How to Keep Your Scuba Mask from Hurting Your Face

It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy scuba diving or snorkeling if your mask doesn’t properly fit your face. An ill-fitting mask will not only cause discomfort, but it can also cause water leaks and pain. Sometimes a mask can be so uncomfortable and distracting that you literally cannot focus on anything else; that’s not a good way to spend your vacation is it?

If you find that your mask is causing you pain in any of these areas: the bridge of the nose, under the nose, your forehead, eyes, or even ears, then it’s very likely you have an ill-fitting mask. In some cases, it might not be the mask itself that’s causing you pain but the pressure differential you feel when you haven’t equalized yet.

Understand that the root of the problem does not necessarily have to do with the mask itself but rather how difficult it is to find a mask that fits you (i.e. the mask is not bad per se, just not compatible with your face).

As it currently stands, for many people, finding the right mask is an arduous process of trial and error and the moment you find a good mask is like winning the lottery. Therefore, this article will also focus on prevention of the problem – by helping you find the right mask in the first place – so that you don’t experience any of the pain and discomfort of a mask that doesn’t fit.

Common areas where dive masks can cause you pain

It’s very obvious when you have a poorly fitting mask. You don’t necessarily even need to enter the water to know that a mask is bad for you if it’s causing you pain. You need to look for a mask that fits the shape of your face so that it can form a waterproof seal.

People who are shopping for a scuba or snorkel mask for the first time may not know this, so they often try to force the mask to fit on their face by tightening the mask strap so much that it’s painful and causes pain on your face. We cover the most common areas below:

Pain on the bridge of the nose/under the nose

A common location for the dive mask to cause you soreness or pain is on your nose. You can sometimes feel the pain on the bridge of your nose or under it (the septum). This doesn’t necessarily mean the mask fits badly, but that could be one possibility.

One possibility is that the strap is too tight and also raised slightly too high or low on the back of your head. If the mask is too high, then this can cause the mask to press against the bottom of the nose. Positioned too low, and it can dig into the bridge of the nose.

To fix this, try adjusting the mask strap so that it’s horizontal and looser. If loosening it even a little bit causes it to leak, then we can confidently say that the mask doesn’t fit your face shape. It should only take a little bit of suction for it to stay on your face if the fit is good. Underwater, the water pressure will also help to keep it in place.

As an aside, the mask strap does not need to be tight to seal on your face. Assuming its design conforms to your face and that you do not have facial hair or strands of hair in the way, then it shouldn’t take much for it to form a waterproof seal on your skin. If you rely on strap tension to form a seal, it’s not a good fit and the tight straps will dig into your skin.

Pain around your eyes

We are going to assume that you know how to equalize and that the cause of your eye pain is not due to mask squeeze (its effects can be seen in the video above). However, if it is, then we highly recommend you read this article to learn how to prevent it.

Assuming you just have the regular variety of mask discomfort affecting your eyes, the cause is again likely to be a poorly fitted mask. In this case, the mask is likely too narrow. Dive masks should fit well over your eyes; the mask skirt should preferably rest on your temple. Conversely, if the skirt reaches to your hairline, it’s too big.

If the mask is too close to your eyes, it also becomes a major hazard the deeper you dive. As the pressure increases, you will get the worst case of mask squeeze. It’s bad enough on a mask that fits well; if the mask is pressing against the orbitals of your eyes, the pain will be excruciating. To prevent mask squeeze, you need to know how to properly equalize the pressure inside.

Pain around the ears

It’s possible that a tight mask strap could be positioned too closely to the ears, aggravating them. Obviously you are not placing the mask strap on your ear flap, but its proximity and tightness can still cause discomfort to your ears. In that case, the solution is once again to loosen the strap and maybe adjust its positioning so it doesn’t reach your ears.

There is also the possibility that you are assigning the blame of your ear pain to the wrong culprit. Do you, perhaps, have an ear infection? Sometimes water that has not fully dried out can linger and the bacteria can cause an infection. Read this article to learn more about diving with ear pain and how to prevent it.

Pain in/on the forehead

If you’re feeling forehead pain, hopefully it’s not because you like to leave your mask on your forehead when you’re waiting at the surface. If your forehead pain is superficial, i.e. on the surface, then it almost certainly has to do with your mask. Try loosening the strap or sliding it down a bit.

That said, if your forehead pain is inside your head, then it’s likely that you are suffering from sinus squeeze or aerosinusitis. Sinus squeeze is what occurs when you are having trouble equalizing the air pockets in your sinuses. You should be equalizing early and often. In other words, you should be equalizing before you feel any pain.

For example, you should be equalizing while you’re on the boat, then by the surface of the water, then with almost every breath while underwater. Does that give you an idea of how early and often you should be equalizing? Do it. A lot.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you still struggle to equalize. If you are ever having trouble equalizing, a quick “fix” is to stop your descent, go up a couple of feet and try equalizing there before descending again – at a slower pace this time, too.

Another equalization tip is to elevate your head first. This tip applies both when you’re on land and underwater.

Next, if you tend to experience sinus squeeze, then try cleaning out your sinuses before each dive. You can try using a neti pot to rinse any debris or mucus and to alleviate it if you have nasal allergies.

Some of these tips may or may not work for you. We are just trying to list as many tips in the hopes that one of them works out for you. At least give it a try. Do not keep descending and ignoring your pain.

Since equalization problems are no joke, you should be very cautious with your descent. Do not descend too quickly in case you are suffering from sinus squeeze or any other squeeze. You should also be descending feet first. This lets you have more control of your descent rate with fin kicks. You should also have total mastery over your BCD, and there is even a course to help you out with that.

Lastly, you should never, ever dive with a cold or even a runny nose. Not only will your sinuses be congested due to the cold, making it difficult to equalize in the first place, but what we are really concerned with is reverse squeeze.

Imagine being at depth and ready to ascend only to find that you are struggling to equalize. This phenomenon is known as reverse squeeze. The problem is that, being at depth and close to the end of your dive, you are time limited. Your air supply is quickly running out but you can’t ascend because you can’t equalize.

If you are forced to ascend anyways because your air supply is out, then you will basically suffer massive barotrauma from your inability to equalize and a major case of decompression sickness since you do not have time to do a deco stop or even a safety stop. The chances of you surviving this ordeal is slim to none.

That’s also why you shouldn’t take any cold medication or nasal decongestants before diving. It may be effective at first, but what happens if it runs out near the end of your dive? Taking medication can potentially set you up perfectly for a reverse squeeze, which can be fatal.

With that said, some people take Sudafed anyways because it comes in 12 and 24 hour doses. I am erring on the side of caution and warning you not to rely on any medication. Even if it solves your sinus squeeze problem, it could make you drowsy which is another dangerous issue.

My advice: if you’re sick or even suffering from nasty allergies, just don’t dive, please. You may be tempted to dive while sick because you paid good money booking your trip in advance, but consider if it’s worth gambling your life and risking reverse squeeze or if you should just eat the cost and miss out on a few dives.

Pain at the back of the head

Finally, if you are experiencing pain in the back of your head, then the issue almost certainly has to do with your mask strap. You have a few options here. The most obvious one is, again, to loosen the mask strap. I’m guessing you already tried that and that’s why you’re looking up alternate solutions.

The next option is to get a new mask with a thicker strap that fits you better, or you can purchase a mask strap cover.

