Clothes generally ain’t made with the same materials, and why some may take a few minutes to dry after being washed, others may take longer. Although I know a lot about ways to hasten the drying process of most wear, I wondered if the same could be applied to swimsuits, and thankfully I found different methods you can use.
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So, how long does it take a bathing suit to dry?
Swimsuits usually take anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours to get dried completely, but then again, it depends on a lot of factors such as wind, temperature etc which we will probably look at somewhere in this article.
To hasten the whole drying process, you need to go the extra mile to ensure that all things are put in place, and that includes spreading or laying them flat in an area free from direct sunlight. Read on as I bring to you the whole gimmicks behind drying.
Different Drying Methods And How Much Time They Take
The towel method – 2 to 4 hours
A hair dryer – 3 to 5 minutes
Air drying with car – 30 minutes to 1 hour
Drying Machine – An hour or less
A Salad Spinner – 1 hour to 2 hours
How To Dry Bathing Suit Fast
I know this might look weird to some people because you’re supposed to have at least two swimwear to allow ample time for one to dry while wearing the other, but what if you find yourself in a situation where you desperately need to re-wear that wet swimsuit?
What would you do then? Well, this is where drying your swimsuit faster in minutes comes in. Continue reading to see some of the ways you can adopt to dry your bathing suits. I can vouch for these methods if you need your swimsuit to dry faster.
1. Wrap yourself up with a towel
This is by far the easiest and quickest way to dry a wet swimsuit. Here’s how to do it. Throw a dried towel around the top (that’s if you’re wearing bikinis), then cross your hands, making sure to give yourself a little massage while the towel is still on your body.
Extend the massage to your underarms and gently wring to remove some of the water trapped underneath. Also, do the same for the straps. If you’re wearing a swimsuit with a padded top, remove the pads (if possible) before you wring.
For the bottoms, tie the towel around your waist (The same way you usually tie it when coming out of the bathroom), then squat. Maintain that position for a few seconds and keep repeating at intervals, after which you can now air dry.
2. Use a hand dryer
Even if you must use an electric hand dryer, you still need to put your bathing suit in between the folds of a towel to absorb moisture before making use of the hand dryer. Another alternative is to lay down flat under the fan.
3. Air dry using your car window
For those with a personal car, this one is going to save you from a lot of stress. After rolling your suits over the towel, take them out, roll them up in your car window, and watch them dry as you drive.
4. Use a salad spinner
Yes, you read it right. A salad spinner can be a quick and gentle way to remove excess water from a swimsuit. After rinsing, put your suit in a salad spinner and spin for about a minute. Then lay flat or hang to dry. This method can help you get your suit dry in just a few hours.
5. Drying machine
While this quick method takes about an hour or less, though I won’t really recommend it because the heat and tumbling action can damage your swimsuit’s material, leading to loss of elasticity and colour fading.
How Do Drying Work?
For clothes to dry, water must evaporate irrespective of the temperature. Also, the temperature does not necessarily need to be hotter than 100°C (which is the boiling point of water) for clothes to dry. So how do water molecules evaporate?
Well, clothes don’t only need temperature for them to dry; they also need a considerable amount of air. Even if there is no sun but there is a constant wind blowing, clothes will get dried eventually.
For clothes to dry, the moisture trapped by your clothes must be set loose (evaporates) into the air. For this to happen, the relative humidity (the amount of moisture in the air compared to what the air can hold at that temperature) must be less than 100%.
In plain English, this means that the lower the relative humidity (RH), the faster it is for your clothes to dry. Having said that, let’s now look at the factors.
Factors That Determine How Fast A Swimsuit Can Dry
1. Wind
A still day usually causes the air around clothes to be saturated, making it difficult for the water molecules to evaporate, but during a windy day, those humid airs are usually blown away, causing your swimsuit to dry very fast.
Simply put, bathing suits dry faster when they receive sufficient wind. The more air they receive, the quicker they’re most likely to dry. The wind can either be natural or induced.
2. Temperature
Temperature is another factor that dictates how quickly your swimsuit or clothes is likely to get dried, but it is not as important as humidity. While a dry, cold day will dry your bathing suit faster, a warm and humid day will most likely not give you the same result as the latter.
