Do you wash your swimsuit? I'm talking about putting it in the regular laundry with your other dirty clothes. I don't think I've ever "washed" any of my suits. I feel like it's clean enough coming out of the pool, and then showered in. A couple of years ago I became the sole launderer for my family. We have an in-ground pool and in the summers my work-at-home wife likes to lounge by the pool. But she's a 'bather' and not a fitness swimmer like us. Yet she puts her suits in the laundry. I think it's weird, but it's not a fight I'm going to take on. Just wondering if others wash their swimsuits.
Dan
FMIF I've used them and don't see much difference in how the clean.
Thanks for the feedback! Since I bought it (experiment, you might say), I'll compare it to my other methods--but probably won't buy it again unless I find a knock-off in a dollar store. ;)
I don't see a point in washing a suit that's soaked in a chlorine pool for most of its use. If the chlorine keeps the pool clean, doesn't it do the same for the suit?
Occasionally they end up in the regular wash, but--as with hair--nothing seems to get the chlorine smell out. I think the most important thing in terms of making a suit last is not storing it wet for any longer than necessary. In high school I'm sure my suits deteriorated quickly because they sat in my locker at school every day wrapped up in a wet cotton towel.
Your comment reminds me of some high school guys on my team in the 80's that didn't wash their hair for months. They said their two swims a day counted as showers. They had metallic-looking (kinda' cool but very damaged) hair...
I have found that the older I get, the hair I do have seems to have a metallic look anyhow; its called going grey! I have found the best solution is to shave it off every time I do a taper and start again :)
I have found that the older I get, the hair I do have seems to have a metallic look anyhow; its called going grey! I have found the best solution is to shave it off every time I do a taper and start again :)
Haha - the guys on my team would end up shaving their heads for CIF Championships (CA State HS). Since we swam outdoors and the meet was a prelims on Tuesday and Finals on Friday night they would cut their hair short for prelims and shave an FV (my high school's initials) on the backs of their heads. By Friday night, when they shaved their entire heads, they'd have an FV tan...
For my training suits, I just let them hang dry during the week (only rinse 'em if I take a shower after practice, which happens once or twice a week, other than that, no rinse, just hang dry), then throw them in with my laundry when I run a load on the weekend.
For my tech suits, I try to remember to rinse with cold water and hang dry, but every now and then I forget and toss them in the laundry. Usually I buy a new tech suit for spring Nationals and then it becomes my regular meet suit for the next year. Don't care too much about how I take care of it after the first couple of meets.
And then ---- buy a new suit every start of the season!!!
I never know what people mean when they say, "season," on here. I swim year-round, but don't swim in meets, so there really aren't any seasons (other than the normal winter, spring, summer, and fall).
If I had to guess, I probably get 4-5 suits a year, but don't necessarily wear the same one every time. When the water is cooler, I wear a brief with drag suit over it, when it is warmer just a brief.
I get a new suit when I need one. Usually stock up when I see a sale. Sometimes pick up an unusual/local one when I'm traveling.
If I go to work after swim workout, I drape the towel over the back seat of my car, and drape my suit(s) over my wet bag (gear bag and flip-flops come out). Then when I get home, I rinse suits again (they get rinsed when I shower after swim), hang suits and towel in shower.
If I come straight home, the suit(s) still get rinsed in shower, then goes straight for another rinse and hang in shower at home.
Back when I first started swimming regularly, I used to wash my suit in the washer (with laundry) every week. At some point I stopped that.
On a related note… How do you dry your suit?
After my swim and before I hop in the shower, the suit goes in first for a good rinse under cold water. Before I head out of the locker room, I loosely roll my suit up in my towel for the drive home. At home, it gets thrown over the shower rod to air dry.
This (simple!) routine gets me a good 300 miles of wear out of my Tyr Durafast or Speedo Endurance (50% PBT/ 50%) grab bag polyester suits from Swim Outlet. :banana:
