Surf leggings, how did we survive without them! Thanks to Salt Gypsy for inventing these bad girls and answering our collective prayers.
Before Salt Gypsy led the charge and surf leggings exploded onto the surf scene we saw all kinds of badly sunburnt legs, tears and enforced non-surf days on our tropical surf trips. These days we just pop some leggings in our bag and they serve a multitude of purposes. Just in case you don’t believe us we have listed them below like the crazy surf leggings evangelists that we are ..
- Sun protection is the biggy! if you surf in a bikini or boardies and have fair skin, the backs of your legs will burn, burn, burn. This is super painful and can ruin most of your trip if it happens in the first few days. Don’t take the risk, start in some leggings and let your skin adjust to the glorious sun exposure slowly.
- Surf leggings are the ultimate multi-purpose travel pant .. great for travelling on planes, strolling around towns, covering up when visiting cultural sights, a must for Yoga classes and the perfect ‘the AC is making my room too cold’ wardrobe solution. One pair of surf leggings ticks all these boxes and takes up barely any space in your bag.. amazing huh!
- They prevent board rash like a super hero. We’re talking knees, thighs, inner thighs .. anywhere our delicate lady legs rub against the surfboard and wax. One important tip we learnt recently, make sure there is no sand inside your leggings or you’re pretty much applying extra sand paper to go – you’re welcome!
- Protecting our modesty ladies, or at least letting us forget for a session about the dangers of wedgies or full bottom reveals. Good surf leggings are made to stay put and it’s one less wardrobe adjustment to think about as we pop up and charge down the line. Still need to flick that hair out our eyes though 😉
- Which brings us to looking good and feeling comfy. Yes we know surfing is not about what we look like but we are all human and some days it’s just nice to feel stylish in a pair of comfortable leggings and not have to walk around in a bikini.
- Reef protection. If you get tumbled around on the reef then a thin pair of lycra leggings is not going to help too much but they will surely ward off some minor scrapes and cushion the blow a bit. They might also help with sea lice, jelly fish stings etc
- You will get heaps more photos of you surfing. Any surf photographer will tell you that in a crowded line up an eye catching piece of clothing will get you loads more shots. Hurrah!
Always ahead of the curve Salt Gypsy have just launched a new range of sustainably and ethically manufactured surf leggings, and lots of other great surf brands now include leggings in their swim & surf wear collections. We regularly pin surf leggings that we love over on pinterest so give our leggings board a follow and let us know any new discoveries you have made.
We’ve gathered together an edit of our current favourites below, links to all styles at the bottom for your shopping pleasure.
O’Neill
Salt Gypsy | Seea | Billabong | Seea
Zealous at Seafoam | Roxy | Volcom | Roxy
