Girls / Wetsuits

So, your girl loves being in the water. While some people have personal experience buying wetsuits, you might be looking at girls’ wetsuits for the first time and feeling rather overwhelmed and confused. If steamer, 2/3, neoprene and the rest of the wetsuit jargon is going straight over your head, we are here to help! Read on to learn everything there is to know about girls’ wetsuits and how to choose the best one for a special little girl in your life.

Different types of girls’ wetsuits and their uses
Wetsuits are classified based on their thickness and their arms and legs lengths. These are the most popular models of girls’ wetsuits models for sale:

• Rash vests and surfsuits — Made of thin, sun-blocking material, these girls' beach tops are not designed for warmth but as protection against the sun and abrasive surfaces. They are ideal for hot summer days, playing on the shoreline or in very warm water. Surfsuits are essentially rashies in a bodysuit design, which allows them to feel secure and not ride up.

• Wetsuit tops and shorts — Buying a separate set of girls’ wetsuit tops and bottoms will allow any girl to strip off excess layers or protect only the parts of her body she is most concerned about. Made from neoprene, girls’ wetsuit tops will keep the wind and the sun off her upper body, while the girls' wetsuit bottoms will provide insulation against the cold and extra padding when involved in board activities.

• Spring suits — Girls’ springsuits come in various combinations of short to long arms, no legs, boy short legs or long legs, as well as have different thicknesses ranging from 0.5 mm to 2mm. They are ideal for shoulder seasons and water that isn’t colder than 17°C-19°C.

• Steamers — If the girl you are shopping for loves to spend long periods of time in the water, either on a board or just playing around, or if the water temperature dips below 17°C, she might need a girls’ steamer. A 3/2mm (the thickness of the body, the arms and the joints) girls’ full wetsuit is enough in most situations unless the girl in question plans to enter the water in winter or if she lives in the southern parts of Australia, in which case she would be warmer in a 4/3.

The last key piece of information to consider is the different entry options. Front zip (FZ) and back zip (BZ) wetsuits are easier to put on and take off, but a chest zip (CZ) is warmer.

How to choose the right girls’ wetsuit size
When deciding what size girls’ wetsuit to buy online, you can go off their age and clothing size. A size 10 is designed to fit most 10 years old, especially if they wear size 10 in everyday clothing. That said, we provide a size chart on each girls’ wetsuit product page, and we recommend you refer to it — as each wetsuit brand has slight differences in their product designs.

An important point to make is that neoprene is an insulating material that helps retain body warmth. Wetsuits work by trapping a very small amount of water, which your body heats up. If you are tempted to buy a wetsuit a few sizes bigger to economise and make it last longer, there is going to be too much room for it to work properly. Assuming you’re online today to buy a wetsuit now, you don’t want to fall into that trap. That said, we understand that kids grow very quickly, and wetsuits are not cheap to buy. An acceptable compromise is to go one size bigger, provided it’s not so big that it is loose on the body. Ideally, the new wetsuit should be tight on the body without constricting any movement.

If you are shopping for a toddler and want more colour or style choices, you can also check out our boys’ wetsuits — since there is no difference in their body shape at that age, and the cut of the wetsuits is the same. On the other end, girls aged 14 and over will also fit the smallest sizes of our women’s wetsuits.

Buy girls’ wetsuits and more online at Natural Necessity
You will find everything a girl needs to have fun at the beach and in the water in our online shop. From stylish and comfortable girls' swimwear to girls' beach accessories and more, shop for all her summer essentials in one place.