For those unaware of what a mask strap cover is, it’s essentially a soft piece of neoprene that can be placed over the strap, adding some extra padding. This prevents the strap from having direct contact with your head, stopping it from digging painfully into the back of your head or tearing out your hair.

If you care about matching your scuba gear in color or design, then there are definitely a ton of options available to you. Mask strap covers come in all kinds of designs for those who want to be fashionable even while underwater. Or you can be purely utilitarian and pick a color that stands out the most underwater so you can be easily spotted and identified. The choice is up to you.

Why you might need a new mask

When your problem stems from an ill-fitting mask, then you don’t have much choice but to get a new one that does fit the shape of your face. Luckily for you, compared to other scuba equipment, masks are very affordable. Try everything you can with your current mask to see if you can resolve the pain, but if worst comes to worst, be prepared to pick up another mask.

I recommend you try out different brands to see which one most accurately conforms to your facial structure. Manufacturers have different ideas on what is the best mask design, and chances are if a mask from one brand does not fit you well, then getting another one from the same brand will result in the same problems.

Depending on where you are buying from, some stores may allow you to return the mask. Be careful you stay within their return policy so that you have a chance to return it if your new mask is giving you problems as well.

How to test if a mask fits your face

The best solution to a problem is prevention of the problem. If the scuba or snorkel mask hurts your face, chances are the mask either doesn’t fit you properly or is not adjusted properly, and so picking the right mask is crucial if you want to prevent facial pain.

In this section, we will explain in great detail how you can select a mask that fits your face. We are assuming you have almost no experience and that you are only buying your second mask (because the first one is causing you pain or discomfort).

The conventional testing method and why it is not reliable

The conventional wisdom states that you can easily test if a mask fits your face by placing the mask over your eyes and nose and inhaling through the nose. This is known as the negative pressure test. If the mask sticks to your face as you inhale without the strap on, that means no air is entering through the edges, and that supposedly means the mask seals tightly to your face.

On the surface, this makes a lot of sense. However, doing the test as described would result in many false positives; the majority of the masks will appear to fit your face but when you actually enter the water, it’ll still leak. What’s going on?

When inhaling, the negative pressure pulls the mask skirt inwards, increasing the total surface area it is in contact with against your skin. Depending on how hard you are inhaling through the nose, the negative pressure you create between the face and the mask can be greater than the actual pressure you’d experience while diving or snorkeling.

Instead of relying on negative pressure, we need to rely on the strap to hold the mask in place (we’ll go over how to adjust it further down). Yes, there will be water pressure at depth and maybe even a bit of negative pressure inside the mask before you equalize, but it’s still not an accurate recreation of what’s happening.

At various points during the dive, the ambient pressure will undergo various changes. For instance, during the ascent, the negative pressure will be lost and will instead swing in the other direction as the air expands inside the mask and the pressure decreases.

Our recommended testing method

Rather than perform the negative pressure test which we feel is inaccurate, you should instead do this simple solution:

Tilt your head back so that you are staring at the ceiling.
Place the mask over your eyes and nose, but do not inhale through your nose.
(Optional but recommended) Have a friend, family member, or shop assistant examine how the mask skirt sits on your face. Ideally, it should be touching your face all around. If there are gaps, then it’s not a good fit.
If no one else is present, you can just test the fit yourself by running your fingers around the mask trying to find if there are any gaps in the seal.

Simple and intuitive, right? By doing this test, you will identify which masks already hold a similar shape as your face, and which ones don’t.

You don’t need to rely on water pressure to deform the mask skirt just so it can have a tight seal. The mask should fit well enough on its own with equal pressure outside and inside.

What to do about gaps

As mentioned, if the mask skirt has any gaps (i.e. it does not completely touch your face), then the mask is not perfect. Depending on how big the gaps are, my advice is: probably not that one.

With that said, sometimes you don’t have much of a choice. A common scenario is that you are on a vacation and you can only use rental equipment. Now your choices are limited, so you have to make due with what’s available.

Chances are, rental gear won’t fit you perfectly. You can still do the test we described above to help you find the mask with the least amount of gaps. If there are only some small gaps at the bottom or top, it might still be usable!

Try securing the strap lightly and see if that closes the gap. If not, then you might be forced to tighten it further. Do so incrementally until the gaps close; the strap should not be very tight at all. If you must tighten the strap so much that it digs into your skin, then that’s another sign the mask is a bad fit for you.

Note: If the gaps are on the sides of the mask, then put that mask down. It’s too wide for you and there’s nothing you can do about it. You need to find a narrower mask instead.

Lastly, some masks are designed for children. If you have a smaller face, those masks might be viable. Just make sure that they aren’t so small that the skirt touches your eyebrows. Any strands of hair will prevent the skirt from forming a tight seal. There are products that can help, but they aren’t foolproof.

How tight should the strap be?

As we mentioned many times by now, it is not necessary nor is it recommended to pull the mask strap too tight. Ever. That’s the most common reason why a scuba mask can hurt your nose, eyes, or any other area on your face.

If a mask fits your face, over-tightening it can actually be detrimental to its seal. The reason is that the strap can misshape the skirt, causing it to deform instead of sitting gently on your face. For this reason, ironically, sometimes the fix to a leaky mask is to loosen its straps.

Another consideration is where the mask strap is affixed to. In many mask designs, the strap is affixed directly to the soft skirt of the mask rather than the hard frame. In this case, over-tightening the strap would place undue stress on the skirt and can cause it to tear.

Keep in mind that the biggest determining factor in how well a mask fits is how closely it conforms to the shape of your face. Therefore, you do not need the mask straps to be very tight. If the fit is bad, no amount of over-tightening is going to fix the problem.

The mask straps should instead be as loose as possible while still ensuring the mask stays on your face. Only tighten it as you need to if you notice water is leaking in. Just a little bit can go a long way, so let’s not go overboard.

Lastly, as for the positioning of the strap – up or down – that will depend on what kind of pain you’re experiencing. If it’s too low, the mask will ride down the face, likely causing pain in the bridge of the nose. Too high, and the mask will dig into your septum (the area beneath the nose). Adjust as you see fit until it feels comfortable.

Getting a mask with the right fit is not an exact science, and we can only give general advice because everybody’s face is different and mask designs are not uniform. Give our tips a try and see if your pain subsides. Good luck!

Don’t Wear Your Dive Mask on Your Forehead

As the years pass by, I find it harder to keep up with new trends, particularly in the world of fashion. The last time I did some research for my own amusement, it was oversized, baggy clothes, sagging pants, ripped jeans, then “dad” shoes made a triumphant return, and now the trend is… wearing your dive mask on your forehead when scuba diving or snorkeling? Maybe I’m just too old school, but I don’t understand why someone would do that.

If you are someone that likes to “temporarily” leave your mask sitting on your forehead, or you see someone else doing it, do yourself (and them) a favor and break this bad habit immediately! This is an extremely risky thing to do because a strong wave can easily knock the mask right off your head if it’s not worn properly. Unless you have a backup dive mask, you’re hosed. Also, it communicates that you’re in trouble, sort of like a scuba diver’s way of saying SOS; you will make people think you are in distress when you’re not.

Leaving the mask on your forehead is a common mistake that beginners make which is likely a bad habit carried over from leaving swimming goggles on your forehead, but it’s a big mistake even in that context. The same major downside applies but at least in the context of swimming, you can always retrieve your goggles from the bottom of the pool; that’s not always the case for scuba diving.

