I always wear my swimming cap in the pool.
It gives me a place to keep my cigar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/12/speedos-fashion
hmmm, seems like its “normal” in many other places to have such deviant rules…
but I still contend that if women can wear bikini’s into the pool and those little skirts to cover their buldges, men shouldnt have to go through the indignity of wearing “posing pouches” in the sake of hygiene
I think I may know where this rule came from. I’m a pool and fountain engineer in California and just came back from a couple of weeks in Taiwan (I lived there years ago). The most dangerous thing about a pool is it’s suction system for the filter. Here in the states we’re constantly upgrading and redesigning the drain fittings because of it. The most common way to drown is getting one’s hair in the suction fitting. This last time in Taiwan was the first that I’ve really gone swimming a lot, and I found most of the pools were unsafe. Some were radically unsafe. There was even a kiddie pool I came across that was pulling a vortex into it’s drain fitting (pool guys call suction points “drains”, even if they are not). I was also against the cap rule until I noticed this…
The stuff about hairs in the filter is just crap…
Our preschool kids just had to buy pool caps so they could play in the inflatable blow up pool at preschool. When my wife questioned the teacher, ‘Why require pool caps? They’re just in a knee-deep pool,’ the teacher looked at her like she was crazy. ‘It bad hygiene to have no poolcap on your head,’ she said.
My guess is that most Taiwanese rarely wash their hair and with all the humidity it just gets dirty. Like taking your shoes off at home, it may be a social custom drilled into everyone even as young as my preschooled kids.
I know when I lived with my Taiwanese in-laws bathing was a weekly activity and they were really frugal with the water even though they lived America. Maybe when people see your hair, they have the same thought as they would seeing your shoes, dirty, unwashed, and unsanitary.
Larry,your reasoning for the safety concern may be partof the origins of this practice, but it doesn’t seem to explain its popularity. After all since when is safety so universally practiced in a small matter such as this? I get images of all the crazy things I see scooters doing over here.
[quote=“larry818”]I think I may know where this rule came from. I’m a pool and fountain engineer in California and just came back from a couple of weeks in Taiwan (I lived there years ago). The most dangerous thing about a pool is it’s suction system for the filter. Here in the states we’re constantly upgrading and redesigning the drain fittings because of it. The most common way to drown is getting one’s hair in the suction fitting. This last time in Taiwan was the first that I’ve really gone swimming a lot, and I found most of the pools were unsafe. Some were radically unsafe. There was even a kiddie pool I came across that was pulling a vortex into it’s drain fitting (pool guys call suction points “drains”, even if they are not). I was also against the cap rule until I noticed this…
The stuff about hairs in the filter is just crap…[/quote]
Interesting post!. At least the kids are protected from this by their caps, then. Can’t see ‘pool maintenance’ being the top of the list in a lot of places.
The dirty hair thing may be true. That was hinted at with me a couple of times (rrrr). I washed my hair twice a day in Taiwan, because of the humidity - sweaty hair is gross and stinks. I guess it’s just some kind of cultural taboo.
someone who makes bathing caps keeps this rule going.
I recently had this experience at a pool. I got in the water and started swimming, when I got to the other side the life guard was there to talk to me. She said I had to have a swimming cap. They got one for me to borrow. Then they said that I also had to change my shorts. When I asked them why they said because it could hurt the water. My shorts are 100% Polyester, the shorts they gave me to wear were also 100% Polyester.
After I got done with the swim I asked them about the rule and where it is written. At first they said it’s just the rule in Taiwan and that my shorts aren’t swimming shorts. Pressing further it was more of the same rhetoric plus this is what everybody wears. Pressing onward again their manager came out and said it’s written in their “Gong Wen”, official documents or company policy; when asked to see where it is written they said they cannot let others see it. He even went as far as to say that even the other workers there haven’t seen that document.
I kept pushing the issue and asked who was above him and he said it’s the EPA. So far all I can find on the EPA website are the rules that need to be posted at all pools which state you have to wear a swimsuit, but they do not define what a swimsuit is. I have plans to call up the EPA and try to get to the bottom of this.
After reading this thread I can almost understand the swimming cap rule, but the swim trunks just doesn’t seem to have any logical basis to it. I’ll eventually give into the rule, but the only requirement I have is to see where this rule is written. In Taiwan that seems to be asking too much sometimes though.
keep posting! I’d like to hear what you find out! It’s silly how fussy people get over these little things.
It’s cause they don’t have anything better to worry about, so they make up some shit just so they can hassle people for no good reason.
It’s funny though how longer shorts aren’t allowed, yet women can wear them swimming suits with skirts on them…
Yesterday I and my girlfriend got an angry look and a warning whistle from a security guard because we were about to cross a road (without any traffic) at a cross walk at the palace museum. we were 50cm (seriously!!!) off the marked cross walk when we stepped on the road. Add to that that this is taiwan and that you just know that really no one gives a shit unless they get an opportunity like this and you really get pissed.
[quote=“ohyonghao”]I recently had this experience at a pool. I got in the water and started swimming, when I got to the other side the life guard was there to talk to me. She said I had to have a swimming cap. They got one for me to borrow. Then they said that I also had to change my shorts. When I asked them why they said because it could hurt the water. My shorts are 100% Polyester, the shorts they gave me to wear were also 100% Polyester.
