Why does my pool smell like chlorine even though I just added chlorine?

That smell is not chlorine — it’s chloramines, byproducts from chlorine reacting with sweat and urine. Low free chlorine can’t break them down, so they build up and smell worse. The fix is a shock treatment to break the chloramine bond, which releases the smell and sanitizes the water. If it keeps happening, test your water — you might not be shocking enough or your CYA levels are too high.