. Which can be exciting for the big meets coming up,” junior and member of the girl’s swim team, Vaughn Holleran said.

While the tradition hasn’t been entirely consistent over the past couple of years, the boys have enjoyed bringing it back. The boys will shave their heads in preparation for the final meets of the season, so get a glimpse of their hair now while you still can.