A friend and I were discussing proper swimsuit care - she throws hers in the washing machine to “get all of the chlorine out” and my response was that I’ve never heard of anyone washing a swimsuit in the machine. You just rinse it out after swimming and wear it again. How about it? does anyone else out there put thier swimsuit in the washing machine? I always believed that would be bad for the suit.
On a related note, who washes cycling shorts inside out to make sure the pad gets clean, and who washes them right side out to protect the pad and increase the longevity of the shorts?
Edit- an additional question is what kind of swimming background do you have? My hypothesis is that “swimmers” (i.e. people with swim team background in high school, college, etc.) are the rinse and wear again types. I could be wrong, it could be a male/female thing, or it could just be random.
I am one and done with the swimsuit. I wear it once, rinse it in the shower after wear, then it goes in the washing machine with my other workout clothing. I use Penguin wash detergent.
Cycling shorts go inside out to get the chamois clean.
I always wash my swimsuits in the machine, though I do line-dry them. I don’t see how laundry soap and cold water could be more damaging to the suit than residual bleach – I mean, chlorine.
I wear the speedo endurance range. I’ve swum in the same pair for 6 years. Never washed them. Never rinsed them. Just wring the water out and throw them in my bag. They still look as good as new.
I have probably 6 suits in my swim bag. I wash suits with my body wash after I remove them in the shower, then dry off as best with my chamois, and return suit to the bag.
I think getting as much water out of it is the key to swimsuit longevity. The endurance suits by Speedo are very durable, as are the Splish suits.
I wash mine every once and a while… but mostly just rinse it out in the shower post workout and hang it to dry when I get home. My suit is the TYR polyester kind (no spandex), so the chlorine doesn’t seem to do anything bad to it.
usually wash my bike shorts inside out… mostly because that’s the way they end up when I take them off.
I never wash mine, just rinse it in the shower with me and then run it through the suit dryer thing. Bike shorts just get thrown in the washer however they come off.
I swam club team growing up.
Been swimming for a couple of decades and I don’t ever remember washing a suit. Rinse and either wring out or put in the suitmate to spin dry. Back in the bag until next time. I wasn’t aware anyone washed suits.
I know we’ve been through this before, and am aware of the various perils and dangers at the pool, but I can’t believe you folks use the suit spinner - its like asking everyone who used it before you to wear your suit around for a while.
Yes, people pee in the pool and other nasties are present, too, but if I want to swim thats a hazard with which I must deal. The suit spinner though - thats just nasty.
I wash my suit 1-2 times per month when I am home and it dawns on me.
Not sure why anyone would worry about indside out cycling shorts though, the shorts are submerged in water and soap, doesn’t seem to me to make a difference if they are inside out or not if they are submerged anyway.
I wear my swimsuit in the shower and then hang it there to dry. No washing machine. I think it’s bad for the suit no matter what detergent you use. I swam in HS.
Bike shorts - I just throw them in, but I guess inside-out makes me sense to me. I usually wear tri-shorts, so there isn’t much padding to protect.
I wash mine when im in the shower after a workout. I usually use dove bodywash (with micro beads) then hang them up in the shower to dry. by the time I take my next shower they are dry and I throw them back in the “tri-shorts drawer.”
I never wash mine - they faster they wear out - the sooner I get to buy new ones. Of course, I’ve got a swimsuit problem - I have at least 25 that are currently in a very wearable state.
Rinse in cold water to get as much of the chlorine and other pool chemicals as possible, then wring and drip dry. We never really thought of putting a suit in the washer because there was an assumption that detergent would be bad for lycra.
Wow. I had no idea I was in the minority (washing my jammers after every wear). They usually end up in my gym bag w/ nasty tri shorts, tops, etc., so, I never thought twice about washing them. I must admit, however, that I am a little surprised by this revelation.
Regarding wear and tear, I wear Sugoi polyester jammers, which seem to last forever.