A good wetsuit is expensive and most people halve its life through entirely avoidable habits. Neoprene is killed by three things: salt, UV, and heat. Nearly every care rule below is about limiting one of them — and nearly every wetsuit that gets binned could have been repaired.
Part 1 — Care
After every surf
Rinse it in cold fresh water. Every time. Salt crystals dry inside the neoprene and act like tiny blades on the cells; salt-stiffened rubber loses stretch permanently.
Cold water only — hot water breaks down the seam glue, which is the fastest route to a delamination you can't fix. Turn it inside out and rinse that side too; that's the side that smells.
Drying it
Inside out first, then flip it. The inside takes longest and is what goes sour.
In the shade. UV is the biggest ager of neoprene after salt. A shaded, ventilated spot beats a sunny one, even if it's slower.
On a wide hanger. Not a thin wire one. A wet suit is heavy, and a narrow hanger puts all that weight on two points at the shoulders — it stretches and creases them permanently. Use a broad wetsuit hanger, or fold it at the waist over a thick rail.
Never tumble-dry, never on a radiator, never left in a hot car.
The things that actually kill wetsuits
- The boot of a hot car — heat damage and bacteria at the same time.
- Left screwed up in a bag — creases become permanent weak points, and it'll stink within a day.
- Dried in direct sun because it's quicker. It is quicker. It's also why the suit's dead in two seasons.
- Standing on it on gravel while changing. Use a mat or an old towel.
Getting it on and off
Most tears happen in the car park, not the water. Pull it on gradually with flat hands, not fingertips — fingernails through thin neoprene is the classic way to hole a new suit. Ease it, don't yank. Same coming off.
Washing and smell
Rinsing handles most of it. Every few weeks use a proper wetsuit shampoo in cold water — not detergent or washing powder, which strip neoprene and perish seams. Never machine wash; the drum destroys the seams.
On the obvious: yes, people pee in wetsuits. Just rinse properly afterwards, because urine plus neoprene plus a warm car is how a suit becomes unwearable.
Storage between seasons
Bone dry first. Hanging on a wide hanger or folded loosely over a thick rail — not creased tight, not compressed under other gear. Cool, dark, dry. Not the attic (heat), not the shed floor (damp).
Part 2 — "My wetsuit has shrunk"
It's one of the most common complaints, and the answer is usually not what people expect.
Yes, wetsuits really do shrink — but slowly, and it isn't reversible
Neoprene is foam: millions of tiny nitrogen-filled cells are what make it stretchy and warm. Over years — and much faster with heat, sun and salt — those cells collapse. The foam loses volume and elasticity at the same time, so the suit genuinely gets both smaller and stiffer.
That's the bad news: a genuinely shrunk suit can't be restored. You can't re-inflate collapsed cells. Anything promising to "stretch it back" is at best temporary and at worst finishes the suit off. Don't try hot water, don't try forcing it on repeatedly, and definitely don't put it anywhere near a heat source to "loosen it up" — heat is what caused it.
Before you write the suit off, rule out the three impostors
Most "shrunk" suits haven't shrunk at all:
- It's you, not the suit. Unglamorous but by far the most common cause, especially after a season off. A few kilos makes a 4/3 feel like a different garment.
- It's dry, and it's cold. Neoprene is noticeably stiffer cold and dry than warm and wet. A suit that fights you in a freezing car park will feel fine once it's wet and up to body temperature.
- It's stiff, not small. Salt build-up and age make neoprene rigid. Sometimes a proper soak in cool water with wetsuit shampoo, then a slow careful dry, restores enough suppleness to change the verdict.
If it really has gone
Then it's told you it's near the end. Options, in order of sense: keep it as a spare or for short summer sessions; ask a repairer whether panels can be let out (occasionally possible, rarely economic); or replace it and treat the care rules above as the lesson. A suit that's been looked after should give you several seasons — one that's been dried in the sun and left in hot cars will be tight and board-stiff in two.
The short version: real shrinkage is cell collapse from heat, sun and age, and it's permanent. Prevention is the only cure — which is the whole of Part 1.
Part 3 — Looking after the zip
The zip is the single most replaced part of a wetsuit and the one most often killed by its owner.
Why zips seize
It's almost always salt, not wear. Salt water dries in the teeth and slider and crystallises, and those crystals grind the mechanism every time you pull it. Add sand and you're sanding your own zip. Corrosion follows.
Routine care — the whole job
Every session, while you're rinsing the suit: run fresh water right through the open zip, holding the suit so water flows along the track, and work the slider up and down two or three times as you do it. Ten seconds, and it's most of the battle.
If the zip is stiff or stuck — clean it first, don't lubricate it
This is the part people get backwards. Lubricant on a salted zip just traps the grit. Clean, then lubricate.
- Soak the zip area in cool fresh water and work the slider gently back and forth.
- If it's crusted or corroded, scrub the teeth and slider with an old toothbrush dipped in white vinegar — it dissolves salt and light corrosion. Give it a few proper minutes, and for bad cases leave the vinegar to work longer before rinsing.
- Rinse thoroughly with fresh water and dry.
- Then lubricate.
Never force a stuck zip. Forcing snaps pulls and strips teeth, turning a ten-minute clean into a specialist repair. Some brands explicitly exclude force damage from warranty. If it won't move, go back to soaking.
What to lubricate with
In order of preference:
- Beeswax — the pick of the bunch. Grips the teeth, stays put, completely dry so it doesn't attract sand, and it's kind to neoprene. Sold as zipper lube in dive shops, and a block lasts years.