In this article, we’ll go into all of the reasons why you shouldn’t wear your dive mask on your forehead, and the proper way you should wear your dive mask other than on your face.

Why you shouldn’t wear your dive mask on your forehead

It’s a distress signal

If you saw someone waving frantically at you with both arms, flailing around in the water, or if you see the letters “SOS”, you know that they require emergency rescue. Now, if you were to approach them only for them to look at you funny and ask you what you want with them, you would be justifiably angry that they communicated the wrong thing to you.

That’s sort of what wearing a dive mask on your forehead is like. Any divemasters (DMs) who are keeping an eye on their group of divers will be on the lookout for signs of distress, and a dive mask on the forehead is basically saying, “Hey, I need some help!”

How exactly does wearing a dive mask on your forehead communicate that you need help? For starters, why is the mask off your face? Even if the mask is fogging up or water has leaked inside you can easily clear your mask without ever shifting it up to your forehead. You generally don’t want to take your mask off your face if you can help it, which is why when it’s sitting on your forehead, someone is going to assume you need help.

You might think this is silly or that people are overreacting, but for better or for worse that’s just how it is. If you want to integrate into this community, it’s best to know the conventions so that everyone is on the same page. Otherwise, you run the risk of miscommunication and your fellow divers may get irritated with you.

It can easily get knocked off

Another reason that you shouldn’t wear a dive mask on your forehead is because the chances of it slipping off or getting knocked off your head is extremely high. All it takes is a strong wave to hit your face and off the mask goes. Depending on where you’re diving, that mask might be gone for good. Hope you had a backup, otherwise you won’t be able to dive anymore.

Story time. I’ve seen my fair share of people losing their masks this way. The most cringe-inducing one was someone who had a mask with prescription lenses who left it sitting on his forehead. Those things aren’t cheap, and if you need vision correcting lenses, then having to resort to a backup mask without them is bad enough. I think you know where I’m going with this story.

During the brief wait period when he was waiting for the boat to come pick him up, he was buffeted by a strong current. He reached his hand up to check for his mask after recovering, and to his horror, it was gone. Oh, did I mention he didn’t bring a spare mask? And that we were only on the first day of a week-long liveaboard, and he also brought his expensive underwater photography equipment with him? Yeah, I don’t think he quite got his money’s worth out of that trip.

The fact that you can lose your dive mask in all kinds of ways, whether at the surface or underwater, is why you should always bring a backup dive mask as well.

It makes people think you’re a beginner

Lastly, and this isn’t a real point I’m trying to make but it’s something you might want to avoid anyways, is that wearing your dive mask on your forehead makes people think you’re a beginner. After reading the first two points above, hopefully you are beginning to understand why.

That might not be the case; you might have dozens of dives under your belt. However, in the same way that people treat new drivers with disdain or disrespect whenever they see the “New Driver” sign on a car, they might treat someone wearing a dive mask on their forehead the same way; it’s like a mark of shame. You might have a few reservations about this perception, but I’m just telling you how it’s perceived by the scuba diving community; this will be how it’s interpreted by veteran divers.

There might be a few people who won’t make such assumptions about you; those will be few and far between. The vast majority will wonder why you would do something so unusual knowing that it either means you’re in distress when you’re not (and they’ll get mad at you for a false alarm) and that you might not have a mask for much longer.

Where should you wear your dive mask?

If you can, don’t ever fully remove your mask if you don’t need to. Just keep it on for as long as you can and if it starts fogging or leaking then break the seal only to clear the mask and reseal it on your face right away.

For those situations where you’re at the surface and you absolutely need to take off your mask, at least leave the strap around your neck or arm. That way, even if you get hit by a wave while you’re fiddling with it, the strap should hopefully keep it on your person.

Another option is to clip it on yourself. Keep a carabiner clip on your BCD so that you can hook miscellaneous items on it. One such item could be your mask. Simply use the carabiner clip to secure your mask strap, and now you can do whatever it is you need to do with your mask with the peace of mind that it is firmly attached to something.

Can I really not wear my dive mask on my forehead?

It depends on your DM. Some are really uptight and some are more laid-back. Some DMs are understanding and may even defer to more experienced divers.

However, if and when the situation calls for it, such as a beach entry with rough surface, a choppy surface, night diving, etc., then even a relaxed DM will probably speak up about someone wearing a dive mask on their forehead.

Despite that, you are, of course, free to do whatever you want. It’s not illegal to keep the mask on your forehead but, again, it sends the wrong signal. Heck, most divers do this when they’re still on the boat. However, once they’re in the water, most of them abide by the unwritten rule of not keeping the dive mask on their forehead. They will keep it in the places discussed in the previous section.

Let’s be honest, the issue is not necessarily anything to do with keeping a dive mask on your forehead; the issue is more about environmental awareness or lack of it. If you are very careful about checking your surroundings and you know that it’s safe, then of course it’s technically fine to temporarily put your mask on your forehead because what could possibly knock it off at that moment? (To be fair, you could have missed something).

The issue is that weather conditions can change unexpectedly, people can have temporary lapses in judgment or awareness, and next thing you know, your mask is sinking to the bottom of the ocean . That’s why this “rule” exists – you’ll never lose your mask if you keep it in one of the places described above. You’ll also never confuse your fellow divers who may think you need assistance.

Parting words

Have you been berated by a fellow diver or a DM for wearing your mask on your forehead? Do you believe this is a non-issue that’s blown out of proportion? Or have our arguments made it quite clear that it’s not a good idea to wear your mask on your forehead because there are other places you can keep it?

Whether you feel you are justified (because it’s not illegal) or not, by keeping your mask on your forehead, you are communicating that you are in distress. People will come to you to check on you if they see it.

It doesn’t even matter if you have perfect situational awareness and know that your mask won’t get knocked off. If another diver sees a mask on your forehead while you’re in the water, it either means: a) you’re a beginner who’s about to lose your mask, or b) you’re actually in distress. When they find out it’s actually c) you just like to keep it on your forehead, they can be justifiably angry. You’ve been warned!

How Does Smoking Affect Freediving?

Over the years, I’ve had the realization that when it comes to excelling at sports, training for the sport only contributes around 20-30% of your success, and a large majority of your success has to do with things outside of training. That means eating a healthy diet, getting adequate rest, trying not to be stressed out, staying motivated, taking care of aches and pains before they become full-on injuries and not engaging in any activities that would harm your progress.

That’s why I’m always surprised to learn when an athlete is a smoker. Smoking is the antithesis of a healthy, athletic body; it’s like you’re undoing all of your hard work. The impact smoking has on the body is even more pronounced when it comes to breath-hold sports like freediving. To put it bluntly, if you’re a freediver and you smoke, you’re probably not going to be the best. Even freediving legend Enzo Maiorca, who was known to be a regular smoker, stopped smoking for a month before each record attempt.

If you’re smoking and freediving, you are definitely hurting your freediving performance. Smoking is known to damage your lungs, among myriad other negative effects, and each puff you take will reduce your underwater depth, total breath-hold time, and make it harder to equalize. Thankfully, most of the effects of smoking can be reversed if you are able to stop before more serious complications develop. If you’re freediving and smoking and want to improve your breath-hold times, the single best thing you can do is to quit smoking.

My two cents on smoking

Before I explain in more detail how smoking affects freediving, I just want to address the elephant in the room. This article is not intended to make you feel bad about smoking. I’m not angry at you nor am I trying to shame you for smoking. Even I’ve smoked in the past, so it’d be awfully hypocritical of me to have a holier-than-thou attitude.

