Depending upon the frequency of use and the care taken with your wetsuit, your investment may last you as little as one wear and as long as many years. Wetsuits aren’t cheap so it benefits you greatly to take a few extra step to ensure you get the maximum amount of time and use out of your investment. 

Always rinse your wetsuit with cool, fresh water after each use and make sure all dirt and salt has been washed out of the zipper.

To clean your wetsuit, use specially formulated wetsuit shampoo. It is mild and will not harm the smooth surface coating on these type of wetsuits. Cleaning should occur once every 5-10 wears or so.

A simple way to do this is to lay your rinsed suit in a tub and fill it enough to cover the suit with cool fresh water, adding a small amount of wetsuit shampoo to the running water as you would bubble bath. Let it soak in the water for a few minutes or a few hours. Just be sure to come back and rinse it out with fresh water again before setting it out to dry.

Your suit should be inside out. If you have a heavy plastic hanger you can hang it to dry, or you can lay it over the side of the tub or shower rod. If you use a hanger, do not leave your wetsuit hanging for more than a few days. The neoprene in the shoulder area is thinner and prolonged hanging will cause stretching and cracking.

To store your wetsuit, it should remain inside-out and be kept in a cool, dry place, lying flat, folded once at the waist. Keep it away from direct sunlight and heat as it can deteriorate the neoprene and glue used in the seams. Don’t leave it wadded up and wet either because it will mold and/or mildew will gather causing it to smell awful. If this does happen, try Mirazyme, a McNett product to get rid of the smell.

For travel purposes, lay your suit flat with the zipper side down. Fold the legs up over the chest, cross the arms over the chest and fold in half once more. Just like anything in your life, if you take care of it, it will last much longer than if you don’t!