What Do Surfers Wear Under Their Boardshorts?


Boardshorts are different from swim trunks in a few ways. One difference is that they are knee-length shorts, compared to the mid-thigh length of swim trunks. They are made from either nylon or polyester or both materials and are designed to dry quickly. Boardshorts are usually thin to facilitate drying and comfort when wearing them.

What do surfers wear under boardshorts? Some surfers wear compression shorts, others prefer briefs. Some prefer to wear nothing underneath. A surfer who wears compression shorts or a jockstrap does so to increase performance and to help prevent rashes associated with surfing.

The ocean presents new challenges every day that are different each day because the waves change every day. Some wipeouts can be physically wrenching, or surfers can collide with a reef or a jetty.

What Are Compression Shorts?

Compression shorts are made of stretchy material that fits the body and creates pressure in the butt and the thighs. Since studies have shown that compression shorts have positive benefits to an athlete’s performance.

Compression shorts also protect male genitals, since the boardshorts can chafe this area and cause painful rashes that take a long time to go away. The compression shorts help prevent these genital rashes.

Compression shorts also aid in groin protection when working together with an athletic supporter. Most compression shorts models have cup pockets so a cup can be easily worn with one.

There are few things worse in life than when your midsection makes direct contact with an immovable object while surfing, such as the sea bed or rocks under the surface, or coral reefs.

Best of all, compression shorts themselves do not cause chafing, as boardshorts do. Compression shorts wick sweat away from the body to prevent chafing. Also, they stay in place, so they won’t ride up underneath the boardshort when you’re surfing and moving your body to accommodate waves.

Can I Get A Rash From Surfing?

You positively can experience painful rashes when you surf. Surf rashes result from skin rubbing against materials used in surfing, such as surf wax, board shorts or wetsuits, when they rubbing occurs several times in a row, like when you surf for three consecutive days.

Besides getting a surf rash from boardshorts, rashes develop on the chest or nipples, the abdominal area, the inner thigh area, armpits, and the neck area.

Surf rashes come from friction, so active surfers that go to the sea daily will likely develop a rash. A change of clothing, such as when you travel from one climate to another, can cause a surf rash.

The rash that comes from wearing boardshorts while surfing can affect men’s testicular area and sometimes the entire groin.

The first sign of surfer rash is the appearance of red bumps in the inflamed area of the skin. Sometimes some wounds appear that are not deep.

boardshorts surf

How Can I Prevent Rashes From Happening?

The problem with rashes from boardshorts is that you usually feel them when you are right in the middle of surfing at the beach and enjoying yourself. I can’t tell you how many times it’s happened to me. I thought after a while I could get used to it, but I never did. It just cramped my style at the beach, ending early those days when the waves were rolling one after the other.

The skin gets weaker and weaker with the repeated friction from garments like boardshorts and wetsuits. Friction also occurs when paddling on a waxed surfboard. There’s no way you can go out to surf without a waxed board, though.

There are some measures you can take to prevent surf rash. Honestly speaking, you’ll hate not going to the beach when the waves are good, but the obvious solution before getting a rash is to limit the time you spend in the water. But you won’t have to if you wear compression shorts, or “speedos” under your boardshorts, although compression shorts are better because they protect the inner thigh, another area vulnerable to surfer rashes.

  1.     Mix up the clothing you wear to surf. Rashes appear after there is repeated friction to one part of the body, like the nipples or the inner thighs, which are both sensitive areas, to begin with. The groin area is ultra-sensitive as well, so it should be shielded every time you surf.

Once I began wearing compression shorts, the rashes virtually disappeared there. Athletes in weight training as well as baseball players, football, and hockey players, routinely wear compression shorts along with an athletic supporter.

Switching from boardshorts one day to a wetsuit the next gives the sensitive areas a break from friction.

  1.     You can wear what Brazilian surfers wear. Speedos. Lots of men have a natural aversion to speedos (as I do), but they do work. You can try wearing your boardshorts over the speedos, or just wear the speedos and perhaps start a trend at the beach.
  2.     You can wear boardshorts that have an integrated inner panel that protects the groin area and the inner thighs. This type of board short comes with a “surf sleeve” underneath.
  3.     For the upper body, a cycling jersey will prevent rashes from developing since they are designed not to cause friction rashes.
  4.     After you shower and dry off your body, you can apply a moisturizing cream or a cream containing aloe. Aloe has natural anti-inflammatory and healing properties.

Liberally apply healing creams to all the sensitive areas of your body. Believe it or not, you can chafe and develop a rash anywhere on the body, so you can apply aloe or moisturizer to the affected areas.

Of course, within minutes after you plunge into the water the creams will wear off and your body will be exposed again.

One of the best products to use is petroleum jelly, manufactured by the Vaseline company. It will remain on the skin while you are in the water but will make your hands slippery. Slippery hands make duck diving difficult because your hands can slip off the surfboard.

  1.     You can use an ointment that doesn’t dissolve in water. The Desitin company makes ointments for rashes.

If you are environmentally conscious, know that petroleum jelly and ointments are not naturally found in Nature. They will not degrade for many years, so will remain in the water.

Is There Any Sure Way To Avoid Rashes From Boardshorts?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Therefore I highly advise that men wear either compression shorts under their boardshorts, or they wear an athletic supporter. Compression shorts are designed to be worn with athletic supports, so you can wear both.

We know how good boardshorts feel when surfing. They’re so lightweight that you forget you’re wearing them. But soon, enough, we’re reminded in no uncertain terms that we have them one.

If you develop a rash, the good news is that it will take longer and longer for your body to get the rash as you continue to surf in the future. After an undetermined period, you will stop getting rashes in the same area.

Makers of boardshorts have listened when surfers complain about chafing in the groin and inner thighs. They know that most people prefer to wear as little as possible when they’re in the water. However, surfers have become used to wearing wetsuits, and board shorts and much lighter in comparison.

Some board short brands now come with inner protection for the skin.

Related Questions

What Are The Top Boardshort Brands?

There are a few companies that are at the top of the list, not just for apparel like boardshorts, but also for surfboards, surfboard leashes, wetsuits, and other surfing gear.

O’Neill is a top-rated company. They make a boardshort model that comes with an anti-rash “hyper thread” that can also be washed in a washing machine.

When looking for a pair of boardshorts, make sure you put “anti-rash” or “anti-chafe” in the search box to filter away those boardshorts that don’t have this feature.

Can I Wear Boardshorts Under My Wetsuit?

There is no law of surfing that forbids it, but most people don’t wear anything under their wetsuit. One of the reasons has to do with the way a wetsuit works. There are heating layers in a wetsuit, and water needs to go from the cold sea water to the skin inside the suit. Boardshorts would block this passage of water, resulting in a warm body everywhere except that part where the boardshorts are worn.

If you change your wetsuit in public, then you obviously should wear something underneath. But boardshorts under a wetsuit won’t make you warmer. Quite the opposite.

Can I Wear Swimming Trunks Instead Of Boardshorts When I Surf?

In theory, swim trunks serve the same purpose as boardshorts, namely, they cover you when you’re in the water.

One of the advantages of boardshorts is that they are longer, so you can sit in any position on the board comfortably. Another reason to wear board shorts instead of swim trunks is that they’re looser-fitting.

If you spend hours at the beach, you’ll note how quickly boardshorts dry. Now, board shorts come with built-in anti-chafing that specifically addresses the issues surfers face.

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