If you smoke, it’s your life and your choice. It doesn’t affect me in any way, so believe me when I say there’s no judgment on my end. I know how soothing it can be to smoke a cig when you’re stressed out, and how good of a bonding activity it is to casually share a cig with someone close to you, and so on.

However, in the context of how smoking affects freediving, I need to be honest: smoking is terrible for freediving, scuba diving, and quite frankly, any athletic endeavor. This is not me hating on smokers; this is me hating on smoking. Again, it’s your choice if you want to smoke, but you should at least be informed on your decision to smoke and freedive.

How smoking can decrease your freediving capabilities:

Increases risk of shallow water blackout

Do you know why shallow water blackouts occur? Even if you aren’t a smoker, it could happen to you. Some freedivers use a technique called hyperventilation where for several minutes before a dive, they take multiple deep breaths and try to intake more oxygen into their body than normal. The result of hyperventilation is that it temporarily fools your body’s carbon dioxide sensor into thinking you have a surplus of oxygen in your body.

Thus, during a dive, when your body would normally alert you to head to the surface because you’re running dangerously low on oxygen, you won’t feel that urge anymore. Many freedivers have lost their lives this way because they would pass out from lack of oxygen and drown. We only know about this phenomenon because a lucky few freedivers managed to get rescued before they drowned.

How does smoking relate to this? Rather than fool your body’s carbon dioxide sensors, smoking can simply damage them so they won’t function properly in the first place. That means that as your body naturally produces carbon dioxide as it uses up the oxygen, you also won’t be able to tell that you’re running dangerously low on oxygen. Like when you hyperventilate, smokers can stay underwater for longer without feeling the urge to breathe and this can easily lead to a shallow water blackout.

Damages the cilia on your lungs

Cilia are microscopic, hair-like structures that cover our lungs and most of our airways. They naturally produce a sticky mucus-like substance that can trap dust and prevent airborne particles from settling on the airways. By moving in a wave-like motion, the mucus (and particles stuck on it) is moved out of the lungs.

When you smoke, the smoke and heat can damage the cilia, preventing them from moving the mucus. The damaged cilia can also die off. So now the airborne particles will remain in the airways and this can lead to increased risk of lung infections.

The bad news doesn’t end. Since your lungs don’t have functioning cilia anymore, plus the smoke can create a black tar-like substance on your lungs, your lungs will have an abundance of mucus that can only be removed by coughing. This is what’s referred to as “smoker’s cough”, and what you cough out is unsightly. The accumulation of mucus can also affect a freediver’s ability to equalize as well.

Decreases lung flexibility

Smoking will prevent your body from producing an enzyme called elastin which helps with lung flexibility. Freedivers need flexible lungs so that they can inflate it to hold as much air as possible.

Another benefit of elastin is that it reduces the likelihood of lung barotrauma which is when your lungs are inflated beyond what it can handle. Having flexible lungs can only benefit a freediver, and when you smoke, you are taking away that benefit.

Increases heart rate, metabolism, and blood pressure

Nicotine, a highly addictive substance in cigarettes, can cause your heart rate, metabolism, and blood pressure to increase. All of these are bad, but the increased heart rate is especially pertinent to freedivers because it means you are using up oxygen faster.

The increased heart rate is noticeable even when you are at rest. Each time your heart beats, it is pumping the oxygenated blood that it received from your lungs to the arteries which distributes blood to the rest of your body. This sounds well and good, but that means an increased heart rate is decreasing your overall breath-hold times.

For this reason, it’s important to keep your heart rate low. Some freedivers even learn how to meditate just to keep their heart rate lower. However, smokers will simply have a faster heart rate than non-smokers, and that won’t change unless they quit smoking.

Narrows blood vessels

Another side effect of inhaling nicotine: it causes our blood vessels to contract, decreasing the total amount of blood flow to our organs. If you’ve been smoking for a while, the blood vessels can eventually become stiffer and less elastic, reducing the amount of nutrients and oxygen your cells are given. This causes your heart rate to increase to compensate for the lack of nutrients in oxygen, and this is bad for freediving as mentioned above.

Damages alveoli

Inside our lungs are tiny air sacs called alveoli, and they are responsible for extracting oxygen from the air we breathe and moving it into our bloodstream. They also transfer carbon dioxide out of our bloodstream so that we can get rid of it when we exhale.

Smoking will damage the alveoli by destroying their thin walls, leaving larger and less efficient air sacs. The gas exchange will not be as effective, and if enough alveoli are destroyed, then you can develop emphysema.

Increases carbon monoxide levels

Normally during the gas exchange, oxygen binds to hemoglobin which is then delivered to all of our cells. A non-smoker should be able to supply sufficient oxygen with no issues. However, due to cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide will be present in a smoker’s lungs and it binds to hemoglobin better than oxygen does.

In fact, that was an understatement, carbon monoxide is about 200 times better than oxygen at binding to hemoglobin, taking up space that oxygen would normally bind to, which means there is an overall decreased amount of oxygen in your bloodstream which places more strain on your heart and lungs .

Increases anxiety

While it seems that smoking can make you feel relaxed but that’s only in the short term; in reality, smoking can actually increase your anxiety and tension when you start to experience withdrawal symptoms and cravings. When the cravings are too much, smoking will only stave off the withdrawal symptoms, but it will not decrease your anxiety or tension.

Not only that, but there might also be a psychological aspect at play. Some smokers know how harmful it is to their body, yet they are struggling to quit. In the meantime, they may be worried about the bad chemicals in their body that they can’t seem to quit, and this causes them to be stressed out and anxious. The severity of the effects can differ from person to person, but there is certainly a link between smoking and anxiety.

Can you vape and freedive?

Vapes and e-cigarettes are relatively new compared to the original cigarettes’ long history. Thus, it’s currently unclear what the long term effects are. However, with even just a few years of data, researchers and medical experts have already come to a conclusion: they are also bad for divers, but perhaps less so than regular cigarettes.

In fact, there are plenty of similar side effects such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and metabolism that regular cigarettes can cause. So even if you were hoping to switch to a “healthier” alternative, be aware that, at least for diving, your bottom times will likely remain the same.

Now, what did we mean when we said that e-cigs/vapes are not as bad as regular cigarettes? For one, they contain fewer chemicals than the 7,000 or so that regular tobacco cigarettes have. It is still unclear what chemicals exactly are in e-cigarettes, however at least in terms of quantity of chemicals, vaping is not as bad.

That said, there is a new problem which vaping introduces, which is the ability to use third-party/black market modified e-liquids. You don’t know if and how these e-liquids have been modified, and it’s possible you can suffer lung injuries or even death by inhaling them.

If you are a smoker and were hoping to switch to vaping as a “healthier” alternative so that you can continue smoking while freediving, unfortunately, it does not seem like it would make any difference in regards to your breath-hold capabilities. Consider quitting, or at the very least, stop smoking for a few days or weeks leading up to a freediving competition.

Can you smoke marijuana and freedive?

Even though marijuana is less damaging to the lungs than tobacco is, that doesn’t mean you can smoke it without regard for your safety. For instance, it still may have a negative effect on your lungs in relation to how much you smoke it. That said, it is estimated that a tobacco user smokes ten to 20 cigarettes a day, but a recreational marijuana user may only smoke a handful of times a month. Thus, the typical exposure to marijuana smoke is significantly lower than tobacco smoke from tobacco smokers.

