wetsuit skin irritation

lg123

hey dudes,

got my new suit last weekend, its an O'Neill Epic 3/2. it has this kinf of a rubber skin on the part that goes around the neck to create a good seal. thing is, this stuff is irritating the hell out of my neck. had it out wed, was bad. had it out again last night and when i took the suit off it was very sore. felt like someone got a fist full of nettles and rubbed them all over the back and sides of my neck. it is still irritated today.

anyone else experienced this, and solutions other than get a new suit?

Gone West

Have a look for a rashie with a high neck, or else just get a tub of vaseline or sudocreme. Not pretty but it does the trick. (also helps seal a bit more against water seepage)

WithCheesePlease

yep - had the very same thing!

have a rip curl 5/3 and it has a "bat wing" and I have the same problem with the neck dealy. Stings like hell and leaves a rash that looks like I got a love bite from a walrus on both sides of my neck after I get out of the water.

I just put vaseline on the sides of my neck before I go in now. Some pain.

lg123

thanks lads, will get some vaseline, hopefully it will do the trick.

Gone West

If your wetsuit is a good one, you should probably grab some heavyweight water-based lubricant or whatever. The oils in vaseline will wear away latex seals and vulcanised rubber.

lg123

any recommendations?

i was talking to some guys at work who were looking for a water based lube, i couldnt help them, i think in the end all they could find was KY jelly.

and before the jokes, it was an industrial application. (wwtp)

TheTubes

My new suit hurts my neck aswell, i'm not going to use vaseline tho cos ive read a few places that it damages the suit.

Ive been meaning to get a stick of this stuff for my neck, i dont know if all the versions are Petroleum freebut some of them def are.
I've seen it in some sports shops, afaik its used a lot by runners so can prob be got in proper running/athletics stores aswell.

binhead

I've been using vaseline for years on my neck and my suit is grand, not a bother, whatever damage it does is minimal and takes ages (in my completely unproffessional opinion):rolleyes:

that or a high neck Rashie, works a treat.

That or make sure you don't get wet from the shoulders up... smirk.

lg123

thanks again for the replies all. was down in cork for the weekend and picked up a turtle neck rashie in tubes for €28. hopefully that will do the trick.

Andrewf20

Ive an identical suit to the OP. Vaseline fixes problem for me.

lg123

well me or my suit havnt seen a drop of salt water since the evenings i mentioned above. anyways i have another wetsuit moan. i just remembered this while reading a few of the more recent threads, when i was getting out of the water the first time i wore my suit i noticed i had a load of water retention at the end of my legs inside the suit, i had the boots over the suit so thought this was the problem, next eve put boots on the inside and had same problem. anyone have any solutions?

CantGetNoSleep

lg123 wrote: »

well me or my suit havnt seen a drop of salt water since the evenings i mentioned above. anyways i have another wetsuit moan. i just remembered this while reading a few of the more recent threads, when i was getting out of the water the first time i wore my suit i noticed i had a load of water retention at the end of my legs inside the suit, i had the boots over the suit so thought this was the problem, next eve put boots on the inside and had same problem. anyone have any solutions?

Happens to me too, even with my current suit which is almost a perfect fit, the only solutions i've found are getting a mich tighter suit (would be almost too tight) or just pulling away the suit every 20 mins or so to allow the water to escape

WithCheesePlease

Always have boot-fulls of water when I get out of the water, never in the ends of my legs in the suit though. Just thought I'd share that. Not really sure why now...

Gone West

tuck wetsuit around outside of booties
Get really tight fitting booties, and only wear them November through march.

c - 13

I get that with the legs filling when I wear booties too.

I think its becasue the legs of the wetsuit dont sit exactly flush to my booties and leave in a little water that way.

Gone West

Get a wetsuit with the vulcanised rubber strips at the inside where your ankles are.
You surf in Bahrain? Wouldn't have thought ya'd need a suit there :P

c - 13

Nah, this is Kiteboard and wakeboard country

A tiny tiny island completely surrounded by completely flat sea.

Getting home in August so hoping for some surf then.

lg123

lg123 wrote: »

thanks again for the replies all. was down in cork for the weekend and picked up a turtle neck rashie in tubes for €28. hopefully that will do the trick.

going to have to go the lube route after all, started getting irritation from my rashie now. not as bad but still painful