Mum invents cap to help black kids swim

Learning to swim is great fun but is also important for safety near water

Swimming can be a fun pastime but there are many people who don't or can't swim.

According to swimming's governing body Swim England, 95% of black adults and 80% of black children in England do not swim, some due to hair-related issues as well as many other things.

Now an inventor from London is trying to change that with her new invention: a waterproof headscarf.

It's been designed to protect afro hair, with the hope to encourage more black children to try swimming.

The headscarves are called 'Nemes' after the head covers worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt.

Alice Dearing is a Team GB swimmer who wants to encourage more black and ethnic minority kids to hit the pool.

Danielle Obe came up with the idea for the headscarves after her daughter Kayla didn't want to go swimming. She has worked with Alice Dearing, who swims for Team GB, to help get more young black kids into swimming.

Danielle herself had even given up on swimming for nearly 20 years because she did not want to risk damage to her hair.

Afro hair is often naturally drier and more brittle than some other hair types, and it can be damaged by a chemical used in swimming pools called chlorine.

To untangle, moisturise and then style hair after swimming can sometimes be very painful and time consuming.

Kayla's mum wanted her to enjoy swimming more without it causing problems for her afro hair

Danielle and Alice are now part of a special charity, the Black Swimming Association (BSA), which was set up to encourage black and minority ethnic people to go swimming after new figures showed they were only half as likely than white people to do so.

The charity aims to highlight the importance of swimming as an essential life skill after research from the World Health Organization found the risk of drowning is higher among ethnic minority communities.

Does looking after your hair after swimming put you off getting in a pool? Let us know in the comments.