Due to lack of data, the current hypothesis is that very heavy marijuana use may take a heavy toll on the lungs just like smoking tobacco would. However, it would appear that occasional use of marijuana (e.g. 2-3 times a month) does not have adverse consequences to lung function, but heavier exposure may eventually take a toll over the years.

So reading between the lines, does that mean marijuana is okay for freediving? The answer is still no. Why? Because even if casual marijuana use does not impair pulmonary function, it can certainly impair your judgment. Marijuana is fine if you are on land, surrounded by friends or at home where you can be taken care of. However, it’s definitely not okay if you’re underwater.

Freediving already has plenty of inherent risks, and you do not want to introduce more risks that can potentially result in death. Impaired judgment can cause you to misjudge your depth, dive deeper than before, or ignore warnings that you would usually heed. If something does go wrong, do you really want to jeopardize your own safety and your buddy’s just to get a little high?

Parting words

There are many downsides to smoking and freediving, and we have only covered some of them as they pertain to breath-hold activities. Even smoking e-cigarettes (vaping) and partaking in some recreational marijuana use can be enough of an impediment to decrease your bottom times and jeopardize your safety. If possible, the best option is to quit, or at the very least, temporarily cease smoking leading up to an important diving event.

Smoking is a personal choice and, as we discussed, something that is ultimately up to you. The information we researched for this article is intended to help you make an informed decision. Again, this article was very anti-smoking because it truly is harmful if you plan on doing any breath-hold diving. However, if you can somehow manage to achieve all of your freediving goals without quitting smoking, then more power to you.

How to Stay Warm in Cold Water Without a Wetsuit

The summer months bring with it warmer waters, and this is a boon for people who would like to partake in their favorite water sport whether that’s swimming, snorkeling, surfing, or scuba diving. However, all of these activities become much more difficult to do (but not impossible) during the offseason, when cold temperatures and hypothermia become an issue. In order to continue doing these activities, it’s highly recommended to get a thick wetsuit (at least 5-7 mm), however this can be prohibitively expensive for many.

Is there a way to stay warm in cold water without a wetsuit? “Warm” might not be the right word, but you can certainly find a way to brace the cold waters without a wetsuit. It requires a combination of smart planning, mental fortitude, physical preparation, and some other equipment that is much more affordable than a thick wetsuit. However, at the end of the day, the recommended option is to still wear a wetsuit to stay warm because you can only do so much without proper insulation.

When you’re in the water even with a wetsuit, your body temperature will continuously drop because of how effective water is at extracting heat away from the body, as well as how much cooler even “warm” water is relative to our core body temperature. Thus, your time in the water is limited, especially if you do not have proper insulation like a wetsuit, so here are our tips for how to stay warm in cold water without a wetsuit for as long as possible.

How cold is too cold?

This is not a question we can answer matter-of-factly. What is cold for one person might feel brisk for an experienced swimmer. However, there are some averages we can rely on. Data taken from this website:

98.6°F (37°C) – Normal body temperature measured with an oral thermometer.
99.6°F (37.5°C) – Deep body or core temperature measured with a rectal thermometer.
95°F (35°C) – For medical purposes, this is the clinical point at which hypothermia begins.
91°F (32.7°C) – The temperature of your skin.
85°F (29.4°C) – Water feels pleasantly cool rather than warm.
77-82°F (25-28°C) – Swimming pool temperature range for Olympic competition.
70°F (21°C) – Water feels quite cold to most people. Treat any water temperature below 70°F (21°C) with caution.
40°F (4.4°C) or lower – Water is painfully cold.

Just for reference, at water temperatures of around 40°F (4.4°C), it only takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes before you begin to lose coordination and strength in your limbs as the blood is redistributed to the core organs. At this point, you’ll soon drown or hypothermia will set in.

In fact, even the temperature that Olympic swimming pools are kept at (77-82°F/25-28°C) is enough to result in hypothermia if one stays in it for too long. Crazy, right? It’s also why many are so surprised when they spend time in “warm” water only to find that their lips have turned blue and they are shivering from the cold.

Ways to stay warm in cold water without a wetsuit

Preparation

Preparation is paramount for any situation in life, and there are various ways you can prepare to brave the cold waters without a wetsuit.

Acclimate yourself to the cold. If you know swimming in the cold is something you want to do, then you need to get accustomed to it gradually. Head out for a swim on progressively colder days so it’s not as much of a shock. This is also a way to prepare yourself mentally because you have experience being in cold water, whereas someone with no experience will already be mentally defeated. Unfortunately, this training doesn’t desensitize yourself to the cold; you’ll still feel it, but you’ll be prepared to endure it. Before heading into the water, already begin exposing yourself to the cold air to begin this process.

Get mentally fired up. Do whatever it takes to psych yourself up for the uncomfortable cold that is about to envelop you. Your attitude plays an important role in your performance. I know this sounds like pseudo-science, but this phenomenon has been observed in humans in various ways. For instance, the placebo effect is very real, and even something like shaving your body hair off can improve your performance in the water. So imagine that the water is actually warm, or that the cold is actually refreshing, and you will perform better in the cold.

Do warm-up exercises. If you have some time, then do some warm-ups and active stretching. Your muscles perform better when they’re warm, plus this can help you endure the shock of the cold better. It’s up to you how you want to warm up. You can jog for a few minutes, do jumping jacks, do bodyweight squats, basically move around, increase your heart rate, and work up a bit of a sweat before you head into the cold water.

Fully submerge yourself

After the preparation phase is over, it’s time to actually dip your toes in the water. Actually, scratch that, you should go all the way in. Many people dilly-dally, only wading halfway into the water and leaving their torso above the water. One piece of advice we can offer you is that you should rip the band-aid off; just fully commit! We don’t mean to dive in carelessly; that’s a recipe for disaster. However, do make haste when entering the water.

The reason we recommend this is simple: it’s easier to regulate your body temperature if your whole body is wet. If only half your body is wet and the other half is dry, then your legs will get used to the temperature first before moving deeper, then now you’ll also need to wait for the upper half of your body to acclimate, wasting precious time. In the end, you’ll be even colder and miserable because of how long it took you to suck it up and just do it within the span of a few seconds.

Note that there is a legitimate risk of the cold water being such a shock that it could cause someone with a weak heart to suffer a heart attack. If you or your family has a history of heart problems, we do not recommend swimming in the cold without a wetsuit. Consult with your doctor regarding what kinds of activities you can do and which you should avoid.

Stay moving

Sometimes, especially when you’re just starting out, the shock of the cold might make you tense up and stop moving, or even curl up in the fetal position. This is not useful. Ignore this instinct and power through; that’s what the preparation phase was for.

Instead of (somewhat literally) freezing up, do the exact opposite; keep moving! I’m sure you know from your warm-ups that moving around really… warms you up. Right? So when you’re in the water and you feel cold, how can you get warmer? That’s right, do literally any movement and you will start to feel better about the cold, even treading water. Just make sure you’re doing it properly, otherwise you’ll waste a lot of energy.

Just like how you warmed up on land, we recommend you warm up in the water. Don’t immediately launch into a max-effort swim; do a few laps to distract yourself from the cold as you mentally prepare to swim for real.

Some additional tips: If you are open-water swimming, do not swim as far out as you’re used to. The cold may deplete your energy stores faster than usual, leaving you unable to swim all the way back. It’s better to be safe than sorry, because there are no do-overs for this.

