Wetsuit Care?

[Echidna]

Since I live in a really cold region, I got me a wetsuit.
Lakes are still far too icy, but outdoor pools may be an option.

The care instructions on wetsuits usually just mention to rinse them out with clear water after use;
but what about chlorinated water?
I have some swimspray; using it on the suit after swimming in a public pool would be a good idea I guess?

How do you take care of your wetsuits?

[Mermaid Annariea]

you should just make it a habit to rinse it out every time you use it, just like a tail. i don't have a wetsuit, but my tail is partial neoprene, and it's always a good thing to rinse it since chlorine can probably damage it and fade the colors.

better to be safe than sorry.

[AptaMer]

After diving in a freshwater lake I just hang them up to dry, and only clean them with detergent after several dives, unless I got in some grungy stuff that needs to be cleaned off.

Chlorine from pools is bad for the nylon lining of nylon lined suits, but I don't know about whether it's bad for the bare rubber of smoothskin suits. In either case, if I've used a suit in the pool, I wash out the chlorine in the showers of the change room right after leaving the pool, then I hang it up to dry when I get home. Your idea of using swimspray to counteract the burning effect of the chlorine is a good one. I never thought of that, but it's definitely worth a try.

After diving in seawater, there sometimes are public showers in some places that I've used to wash the suit out right away, but I find usually you have to take them home wet with salt water and wash them out in the bathtub or shower at home. In a few cases where there's been no water for washing I've let the suits dry, and they seem to be OK to wear again without washing.

No matter if you wash them out with fresh water every time, after a number of wearings, especially in seawater, the suits will get kind of grungy and smelly. So every now and then after several wearings I will put the suit in the bathtub with laundry detergent and wash it out with detergent. You can buy all natural, scent- and additive-free laundry soap here, that's what I use. There are wetsuit shampoos sold by some of the dive shops and online dive stores, but I've done just fine with regular mild detergent.

LOL- the water's still really cold here in Ontario, even though it's almost June. I think northerners need to invent some kind of mermaid wetsuit that's insulated, but looks like a mermaid body? Maybe a more realistic version of the Otter Bay Mermaid suit? Since I'm thinking I want my suit to look more like an exotic sea creature, I'm thinking that would let me have a hood as well as providing full coverage for warmth.

[Echidna]

Thanks for the input!
I have a nylon-lined suit, so I will definitely rinse it out always, and try swimspray after chlorine pools.
I use it a lot on my tails, tops, and bathing suits, and the difference is noticeable.
I highly recommend it for all materials that are prone to wear out.

I think northerners need to invent some kind of mermaid wetsuit that's insulated, but looks like a mermaid body? Maybe a more realistic version of the Otter Bay Mermaid suit? Since I'm thinking I want my suit to look more like an exotic sea creature, I'm thinking that would let me have a hood as well as providing full coverage for warmth.

Oh yeah!
This would for sure be a welcome invention!
The temperature here has been around 5°C for the last two months proper.
Now (June), it's still always between 5° and 11°C

Lakes and such are out of the question, unless you get an ice diving suit or something
(would one still be able to dolphinkick in that?).
I've searched high and low for a wetsuit that didn't have the all-black "booo, I'm a ninja-assassin and super-cool!!"-look.
I wanted to combine it with my blue training tail, but a mermaid-body-looking suit would be such a great thing to have!
The only non-black suit I managed to find is this (you can gauge the cold from my pinched look and the absence of other people ):

[AptaMer]

That's a very cool-looking wetsuit Caltuna! The teal blue colour is really nice. Haven't seen that one in a suit before.

Also, might be good to mention here that a company in Italy called Elios Sub ( http://www.eliossub.com/index.php/en/ ) makes wetsuits in several colours

like these ones

and they also make suits in 3 size ranges, for shorter, wider people, people of average build, and taller, thinner people. Also, if you send them your measurements they will make a wetsuit custom cut for your figure.

[Echidna]

Oh, that's good to know!
I really have problems finding suits and clothes that are long enough for my height, but not too wide.

The suit above for example is XL for length and sits ok at the neck and thighs, but the arms are only half filled, so I get water in there which then fills up the suit (lots of room in the back and front).

Will have a look at the "tall & thin"-sized products now

[AptaMer]

Well, they've revamped their website, and it's way harder to navigate than it used to be! Sometimes trying to make things fancier is not really progress. I couldn't find the size chart I was looking for, but at least I found an intersting picture of a wetsuit that they've screened an interesting camoflage pattern onto http://eliossub.com/index.php/en/free-diving/yamamoto



I think it might be easiest to email them about sizing. They've been very nice in the past when I've emailed them with questions.

I think I'm going to send them an email about whether they would silkscreen a fish/mer scale pattern onto some Yamamoto neoprene, kind of like the guy's suit in the picture.

[Echidna]

^^ that looks special.
If you can get a custom suit printed to look like a fish/aquatic creature, make sure to tell us!

Right now, I have several new wetsuits, one of them fits great, and it is similarly coloured like the teal-blue above, just with long arms/legs.
While it's ok to train in, eventually I will have to combine a suit with a tail (because I'm a wimp!
I just can't stand mermaiding in cold water. Or cold air, for that matter! Brrrr.).

Ye, and a normal wetsuit, however comfy, won't look great with any tail I suppose.

[FreshWaterMermaid]

I'm terrible. My wetsuits have only ever been rinsed with water after being in the ocean, lakes, rivers, and chlorinated pools. They sure have lasted a long time. And I don't notice any problems. Probably some fading. But that'd be about it for me anyway...

[Echidna]

I've become lazy and only rinsed out my suits lately, especially since I now have full length ones,
and my hands were ready to fall off after spraying the entire thing