Since I’m a Colorado girl and have only spent a limited time in lakes and rivers while living there, I’m not really one to rock out a rashguard. This is a new piece of water gear for me and I was excited to finally try one! After doing some research on what I wanted (UPF 50, zip front, long sleeve) I shopped around for a style I liked which was the “Swim The Sea” Long Sleeve Zip-Up, UPF 50 Rashguard from ROXY.
Upon first inspection, I was a bit worried this top wouldn’t hold up long. It felt very thin and “flimsy” which made me worry that the garment would have a lot of snags. It is made of 87% Nylon and 13% Elastane which does create a super soft, resistant stretch fabric. Being new to rashguards, I wasn’t quite sure how to wear one. No swim top? With swim top or swim suit? With common sense, (and also knowing how see-through this top would be if I didn’t have a swimsuit on underneath…) I threw on a bikini top and zipped up the rashguard. Perfect! The fit was great, I got a medium and it is pretty true-to-size, and fitted as well. The zipper features a liner behind it so that it doesn’t scratch the skin and the neck doesn’t feel too tight or high either. Once on, it is pretty skin-tight, mostly around the arms which made it kind of hard to pull the sleeves on all the way at first. In the water, I could barely feel any separation from the garment and my skin, including around the torso. The super soft fabric makes the seams on the inside hardly noticeable and very comfortable. I wore this top over a bikini top two days in a row for a total of about 6 hours in the sun. I never once put on sunscreen on my torso or arms which I LOVED! I was blown away by the amount of UV protection that this garment had. Being a very light-skinned white girl, I burn easy…so I’m always layering on sunscreen like I’m putting icing on a cake…THICK! Didn’t need it this time, at least up top. When I got home, no burned skin…I was so happy!
I only have two small complaints with this rashguard. The first is the super-fine sifting of sand that happened with the arm sleeves. When I took it off, there was a fine layer of sand so filtered that it was like dusting off flour from my skin. Maybe that’s the way it goes (welcome to the ocean?), but I’m really over having suits and other clothes “made for the ocean” that sift the sand down so small that it cakes onto my skin, or accumulates in my suit top or bottom. The second issue I had was that since the top is so fitted, but loose at the bottom (around my waist), it rolls up quite a ways while playing in the water. Since I’m a little self-conscious about my mid section… it was a constant stress for me and I immediately would pull it back down over my stomach and back.
After I got home, I rinsed it with cool water to get all the salt off and then hand washed it with a gentle, biodegradable soap (see more tips here).
There were a couple of stains from something on it so I took a little bit more soap and focused on those areas. They (almost) washed all the way out with some hand scrubbing.
Its a bit more time-intensive to take care of these items, but I stayed away from just throwing the rashguard in the regular laundry because I want to be sure that it retains the UPF 50 and that no snags or shrinking happens.
While I do like the look and feel of this rashguard, I think I’ll also look for a one piece suit with long sleeves next time like this one. I also will probably just save the “swim the sea” rashguard for my relaxing beach/boat days and opt for a more robust and durable rashguard (like this one) for my snorkeling trips.
Thanks for reading my first gear review and…
Drift on!
Randi
Destination Adrift 