Also, if you need to stop to rest, don’t rest too long. If you’re not moving, the cold will creep right back and paralyze you, so try to stay moving.

Miscellaneous tips

Follow these useful tips to help you deal with the cold.

Exhale as you submerge yourself. We recommend this step because often the shock of the cold will take your breath away. By exhaling, you were already controlling your lungs and stand a better chance of bracing for the cold than otherwise.
Focus on your breathing. Once you’ve acclimated to the cold, it’s time to get moving. Focusing on your breathing is an important skill for any athlete. Do not breathe quickly because this might lead to hyperventilation. Exhale slowly so that your lungs have more time to use up the oxygen in the breath you previously took.
Have a warm drink in a thermos. Your core body temperature is steadily decreasing in the cold water, meaning you have a limited amount of time before hypothermia sets in. You need to “recharge” yourself every once in a while by surfacing, covering yourself, and drinking a hot beverage or pouring warm water over yourself to increase your body temperature.

What to do post-swim

Just as you need to prior to entering the water, you also need to prepare for getting out of the water. We’ve already alluded to this with our “have a warm drink” advice above, but there’s more you can do.

Layer up. There are many options for this. You can use a thick, fluffy robe to absorb the water and protect you from the cold air. You could also use a large towel or a big blanket, or wear a heated jacket. If convenient, remove all of your wet swimwear.
Get indoors. The temperatures inside are warmer than outside, so get inside a building, car, tent, anything. Failing that, start a fire and huddle up next to it with a warm drink in hand and many layers of warm clothing.
Take a hot shower. Pretty self-explanatory. If it’s not convenient for you to shower, simply layering up and drinking a hot beverage can warm you up quickly.

Why can’t you just wear a wetsuit?

Being in cold water without a wetsuit seems like an arbitrary and severely limiting restriction to place on oneself – why not just buy or rent a wetsuit instead? Heck, if money is an issue, you could even buy a used wetsuit to save some dough; wetsuits have very poor resale value which works out in your favor, so you can get one for probably less than half its retail price!

The truth is, there are many valid reasons why one would not want to buy a wetsuit or even rent one. For starters, it’s possible that the wetsuit will not get very much use in which case buying is obviously not worth it. Also, properly storing your gear and maintaining it can be a pain that many people don’t want to deal with.

How about renting instead? In terms of savings and lack of maintenance, yes, renting would be worth it. However, money is not the only consideration. Many people take issue with renting due to the hygienic problems that might arise. You know that many people pee in their wetsuits, right? Also, renting is not always cheaper because if you accidentally damage the wetsuit, you lose your deposit which can be as much as the price of buying the wetsuit outright.

Buying used is also not the best option because of the same hygiene and quality issues that renting a wetsuit has. Additionally, if it is a private sale, the seller might not be trustworthy and lie about how the wetsuit was used. The wetsuit might be worn down very thin and not provide the insulation you’d expect from a wetsuit of that thickness. It actually requires a great deal of knowledge to successfully buy used, which is another hurdle.

Plus, it’s just generally a good idea to know how to stay warm in cold water without wearing a wetsuit . It’s possible that one might find themselves in a situation where they need to dive into cold water and there is not a wetsuit nearby they can don first (e.g. emergency rescue situation). The less you need to rely on equipment to perform basic tasks, the more versatile you become, and it might save someone’s life someday, or even your own.

Non-wetsuit accessories to help you stay warm in cold water

You may not have access to a wetsuit for whatever reason, but perhaps you have access to other gear like swim caps, earplugs, gloves, and booties. These items are significantly cheaper than a thick full body wetsuit and they are good at their respective tasks. We recommend you read this article to learn more about how they can help you.

Parting words

You can learn how to stay warm in cold water without a wetsuit pretty easily. That said, we recommend gradually working your way up to it. Do not just decide one day, “I’m going to try cold water swimming without a wetsuit” and then jump into the ocean with no preparation.

At the very least, follow the advice we provided: get used to the cold over time, mentally prepare yourself, and even physically prepare yourself by staying in shape and doing warm ups before each swim. Have a hot drink and thick towels close by for rest intervals or for when you’re ready to leave. Get out of your wet swim gear, layer up, and get indoors ASAP so you can take a hot shower after swimming in the cold without a wetsuit.

There are also other equipment you can use such as swim caps, earplugs, gloves, and booties to help you persevere against the cold for a little longer. However, going completely gearless is also good training for emergency situations when you don’t have any gear on hand to change into.

Do You Need a Dive Computer for Freediving?

Like snorkeling, freediving and spearfishing are sports that require little equipment, but what few gear pieces you do need are truly invaluable. Whether you are a casual freediver or a competitive one, as soon as you realize what a dive computer can do for you, you’ll realize that they are actually such a huge benefit to have for freediving.

Do you need a dive computer for freediving? Strictly speaking, no. However, that’s like saying you can drive with the headlights off at night because you do it all the time and have had no accidents so far. Doing something reckless like that is begging for an accident to occur sooner or later. Freediving is inherently risky, but a freediving watch can make the activity so much safer. Besides tracking your dive depth and elapsed dive time, it can also help you plan and track your surface intervals, track your long-term record of dives, and help you avoid shallow water blackouts. A better question to ask yourself is, why haven’t you got a freediving computer yet?

In this article, we will discuss what a dive computer with freediving mode can do for you. We go over the many benefits they can provide, why they are important, and why you should get a dive computer for freediving.

Why should you get a freediving computer?

Did you know that freedivers were some of the first groups of people to adopt using dive computers as part of their training? Over time, even spearfishers joined in on using dive computers, and now some dive computers even specifically come with a freediving mode.

If you’re just starting out with freediving, you might see a dive computer as one of those optional luxuries that only snobby, rich people get, kind of like the Apple watch of watersports products. The truth is, once you learn how your body works when doing a breath-hold dive, the data that a dive computer provides becomes invaluable. Here are a few reasons why:

They make breath-hold sports much safer

When we are engaged in a physical activity, our attention should be primarily focused on the task at hand, not busy trying to count the seconds or distance of your current dive. Besides, our brains are not the best judge of time and distance anyways, especially when you’re preoccupied already.

As such, your estimates of your dive time and depth will likely be off, even if you took a proper surface interval break. With a dive computer, you can offload this task which requires brainpower to an external “brain” if you will, one that is much more precise than you. That way, you can focus entirely on your breath-hold dive, and this benefit alone makes the activity much safer overall.

But that’s not all a freediving watch can do for you. They also come with audible alarms to let you know once a depth has been reached or a set amount of time has elapsed. Again, we are not the best judge of these things and it’s very easy to overshoot our estimates which can become a safety risk if we go over by too much.

For instance, the water visibility and conditions aren’t always the same. On a good day with clear visibility, a dive that can feel like 10 meters might be as deep as 20 m, or vice versa on a low-viz day. By relegating this task to a dive computer, not only will you be more accurate, but you can also have peace of mind knowing that you are staying on-target with your goals.

Dive computers are also more reliable than a marked rope. Unfortunately, human error can cause marked ropes to be mismarked, and this has already cost a few freedivers their lives. Plus, ropes can be stretched out or set up incorrectly. With a freediving computer, you have redundancy. You can verify that the rope has been marked or set up correctly by also checking it against the computer.

