Wetsuit Care Tips: How to Clean and Wash a Wetsuit at Home

Proper wetsuit care is crucial for extending its lifespan and maintaining performance. In this blog, you'll learn 'How to Clean and Wash a Wetsuit at Home'? By following essential wetsuit care tips like rinsing, drying, and storing correctly, you can keep your wetsuit in optimal condition for years of use.

Wetsuit Washing and Cleaning Tips for Pro Surfers

Wetsuit Care Guide

Here’s a true story.
When I was in eighth grade, I would get up at 3 in the morning to meet my best friend Mike at his house. I’d climb on the roof and bang on his window until he woke up. Then, in true frothy 14-year-old fashion, we’d go into his garage and put our wetsuits in the dryer. Not kidding.

Our wetsuits were always cold and damp from the previous after-school surf session, so into the dryer they’d go, usually for 5 minutes. Then, we’d take them out and, once again, not kidding, peel the stuck-together smoothie panels apart. Kinda makes you cringe, doesn’t it? We thought it was great. We’d put our wetsuits on right there in the garage, hop on our bikes, and start the dark ride to the beach, all toasty warm.

When we’d get to the beach, it was, obviously, way too dark to surf. So we’d start the trashcan on fire to stay warm and wait for dawn. But that’s a story for another time.

We’re here to talk about wetsuit care, and the dryer story is a prime example of what not to do.

I have more examples from my 14-year-old self:

Leaving our suits in the sun all day to dry.

Not rinsing them.

Hanging them on sharp objects, like fence posts and tree branches.

Wearing them all day while skateboarding around town.

Ballooning the legs up with water and walking around the beach because we thought it was funny.

Throwing your friend's suit in the street in hopes it would get run over. (We loved that last one. It worked especially well with booties.)

In light of these horrible ways you can treat your wetsuit, let’s talk about some great ways you can take care of it.

Rinse Your Wetsuit with Cool and Fresh Water

First and most importantly: rinse your wetsuit after every use! Salt is bad for, well, everything: metals, glue, rubber, wetsuit seam tape, and yes, limestone, which is what your Yamamoto neoprene is made from.

What happens is that the salt in your unrinsed wetsuit crystallizes as it dries. These salt crystals cut the neoprene fibers, breaking down the neoprene structure with little tears. These little tears eventually turn into leaks. You can imagine what it does to the glue that keeps your wetsuit seams tight, and the tape over the seams, and the glue that holds the tape… You get the idea: cascading failure points.

And then you get cold. Which sucks. But it’s pretty easy to rinse your suit! So do it. It’ll last a lot longer.

Rinse Your Wetsuit After Every Use: Always rinse your wetsuit with cool, fresh water to remove salt and prevent damage.
Protect Neoprene and Seams: Salt crystallizes and weakens the neoprene, breaking down fibers and causing leaks, as well as damaging the glue and seam tape.
Prevent Cascading Damage: Salt buildup leads to gradual failure of materials, weakening the entire wetsuit and reducing its lifespan.
Simple Care, Longer Lifespan: A quick rinse after use can significantly extend your wetsuit's durability and keep you warm for longer.

Dry in The Sun

This one is really easy: never hang your suit in the sun! We’ve all done it, sometimes accidentally. You hang your suit in the shade, and two hours later it’s in full sun getting slowly destroyed.

I don’t know what’s worse, salt or sun, as they’re both amazingly bad for your wetsuit. But, thinking back over the wetsuits I’ve ruined, the sun might just be the winner. You know that feeling of putting on a sun-baked wetsuit? It feels stiff and brittle, like you’re going to put your heel through the calf panel when you're pushing your foot through the ankle cuff. And it’s just a bit stiffer when you paddle.

Sunlight dramatically speeds up the deterioration of your wetsuit because it blasts the neoprene with UV rays and ozone. Neoprene loses its stretch and becomes brittle in short order. From there, it’s a compounding problem: the weaker the neoprene gets, the faster it falls apart. If you combine this with not rinsing… well, you’ll be shopping for new suits all the time.

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How to Hang Your Wetsuit?

Drape it over something smooth, like a dowel, a piece of PVC, or a metal bar. Or slip the legs through a stout hanger and let it hang folded at the waist. Nothing stretches out the shoulder panels faster than hanging your suit like you hang your leather jacket. All that weight focused on the shoulder panel neoprene will eventually separate the fibers and start feeling some leaks. Or, if you’re 14, throw it over some splintery fence boards or a pokey tree branch. (Fun fact: I still use tree branches 😑👍.)

And those are the three basic rules. Follow them, and your wetsuit will thank you, your wallet will thank you, and you will thank yourself because you’ll be warmer in a softer wetsuit that’s easier to paddle in.

Wetsuit Cleaners and Softeners

There are a variety of wetsuit cleaner/softener products on the market, like O’Neill’s Wetsuit Cleaner or Pau-Pilau by Drainbo. Mild dish soap or baby shampoo will also work. All these products help break down and remove body oils. I’ve used several, and they do soften up the neoprene and freshen up the smell (see endnote below).

I’m a fan of dish soap. But make sure it’s mild, and use just a little.

Endnote: Peeing in Your Wetsuit

There isn’t anything in your urine that is going to break down your wetsuit materials. Urine is 95% water, 2.5% urea, and 2.5% a mixture of other stuff. So, mostly water. There is a slight pH/acidic factor. Urine pH ranges from 4.5–8, generally. pH under 6 is sliding into the acidic zone. But this is minimal. Mainly, your wetsuit just smells terrible. Your choice.

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