Why you should pee in your wetsuit !

WAIT A SECOND !! Did I just say pee in your wetsuit ? I did !! 

There are many great reasons that you should pee in your wetsuit !! Your health is worth a lot more than your wetsuit. Usually people that refuse to pee in their wetsuit, refrain from drinking water before a dive. This has many adverse side effects.

The biggest and number one reason people get decompression sickness is dehydration !! This can even happen when you have followed all of the rules. Over the years I have know many people that have had DCS and every single time dehydration is one of the factors. So take a water bottle on the boat and drink up. I aim for 2-3 liters a day. If you have been drinking alcoholic beverages you need to drink even more. For one beer, you need to drink twice that volume just to counter the effects that alcohol has on dehydrating your body. That is just a general rule of thumb because everyone is different. 

Did you know that "holding it " is not good for your body ? It can cause urinary tract infections, weaken your bladder muscles and more !! So just don't do it !!

Some people find that peeing in their wetsuits cause skin rashes. I am not a doctor but doesn't this mean that your urine is so concentrated that it is burning your skin ? The solution is, drink more water !!  

A little pee etiquette....

Try and pee before you ascend. Open the neck seal to flush the water and pee out of your wetsuit. This will decrease the urine smell as you are sitting next to your dive buddies. Hang your wetsuit inside out to dry overnight. You will get to put on a dry wetsuit that smells less because as soon as you get it wet, it might stink a little more. Wash your wetsuit when you get home so it's clean and fresh for your next diving adventure.  If people comment about your stinky suit just blame me !! Char told me to do it !! My wetsuits are epic-ally stinky and I am proud of it !!

Now lets talk about the care of your wetsuit. 

You wetsuit should be taken care of like a suit or a dress. If you crumple it up or fold it up and leave it compressed in your dive bag, well , it will do just that. The neoprene will crease and compress and this will result in it losing some of its thermal value. As we all know, neoprene keeps you warm by heating up the water against your skin. The thicker suit you have, the warmer it will keep you. If the suit has been stored poorly, it will be compressed and less warm. So hang it in your closet on a nice big hanger to retain shape. During travel, roll it so you do not create creases. You will probably get a few but after a dive or 2 , they will come out if your suit has only been creased for a day or 2. 

Rinse your suit after every day of diving but that's not enough. After your trip when you are home, throw your suit in the tub and soak it in warm water overnight to get the salt and pee out of your suit. The absolute best wetsuit cleaner is liquid dish soap !! I have washed super dirty wetsuits and this is the absolute best to get it clean but make sure you rinse it really well to get all the soap out. 

Have you noticed that your wetsuit is not keeping you warm like it did 5 years ago ? Is it climate change ? Is the temperature of the ocean going down ? Well, I am no expert on climate change but I do know a little about wetsuits. Neoprene deteriorates even without use. Use your wetsuit and it will be a wee bit colder after every trip. This change is not enough for you to notice after each trip. Consider each dive compresses the bubbles that make rubber into neoprene and ruptures a few. Each ruptured bubble will not keep you warm like an unruptured bubble. Very slowly you will start to feel colder than you felt 5 or 7 years ago in the same suit. You don't wear your winter jacket until it falls apart so why wear your wetsuit till it falls apart and expect it to keep you warm? 

Check out our HUGE wetsuit selection for every shape, thickness and budget !!

https://aquasportscuba.com/collections/wetsuits

FYI... wash your boots too ! That's where the pee is as well !!

Thank you for reading my blog and watch for another one next week or sign up for our newsletter !!