They reduce the likelihood of CO2 buildup and shallow water blackouts

The main risk of breath-hold diving is, unsurprisingly, the risk of drowning. However, the cause of drowning is not always as simple as a freediver diving too deep during an intense competition or getting obstructed during the ascent. Sometimes, what causes a freediver to drown is a sudden loss of consciousness close to the surface, and this is known as a shallow water blackout.

Why does this happen? When you hold your breath, your body produces carbon dioxide (CO2). The longer a breath-hold dive lasts, the more CO2 is produced. Also, if you dive repeatedly with short surface intervals (time between dives), CO2 keeps accumulating in your body. The body is not a fan of CO2, to put it lightly. When you breathe in too much CO2 and not enough oxygen, you can start to feel drowsy, like you’re falling asleep. That actually means you’re asphyxiating. Eventually, you can lose consciousness, and if that happens underwater, it spells certain death if you don’t have a buddy with you..

This is where a freedive computer can be beneficial in preventing it. Since it tracks your dives so carefully, it can also help you track your surface intervals in big, clear numbers on its display. You can know how long your previous dive was exactly, and how long you should rest at the surface to recuperate for the next dive. The more accurately you track your surface intervals, the less likely you’ll suffer a shallow water blackout.

They help you improve your breath-hold skills

When you’re just starting out with freediving, you likely didn’t take it seriously. You just held your breath for as long as you could and tried to have fun with it. However, as you progressed with your breath-hold training, your dives became deeper and longer. At some point, perhaps right now, you’ll want to know the exact duration and depth your dives are, and if you are getting better week to week.

Freediving without a dive computer is like preparing for a marathon without keeping track of the time and distance that you ran for. How will you know if you’re progressing or making good time? What if you are actually regressing week to week and you aren’t realizing it? Even knowing that can help you adjust your training to determine what the problem is.

Furthermore, one’s mental state, physical condition, even the types of foods one eats and the quality of one’s sleep from the days before can affect a dive on a different day. As such, there is a high possibility of variance in your performance from dive to dive unless you are keeping track of all the other factors as well. Thus, you cannot simply assume that you’re progressing linearly all the time. A freediving watch will give you the exact data so you can make informed decisions on how you’d like to proceed.

They help you stay on top of your surface intervals

How accurately do you think you can keep track of time? Let’s say you want to have a 3 minute surface interval. Can you actually wait for 3 minutes on the dot, or will you end up underestimating (or overestimating it) by a long shot? In this case, overestimating is fine, but underestimating is not.

You can even do an experiment – start a timer, let’s say for 1 minute, and you look away from the timer and do a countdown yourself for one minute. After the timer beeps, how close were you to the timer? Were you off by a few seconds? I bet if you had set a timer for 3 minutes, 5 minutes or possibly even longer, you’ll be off by a larger margin. Again, if you’re underestimating the time, you are putting yourself at serious risk of a shallow water blackout.

Just by having a freedive computer with you, you don’t have to do this tedious task of counting the time accurately in your head or ballparking it which puts you at risk of underestimating the surface interval.

As an aside, we recommend your surface intervals be at least three times the length of your most recent breath-hold dive. So if you recently held your breath for 1 minute, have a surface interval of 3 minutes at the minimum. If you still feel like you need to rest longer, then do it. And if you feel like you are ready to go earlier than that, don’t. A shallow water blackout is not something you want to experience, because many do not survive that experience.

They track your dive time in relation to depth

Not only does a freedive computer track your max depth, but it also tracks your ascent and descent rates. A good rule of thumb is to move at a speed of 1 m per second. So if you intend to dive down to a depth of 10 m, it should take you 10 seconds to reach that depth, and another 10 seconds for the ascent, plus any bottom time.

This is a good rule to abide by so that you are not overly exerting yourself. It’s impossible to judge your time and distance traveled accurately without a freedive computer, and this is good to know as part of your training.

They keep a long-term record of your dives

Photo from Oceanicworldwide.com

Dive computers already have the functionality to keep detailed dive logs for scuba divers, tracking their max depth during a dive, bottom time, ascent rate, deco stops, even their heart rate and air consumption rate. It’s all very detailed,and dive computers with freediving modes can also keep track of this info.

Since freedivers complete many more dives per session than scuba divers, plus a breath-hold dive is going to be much shorter than a scuba dive, it’s not practical to keep a detailed paper log of so many dives.

With a dive computer, if you set it to freediving mode, its sampling rate will automatically be increased meaning that it will log your dive information much faster. This means that your logbook memory will fill up faster, but it will be full of details regarding each few seconds of your breath-hold dive.

So that you don’t overwrite old dive data, you can upload your dive profile to a PC where you can keep a more permanent record of hundreds, if not thousands of past dives, so you can see how you’re progressing over time.

Other useful features a freedive computer provides

Still not convinced? Here are some other great uses for a freedive computer:

Keep track of your buddy’s dive time (just use your surface time as a guide).

Set depth alarms to help you maintain a certain pace, or to warn you that you are diving deeper than expected. This is ideal for both training purposes and as a safety precaution.

Stopwatch – great for training.

Time – know what time it is and when to call it a day.

Backlight – so you can still see at a deep depth, in low-vis, or at night.

Depth – will track your current depth and max depth.

Dive counter – know how many dives you performed in a freediving session.

Dive log – examine your previous dives to see how you’re progressing.

Water temperature – more data points to work with so you know if you perform better in certain water temperatures.

Surely with all of these great features that a dive computer can offer freedivers and spearos, there’s bound to be at least one or two you find useful? Personally, I love tracking data, because I can see how I am progressing over time. Even if all you use a freedive computer for is as a glorified timer, that is already such a great benefit.

If you’re interested in which freediving computers we recommend, we wrote a list of our favorites here.

Colored Wetsuits vs. Black Wetsuits: Which is Better?

Why are most of the wetsuits nowadays that are worn by people in the water or sold at dive shops black? Do surfers and scuba divers just not have any imagination and prefer drab looking clothing? No, it’s merely because coloring a wetsuit is more expensive, demand for it is low, and it offers few advantages in many applications.

Both colored wetsuits and black wetsuits have their advantages. For instance, black wetsuits tend to dry faster by absorbing more of the sun’s rays; they tend to look cleaner because it’s hard to tell if there’s dirt or wear on the material; and black can help one look slimmer or more formal. Colored wetsuits have the advantage of making one more visible during rescue situations and possibly looking nicer depending on the design.

Between a colored wetsuit and a black wetsuit, which one is better? To be honest, color doesn’t matter very much in a wetsuit. The most important thing for all wetsuits is that it fits snug and keeps you warm. In this article, we are still going to discuss possible advantages and disadvantages, however these are quite minor points overall. At the end of the day, as long as a wetsuit can provide you with sufficient insulation, UV protection, and comfort, then what color it is doesn’t really matter.

How big of a role does color play in a wetsuit?

We believe that a colored wetsuit does have some limited, practical advantages. As we mentioned, in a search and rescue situation, being more visible can increase your chances of being spotted by a rescuer.

Depending on the color and design of the wetsuit, it can make you feel good about your appearance. After all, if we bother to take care of our appearance in our day to day life, why not put the same level of attention when we are in the water?

This topic of looking good seems like a very shallow point, but it’s surprisingly deep when one looks into this topic further. Some sports psychologists believe that wetsuit color can greatly impact one’s performance in the water. Perhaps there is some truth to the saying that “clothes make the man [or woman]” after all.