3. Season
Summer is typically the hottest time of the year, and as you may have already guessed, washed clothes tend to dry pretty fast due to the hot air that blows through, causing the water in them to evaporate into thin air.
In fact, any washed clothes, irrespective of the fabrics used, usually dry faster during this period compared to when it’s winter when the sun is lowest.
So summer is another factor that may likely dedicate to how quickly your clothes will dry. In other words, The hotter the season, the quicker your wear will dry.
3. Materials
Unlike your regular wear, swimsuits are made from fabrics that are designed to dry faster. For example, swimwear with 100% polyester will tend to dry faster than those with 80 % cotton blends with 20 % stretch bits (Lycra).
How Long Does Polyester Take To Dry?
When hung indoors, they usually take 2-4 hours to dry, but when they’re spread outside (outdoors), they take around an hour or even less to dry completely. Aside from the drying thingy, polyester is quite durable and, at the same time, very affordable.
Although it might not be 100% perfect as there are some few things it’s bound to lack if you’re someone who usually spends a considerable amount of time in the water, then going after swimsuits of 100% polyester is a good choice for you.
How Long Does Nylon Take To Dry?
Unlike polyester, Nylon fabrics will take a little time longer to dry. It may take anywhere between 4-6 hours to dry when hung indoors and more than an hour when spread outside (outdoors)
What Happens If I Tumble Dry Polyester?
Well, nothing much would happen if you don’t leave them inside to dry completely. Usually, it’s safe to tumble dry polyester; the good news is, it won’t shrink, but then it should be taking out when damp and should not be allowed to dry. Allowing them to dry will make them wrinkle.
How Long Does It Take for A Bikini to Dry?
It typically takes about 30 minutes for a bikini to dry. Drying times can vary greatly depending on the material of your bikini. However, you can expect a complete dry on most bikini fabrics within 30 minutes.
Most bikinis are typically made from nylon, spandex, cotton, or a blend of these materials. Nylon is lightweight, water-resistant and dries very fast, while cotton absorbs moisture and dries much more slowly.
Spandex also dries very quickly because it’s made from synthetic fibers that don’t absorb water as quickly as natural materials like cotton.
A blend of these materials can vary in drying time depending on what percentage is present in the fabric: if you’ve got 50% nylon mixed with 50% spandex, then your bikini will dry fairly quickly, but if it contains only 20% nylon then you’ll need to wait longer before putting it back on again.
Fastest Drying Swimsuit Material
The fastest drying swimsuit materials are often synthetic and include:
- Polyester: Polyester is the most common swimsuit material. It is highly durable, resistant to chlorine, and dries fairly quickly. It is also known for maintaining its colour and shape for longer.
- Nylon: This is another common swimwear material. It’s lightweight, resistant to the sun, and dries very quickly. However, it’s not as durable as polyester and doesn’t resist chlorine as well.
- Poly PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate): This type of polyester has extra stretch and durability. It dries very quickly, even quicker than standard polyester and nylon.
- Lycra/Spandex: Often used in combination with other materials to provide stretch, it’s not particularly fast-drying compared to the other materials listed here.
In terms of the fastest drying, it would likely be Poly PBT or Nylon.
Can You Dry a Bathing Suit in The Dryer?
No, you should not dry a bathing suit in the dryer as the high heat can cause damage to the elastic fibers in the swimsuit material, which can lead to the swimsuit losing its shape, fading, or even getting stretched out.
Instead, the recommended way to dry a swimsuit is to gently squeeze out excess water (don’t wring it out as this can damage the fibers), then lay it flat to dry in a well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can cause colors to fade.
If you absolutely must use a dryer, use the lowest heat setting or the air fluff/no heat setting if available. However, air drying is still the preferred method for maintaining the longevity of your swimsuit.
Wrapping Up
The time a piece of clothing dries depends on many factors, but we’ve found out that swimsuits usually take 30 minutes – 2 hours when laid down flat to dry.
To hasten the drying process, gently wring the moisture out of them using a dry towel before taking them out to dry.
Also, the wind must be present for a swimsuit or any piece of clothing to dry out quickly. In other words, wind is indeed a helpful factor for drying clothes.