After I got done with the swim I asked them about the rule and where it is written. At first they said it’s just the rule in Taiwan and that my shorts aren’t swimming shorts. Pressing further it was more of the same rhetoric plus this is what everybody wears. Pressing onward again their manager came out and said it’s written in their “Gong Wen”, official documents or company policy; when asked to see where it is written they said they cannot let others see it. He even went as far as to say that even the other workers there haven’t seen that document.
I kept pushing the issue and asked who was above him and he said it’s the EPA. So far all I can find on the EPA website are the rules that need to be posted at all pools which state you have to wear a swimsuit, but they do not define what a swimsuit is. I have plans to call up the EPA and try to get to the bottom of this.
After reading this thread I can almost understand the swimming cap rule, but the swim trunks just doesn’t seem to have any logical basis to it. I’ll eventually give into the rule, but the only requirement I have is to see where this rule is written. In Taiwan that seems to be asking too much sometimes though.[/quote]
I wear swimming shorts (expensive ones not bought in Taiwan as I’ve never seen them) and have had no problems as of yet.
I can’t wear speedos. They look atrocious. They go against how I was brought up.
Swimming caps seem to be a (silly) rule at every pool in Taiwan. Long ago I tried to dispute this, at a time when my head was shaved and quite obviously had less hair than my arms or my legs, but I gave up on that argument.
The shorts rule surprises me. At my (university) pool, most males wear thigh-length speedos swim shorts (what are those called?!: you look presentable, but there’s not much drag when you’re swimming), a few wear the speedos that very few men should wear, and a few wear baggy lined (one would hope) swimming shorts. Baggy shorts are in the minority, but they’re not unusual.
I went to the pool at Mintzu and Yucheng in Kaohsiung and can say that if every person there lost one hair to the water it would be a catastrophe. The place was blocked. After about five minutes I started urging my daughter to leave.
I’m sure hair does mess with the drainage systym, and although I have a shaved head I never complain or try to be an asswipe and piss the staff off by jumping in without one. The rules are the rules,if you don’t like them stay away. If you let guys with shaved heads in without caps then the guys with half an inch of hair will start bitching and so on and so on and so on…
If all that hair covering the rest of my body could be transplanted to my head I’d look like this.
kind of!
Which exactly why I’ve felt mildly guilty ever since the one and only time I complained to the staff about the rule! (Even if the rule is silly. But yes, if it’s going to be enforced, it’s got to be universal.)
Hamletintaiwan: just how long is the hair that’s on the rest of your body?!
I’m kind of the same way. When I go to a pool, the hair falling off my head is the least of their worries. Fortunately no one has thought of a chest/belly cap for men, although the folks at my local pool are probably looking into it.
Hamletintaiwan: just how long is the hair that’s on the rest of your body?![/quote]
Up to 3inches and with some minoxidil it would turn out just fine.
After a full day of phone calls to every government agency just about here is what I found out:
EPA:
Doesn’t concern us, we only care about water pollution. Call your local government.
Kaohsiung City Government:
They should let you see the regulations they have for their customers to follow; other than that we don’t really have any regulation on swimwear. Try calling Department of Sports or Department of Health.
Department of Sports Kaohsiung City:
Don’t really regulate it but found a link on their website for me. http://www.khms.gov.tw/intro/i5_09.htm
For those of you who don’t read Chinese Section 3 Paragraph 4 is the relevant section that states:
Pool Customers are forbidden to wear transparent(see through) swimsuits or underwear into the pool, must first rinse off before entering the pool, and also must wear swimming attire and a swim cap to preserve sanitation.
Kaohsiung City Department of Health:
Said they don’t really cover this part and that they only care about sanitation but she helped me look some things up and said she would call the pool for me and ask concerning the company policy. She also did not see anything that would prevent me from wearing those shorts, although she did mention other people’s perception.
About 6 hours later I get a call back and she says that she could only find one thing from the CDC concerning swimming attire: http://www.cdc.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=13836&ctNode=1941&mp=1
If you download the DOC file from there Section 10 Paragraph 10 on restricting people from entering the pool states on line 2 those who do not wear clean swimming attire and a swim cap.
That’s about as much as I could get out of everybody up to that point. Maybe I’m just rocking the boat, or causing trouble, but the only thing that I want is to be able to see the regulation. I’ll buy the silly looking shorts, maybe a speedo just to punish others with my 200lb 5’10" figure, but I don’t like so called “government regulations” being passed around with no basis.
The people I talked to on the phone filled me with a lot of hope for the people of Taiwan, that everybody isn’t just a do what anybody in any little bit of an authority position tells you to; but it still saddens me that in the end there still isn’t anything that really says something like, swimsuits should have a secondary liner inside, be made of polyester micro fiber or nylon, and not contain any water soluble coloring, must not be see through and may not be made out of jeans/cotton. Or maybe something as simple as has a tag that’s from the government saying it is swimwear.
I’ve thought about calling/contacting the Bureau of Standards and Measurements and asking them what the standard for swimwear is, I’ll have to see how my mood is tomorrow if I want to keep following this to a bloody end. Hope this information helps.
It’s so they can sell those tighty trunks and swimming caps at the shops attached to the swimming/hotspring/bathing facilities.
I can’t believe you managed to find that much government information… well done.
The summer heat has reminded me why I sometimes really dislike swimming caps: they can be uncomfortably hot. When the water’s 28 degrees and the air temperature in the building is 32 degrees, the last thing I want is something insulating on my head, and the swim cap rule goes from a minor source of bemusement to an actual irritation.