You might think this next section is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but it was interesting for us to research this topic, and we want to share the results anyways.

Do you believe that if you dressed like a doctor or scientist, you could actually become smarter? Or if you dressed like a police officer, you could become more authoritative? Researchers have often conducted these kinds of experiments where someone would play dress up, and, almost always, the wearers were good at becoming the role despite not having the background.

Of course, there are limitations to this. Just because you are dressed as a doctor doesn’t give you the knowledge of a doctor. However, it does make people score more highly on their cognitive tests. So clearly, some kind of change is occurring.

The scary thing is, this effect could also be observed in the other direction when somebody “dressed down.” For instance, if one dressed in street clothes, they tended to do more poorly in cognitive tests than those who were wearing a lab coat.

We can take this idea further and specifically talk about color. Again, in the same way that our clothing can affect our perception of ourselves, so too can color. If you were to wear a color that does not resonate with you, there can be a negative impact on your performance. For instance, if you are a man and hate the color pink but were forced to wear a pink wetsuit, your head might not be in the right place anymore.

So if you buy into this idea that your appearance can affect your performance, then you can accept the argument that color and the design of the suit plays a major role in a wetsuit as well. And if you believe that color does not provide any advantages other than to increase your visibility, then a simple black wetsuit would probably be the winner in your eyes.

Why aren’t colored wetsuits more popular?

If you agree with what we said above regarding the benefit of color in our perception of ourselves, then you probably think that colored wetsuits are great and that there should probably be more designs available. Yet, there aren’t that many compared to how overwhelmingly available black wetsuits are. Why is that?

It’s not due to production problems. Wetsuits, like any other clothing, can be produced in any color you want. You can get gray, white, red, yellow, blue, or any combination of colors. You can get a wetsuit that expresses your personality perfectly, so why aren’t they more popular?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Maybe there aren’t many good looking colors or designs. Perhaps people felt like it was too gimmicky or that they didn’t look that good in a colorful wetsuit. Whatever the case, it just didn’t take off.

From the manufacturer’s perspective, adding color just costs extra money. Wetsuits are naturally black after manufacturing and it seems to do the job just fine. People are buying it as-is and aren’t complaining about the look. The demand for colored wetsuits is low, so it’s not cost-efficient for them to mass produce as many colored wetsuits as black wetsuits.

Colored wetsuits also look dirty more easily. As soon as you get any dirt or stains on the wetsuit, it will stand out like a sore thumb.

Even its advantage of being more visible than black wetsuits becomes a moot point once you’re deep underwater. Water will absorb some of the color from light, and therefore what you perceive underwater might not look the same as at the surface. First the reds will go, then orange, then yellow, and so on. Check out the video below to see this phenomenon in action.

Are colored wetsuits safer?

There is little evidence to suggest that a colorful wetsuit has better functionality than a black one. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true, because sharks can notice the high contrast of bright wetsuits.

The reason is that to get the coloring of the wetsuit right, the wetsuit needs to be constructed from various materials that have different properties when it comes to insulation and comfort.

For instance, it’s much better for a wetsuit to be made from a single neoprene sheet. By minimizing the amount of cuts made into the material, the manufacturer does not have to do as much stitching which is better for keeping water out.

There is an argument that striped wetsuits offer protection from sharks. The belief is that black and white stripes in nature indicate a poisonous or dangerous animal, which may deter sharks from attacking. However, this has not been proven to be demonstrably true. Plus, the amount of shark attacks per year are so astronomically low that it’s statistically more likely that you get into an accident on the way to the water instead.

Black wetsuit benefits

Economic factors

During the manufacturing process for rubber, it is combined with stabilizing compounds and the end result is a black rubber. In the early days of wetsuit manufacturing, rubber was stabilized with soot, changing it from a white color to black.

Today, even though manufacturers use better stabilizers for rubber, the end result is still a black rubber. Neoprene is commonly used for wetsuit construction and it is a form of stabilized rubber. It has superior water and tear resistance to the original rubber and it naturally comes out as black.

Since black just seems to be the natural color, adding additional colors requires additional steps and extra expense. Since black is such a strong color, it would require a significant amount of dye to color over it, making colored wetsuits much more expensive than black ones.

Sun protection

Another benefit of all black neoprene is that it’s much better at absorbing UV rays from the sun than any other color. The carbon black makes the wetsuit especially dark and it ensures that the UV rays do not penetrate the material, but rather gets absorbed into it.

You might have already experienced this phenomenon if you’ve ever been inside a black car that has been left out on a hot summer day compared to a white car, which repels the most amount of sunlight. The lack of color of black causes it to absorb more photons. The next best color after black at absorbing UV radiation is red, which is why most divers either wear black or red.

Durability

Neoprene is generally a durable material, however it can still get damaged when exposed to water and stretched out, which is exactly what happens in most marine applications. Thus, it is combined with carbon black so that it can become resistant to water and stretching. It’ll last longer and provide more protection.

The color black also hides many imperfections in the suit. For instance, if it starts getting worn down over the years, or it has dirt on it, it will be harder to notice compared to a colored wetsuit. You may be able to squeeze a few more months or years out of a black wetsuit before it becomes noticeably damaged or worn down.

Warmth

Sakhalinio, CC BY-SA 4.0

Most neoprene used in wetsuit construction are known as closed-cell neoprene. This refers to the fact that during the manufacturing process, some air bubbles are trapped inside the suit. These air bubbles are necessary for insulation because they can store heat inside. There is also an added benefit of providing extra buoyancy which helps surfers and snorkelers stay afloat more easily.

The bubbles can trap heat so efficiently that it will also warm up the water around it. Thus, you should feel that the thin layer of water trapped inside the suit is warm, as is the suit itself, and this allows you to stay in the water for much longer than if you didn’t have the wetsuit.

If you want, you can even wear a thin layer underneath the wetsuit for even more insulation. You also have the choice of selecting a thicker wetsuit. Most wetsuits are 3/2, but you can also get 5/4 wetsuits or more for extra warmth.

Black pairs well with anything

You might have noticed this when deciding what to wear during your daily life, but black is a color that pairs well with any other color. If you aren’t sure what to wear, you can’t go wrong with black. The same is true of a wetsuit. You can have a regulator, snorkel, or dive watch that is a different color, and it won’t look strange next to a black wetsuit. It’d look like the most natural thing in the world.

If you care about your style while in the water, you can have a statement piece such as a colored dive watch or fins to contrast against the black wetsuit. People’s eyes will be naturally drawn to the only colored pieces of equipment in your setup, making them stand out.

Parting words

When it comes to practicality and popularity, it’s clear that black wetsuits offer many advantages that colored wetsuits don’t. That’s not to say that colored wetsuits are bad, just that it might be more expensive and also might not even look the way you want to look when you’re underwater due to color loss.

There are some myths that the color of your wetsuit will attract sharks. Sharks don’t rely on their eyesight as much as their sense of smell. They can smell a drop of blood in the ocean as far as a quarter of a mile away. What really makes them excited is fish blood, not human blood.

Additionally, black wetsuits are the most convenient for manufacturers to mass-produce. Colored wetsuits have some limited advantages at the surface by making you easier to spot. This means if you’re with a buddy, or if you are in a rescue situation, then you’re much easier to find than someone with a black wetsuit.

Overall, there are pros and cons to colored wetsuits and black wetsuits, and as long as they meet your needs, then they can both be good. However, black wetsuits seem to have the edge here.

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