All athletes make sacrifices for their sport, but for the men’s swim team, that sacrifice is on display annually as postseason competition approaches.
Members of the men’s swimming team bleach their hair mid-January of every year and shave it all off weeks later.
This sacrifice is not exclusive to Shaker. Swimmers at other schools, such as Solon High School, shave body hair in addition to their heads.
Senior Henry York, captain of the men’s swimming team, said swimmers have bleached and shaved their heads for years, but the tradition was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he bleached his hair for the first time as a sophomore.
“I remember swimming in sixth grade at Woodbury, and in the evening, I would see the high schoolers coming out of the locker room,” York said. “They had shower caps over their heads, and under that was their bleached hair.”
This year, teammates bleached one another’s hair Jan. 16 in the pool locker room at Woodbury Elementary School. Captains provided the bleaching supplies, such as spoons and bowls for mixing the bleach.
York said that sacrificing his hair was a tough decision for him. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m never going to do that. I would never do that to my hair,’ ” he said. “But, by the time I got to high school and had the chance to do it, I was really excited.”
Senior swimmer Eliot Coutelen said that swimmers are not pressured to participate, but feel a sense of pride when joining teammates in the ritual. “You’re not forced to do it, but when you see the others doing it you think, ‘Maybe I should do it, too,’ ” he said.
But swimmers do not bleach and shave their heads only for fun. There are strategic benefits to the practice.
“I think it also makes us more intimidating as a team. When you see a team where half of them have their hair bleached, it’s a lot scarier than seeing a team without,” York said.
York said that there is also a strategy to having your hair shaved as a swimmer. “Having really, really short hair when you’re competing just feels better to put a cap over it. Then, you don’t have lumps of hair to put under,” he said.
York said that coaches have grown to expect this tradition. “They know that when it’s that time of the year, we’ll tell them we’re bleaching, and then we’ll just do it,” he said.
Coutelen said that he was scared to have his hair bleached by teammates, but took comfort in knowing that it would be shaved in a matter of weeks. “If it goes bad, I’m still going to buzz it, but it’s still very frightening,” he said.
While the swimmers handle the bleach, they rely on professionals to shear their bright locks. Those who decided to have their heads buzzed went together to Nicoletti Hair Styling in Woodmere Jan. 28. The hair buzzing takes place before the first championship meet, which this year was Feb. 10.
Coutelen said that he felt more comfortable with his teammates buzzing their hair alongside him. “I think when a lot of people shave, it’s nice because you don’t feel alone,” he said.
York said that shaving is necessary to avoid getting stuck with bleached hair. “My sophomore year, I didn’t shave. No one did, so the bleach was in my hair until June,” he said.
“This year we had seven bleached and five shaved heads,” York said. York said that the two swimmers that did not shave their heads still got short haircuts on their own.
“We all went in with yellowish hair. We all came out with nothing. It’s a very fun experience,” Coutelen said. He also said that the shaving brings out confidence in the team moving forward into championship meets.
Said Coutelen, “We’re all bald here. We all have that in common. We can do this.”

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