- Purpose-made zipper wax sticks — Gear Aid and others make them specifically for wetsuits and drysuits. Same idea, tidier to apply.
- Paraffin candle wax — the household version of the same thing, and it genuinely works. Rub along the closed teeth and run the slider to distribute.
- Silicone-based zip lubricant — also widely recommended; displaces water and resists corrosion.
- Surf wax — at a pinch, if it's what's in the car.
Whatever you use: apply sparingly, work the slider slowly, wipe off the excess. Excess lubricant is grit-bait.
What not to use — including olive oil
Don't use household or cooking oils — olive oil included. Wetsuit manufacturers say it plainly: use a product made for wetsuit zippers, not a household oil. Three reasons, and they compound:
- Cooking oils go rancid. You'll have a smell you can't rinse out.
- Oil stays wet and attracts grit. Sand sticks to it — and sand in the teeth is exactly what wrecks zips. You'd be worsening the cause while relieving the symptom.
- Oils can degrade rubber and neoprene over time, which is also why petroleum jelly and Vaseline are best kept away from seals and zips.
Stuck with nothing else? A candle beats the kitchen cupboard.
When to go professional
Don't attempt a zip replacement yourself. It means unpicking and re-taping the panel and it's the repair most likely to end in a ruined suit. Broken teeth, a snapped pull, or a slider that no longer closes the teeth behind it — all specialist jobs, all far cheaper than a new suit.
Part 4 — DIY repairs
Most wetsuit damage is fixable at home with one tube of neoprene cement. Fixing a small tear the week it appears takes ten minutes; ignoring it until it's a 20cm split means a professional job or a new suit.
What you need: neoprene cement (Black Witch, Aquaseal, Stormsure or similar), scrap neoprene for patches, scissors, a spreader, isopropyl alcohol.
The universal rule: neoprene cement is a contact adhesive. Thin coat on both surfaces, let it go tacky for a few minutes, then press together firmly. Gluing wet and squashing immediately is why most home repairs fail.
Small tears and punctures
Dry and clean with isopropyl. Hold the tear closed, check the edges line up. Thin coat both faces, let it tack, press and hold. Cure fully — usually overnight — before wearing.
Larger tears (over ~5cm)
Glue as above, then reinforce with a neoprene patch on the inside, at least 2cm bigger all round — and round the corners. Square corners lift and peel; rounded ones don't.
Split or leaking seams
Seams are glued and blind-stitched, so a split is usually the glue failing. Clean, work cement into the seam from both sides, press closed. For a seam that keeps opening, add seam tape inside once cured.
Peeling seam tape
Lift the loose tape gently, clean underneath, cement both surfaces, tack, press back down. If the tape is perished, cut it away and replace that section.
Knee blowouts
The most common terminal failure, very fixable early. Patch the inside as for a large tear, and consider an extra neoprene layer over the knee as reinforcement before it goes through.
Wrist, ankle and neck seal tears
These take a lot of stretch — patch the inside, generous and well-rounded. A seal torn right through often needs a professional.
What not to DIY
Zip replacement, major seam re-stitching, panel replacement, resizing.
Part 5 — Where to get it repaired properly
Repair is dramatically cheaper than replacement, and neoprene is unpleasant stuff to landfill.
Patagonia's Wetsuit Repair Tour — free, and any brand
Patagonia runs a Worn Wear Wetsuit Repair Tour across Europe each autumn, and the crucial detail is that it's free and open to wetsuits and clothing of any brand — not just Patagonia's. Thousands of items repaired. First come, first served, one clean item per person (bring it rinsed and dry).
Recent tours have run September into early October, visiting coastal towns across the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium — UK stops have included Newquay, East Wittering and Cayton Bay.
Ireland has not featured on the tour so far — the nearest stops are UK ones. Dates and towns change annually, so check the current schedule on Patagonia's Worn Wear surf events page.
Brand repair schemes
O'Neill runs its own repair service and location finder. Several manufacturers repair their own suits, sometimes free within warranty — worth emailing the brand before you pay anyone, especially on a suit under two years old with a seam failure.
Independent and postal repairers
Specialists repair any brand, usually by post — send it, they quote, they return it. Options serving the UK and Ireland:
- Bodyline Wetsuits — surfing wetsuit repair specialists.
- TechNeoPro Wetsuit Repair Centre
- Lomo — wetsuit and drysuit repair.
- Atelier ALL-IN — surf wetsuit repair, mainland Europe.
Postal repair works fine from Ireland; factor postage both ways into the decision.
In Ireland
Your best first call is your local surf shop. Many Irish shops repair in-house or send suits on to a specialist even where they don't advertise it. Shops in the main surf towns — Bundoran, Strandhill, Lahinch, Tramore — are the obvious starting points.
Repair wetsuits? Get listed.
We're building the most useful list of wetsuit repairers in Ireland and beyond — and we'd rather send people to you than watch them bin a fixable suit. If you repair wetsuits, get in touch and we'll feature you. Surf shops that repair in-house or send suits on, independent repairers, sailmakers and seamstresses who do neoprene — all welcome. Free, no catch. Get in touch
The short version
Rinse cold, inside out, every time — run the water through the open zip. Dry in the shade on a wide hanger. Keep it out of hot cars and sun. Never machine wash. Clean a stiff zip with vinegar before lubricating, use beeswax or wax and never a kitchen oil, and never force it. Fix small tears the week you spot them. Real shrinkage is permanent, so prevention is the only cure. And before you replace a suit, check whether Patagonia's free repair tour is near you, or post it to a specialist.