You're playing in the ocean with your family, and the waves are crashing around you. All you can think about is how beautiful the view is on your first tropical vacation.
However, as you step back on the shore and check your bathing suit top and bottom you realize that it’s full of sand.
It's definitely fine to play in the waves, but sometimes the strength of the water can knock sand into your bathing suit and cause it to get lodged in there.
What do you possibly do in this situation? How do you get sand out of your bathing suit once and for all? Is it stuck in your bathing suit for good?
This is the ultimate list of how to get sand out of your bathing suit so you can still play in the waves without worry.
Give It a Rinse
Step one is to rinse your bathing suit with hot or cold water so that the first layer of sand can initially fall right off. Whether you're using a public shower or you're able to wash your bathing suit in a public bathroom, consider this a great first step to getting the sand out of your bathing suit top or bottom.
Sometimes the sand is not actually lodged in your bathing suit, it just appears to be. So make sure to remove this initial layer so that you can really see how much sand is left for you to deal with.
Consider rinsing your swimsuit for five minutes or you can fill a sink back at your hotel and let it soak. Either way, keep your bathing suit submerged in water for a bit. Don't immediately put your bathing suit in the washer; you want to try to rinse it first right when the sand begins to get lodged in there. Of course, you'll wash your swimsuit top and bottom at some point in the washer, but for the initial rinsing just try the sink or even the bathtub.
As you rinse your suit, look where the sand is visibly showing up, and try to rub it out quickly with your hands.
You don't need to use any detergent in this process—that can happen separately when you’re reading to put your bathing suit in the washer and dryer later.
Sometimes placing your suit immediately in the washer, actually doesn't get all of the sand particles out of your suit. It's best to wash after you rinse your bathing suit roughly with your own hands. However, make sure not to press too hard or ruin your bathing suit.
Let It Dry
After rinsing the sand out of your bathing suit, it’s best to actually leave your bathing suit out to dry. Leaving your bathing suit out to dry will help relieve the moisture from your suit and dry out the sand particles.
You want to keep your suit in a cool place that is dry—and a space where your bathing suit is able to fully air dry.
Don't place your bathing suit in the sunlight because you don't want it to fade as it's drying. Have the drying process be indoors so that you can also check on your bathing suit every once in a while. Maybe place it near a fan for a quicker drying process?
Shake It Out
Once your bathing suit is fully dried, consider the next vital step and shake it out. The key is to basically rinse, dry, and then shake out your bathing suit of any excess sand that has collected in the top or bottom. When sand is dry it’s able to easily fall out and relieve your bathing suit as any sandy area.
Basically, any sand that didn't come out in the rinsing process will come out when you shake your bathing suit off.
Try a Dryer
If you're finding that your swimsuit is taking a long time to dry, you can definitely blow dry it with either hot or cold air so that the drying process can speed up and you can shake out your swimsuit faster.
If there is a dryer handy in your hotel room or on your cruise just have the suit in one hand and blow-dry your top and bottom in your other.
Don't worry; you won't shrink your bathing suit—a hairdryer is not hot enough to do so.
That's why placing your bathing suit in a washer or dryer is not the perfect first step to getting sand out of it. You don’t want to shrink it!
Keep the Process Quick
What's important throughout all these processes is keeping a quick momentum going. You don't want to carry out this process over a period of a couple of days. You want to make sure that you are rinsing, drying, and blow-drying your bathing suit within the same couple of hours as the initial time of lodging it with sand.
Inside-Out
If you still see that there's sand in your bathing suit after these steps, consider flipping it inside-out, blow-drying it again, and really giving it a good shake.
The inside outing process is a great way to find other sand that you would never have noticed before.
Keeping your bathing suit dry and continually shaking, is a great way to remove all sand as quickly as possible.
Try To Find the Source
If you're at the beach the next day and you still see and feel sand inside your bathing suit, pay close attention to hemlines. Is there any sand trying to hang on to these areas?
If there's a chance that you can stitch up a loose scene or cover a spot with new fabric so your bathing suit doesn't fill up again, definitely go for it. If you're unable to locate where the sand is entering from, consider keeping your bathing suit out to dry and wearing an entirely new one on your next excursion at the beach.
If you want to keep your bathing suits sand-free, consider wearing an entirely new bathing suit and only using the initial bathing suit you were wearing for tanning or walking along the shore. Sometimes a bathing suit gets a little old, and there are seams that you can't even see allowing sand in. It's better to avoid the problem altogether if you know that sand can enter from any location of your top and bottom.
Baby Powder
Another tip you can try for removing sand from your bathing suit is actually using a little baby powder and a brush to try and rake the sand out of difficult hiding spots. Baby powder is great for drying out moisture and a brush is a good way to nudge sand out of spaces in a more aggressive manner.
Done With Sand
You should no longer have to deal with a sand lodged bathing suit. Here's the deal: just because there's sand in your bathing suit, doesn't mean that you have to throw it out. Don't waste any chances on wearing your favorite bathing suit again, just be more careful on the waves and consider these steps. Your tropical vacation should never be ruined just because there's sand stuck in your suit. The waves and the ocean are your friends and you shouldn't have to worry as you jump and play throughout them.
Especially if you're into water sports, like surfing or sailing, you want to make sure that all your new bathing suits aren't getting ruined. So, have these steps memorized in the back of your head, and remember that the quicker the action, the easier it'll be to get the sand out of your suit.
If the first time around, these steps don't work for you, consider trying them all again in the same order. Then, head to the washer and dryer and place your bathing suit top and bottom or one piece in for a quick rinse and dry.
Just make sure to not bleach or shrink your bathing suit with the wrong detergent or too much time in the dryer!
Sources:
How To Get Sand Out Of Swimsuit (Step-By-Step Guide) | Swimsuits101
6 Ways to Get Beach Sand off Your Feet | Swim Guide
How do you get embedded sand out of a bathing suit? | EveryThingWhat.com