Hi friend! In all of my years of being in the hair industry, what I have found to work best is to get the hair wet with fresh water before entering the chlorinated water. In addition, put some leave in conditioner on the hair and put in a braid. The conditioner doesn’t need to be anything special, or fancy. This will create a barrier and not allow the chlorine to penetrate the hair. (The know you’ve tried the conditioner route, but, try all of it together… fresh water/conditioner/braid)