We wear snorkeling rash guards every time we snorkel and share our favorite brands below. Think sun protective clothing. They were originally created so surfers would not get rashes from their boards. The name stuck, but good UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) swim shirts and leggings can virtually eliminate the need for sunscreen and will protect you better from the sun. They also protect you from sea lice (jellyfish plankton) stings, which can be an issue almost anywhere.
Most serious snorkelers wear some form of full length clothing to protect themselves and eliminate sunscreen. On a recent Alor Indonesia group snorkeling trip every person was wearing tops and bottoms, which was great to see. Although our hooded Tuga Sunwear tops were coveted.
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Snorkeling Rash Guards for Sun Protection
As you have likely heard, some chemicals in sunscreens have been found to be harmful to corals and fish, so it is a good idea to minimize the use of it in general. That is why we now recommend wearing a snorkeling shirt with a built-in hood and hand coverage, with leggings. We prefer two pieces as opposed to a full body rash guard for ease of getting it on and off when you need to use the restroom. We find wearing snorkeling rash guards that cover most of us is very useful on long snorkels when sunscreen would not last or on repeat snorkels from boats when you don’t have time to re-apply sunscreen between locations.
Note: Our suggestions come from hands-on experience. We hope you find them helpful. You can help us if you purchase from the links below. We may make a small commission, as an Amazon Associate or from other companies, at no extra cost to you.
One of our favorite brands that we use and love is Tuga Sunwear (by Plangea Inc.). They have a completely unique line of snorkeling rash guards with snorkeler specific features that you won’t find in any other product. It’s a great company in California run by our friend John. We have taken a tour of their interesting factory. We also help test their products and they have implemented a number of our improvement suggestions into their snorkel line.
Besides the unique features we will talk more about below, what sets them apart from less expensive rash guards is the high quality of their UPF 50+ tested fabrics in their snorkel line, which all come from Italy. All fabrics in the snorkel line are either, nylon made from recycled fish nets or polyester made from recycled bottles, mixed with spandex, so very eco-friendly. It is very stretchy and comfortable material.
Whenever we find great new gear like Tuga rash guards we share it in our free monthly newsletter.
Tuga Hooded Snorkeling Rash Guards
Tuga makes an awesome snorkel hoodie rash guard with hand coverage for men and women in multiple color options, including some with either Hawaiian or Caribbean fish identification images printed on the sleeves. We absolutely love ours. They provide great sun protection and save us the time and effort of putting sunscreen on our necks, ears and hands. It’s very easy to tuck your mask skirt under the hood for excellent sun coverage. Tuga is offering our readers 15% off your first purchase with by using the coupon code TropicalSnorkeling15 on their website at the links above and below.
Besides the unique hood, the top also has long arms with thumb hole cuffs, for hand sun protection. There are also button holes that can attach to buttons on matching leggings or shorts described down this page.
Tuga Snorkeling Rash Guards – Leggings
Tuga makes matching color leggings for men and women that have buttons that attach to your shirt, making sure it does not ride up and cause a sun burn on your back. The leggings also have foot stirrups to help keep them from riding up. Galen wore board shorts over his leggings for a little more modesty and it worked great. The foot stirrups work with our fins and our snorkeling shoes. Tuga is offering our readers 15% off your first purchase with by using the coupon code TropicalSnorkeling15 on their website at the links above and below.
Tuga Long Sleeved Snorkeling Rash Guards
If a snorkel hoodie does not appeal to you, Tuga offers many other long sleeved snorkeling rash guards for men and women.
These are made of the same great eco-friendly fabrics. Some of the snorkeling rash guards have button holes for attaching to leggings or the shorts they also offer, and thumb hole cuffs, but some don’t, so make sure you get what you want.
Fourth Element Snorkeling Rash Guards
We also love our snorkeling rash guards by Fourth Element, who also makes our favorite snorkeling wetsuits. While they may not have as many snorkeling specific features as the Tuga sets above, they are made of 85% recycled polyester from plastic bottles, and they are the most comfortable rash guards we have ever owned. The material is very soft to the touch, and stretchy, and they are well made with flatlock seams.
Fourth Element offers many different types of tops for women and men, long or short sleeved, tight or loose. They do not yet make full length leggings for men, but Nicole loves her full length leggings.
See all of Fourth Element’s rash guards here.
Fourth Element also just released a line of full body stinger suits, with hoods, and hand coverings. They look great to us, if you like the idea of a one-piece suit. The hand coverings have little mitts that you can pull back to expose your fingers. These suits would be excellent for full body sun protection, a little bit of warmth, and also to prevent from being stung by jellyfish, sea lice, and other ouchies. You can see the women’s Hydro Stinger suit here, and the men’s here.
Snorkeling Hoods
We really like having a hood when we snorkel, mostly to keep our heads, necks and ears from getting sunburned, and they also help control hair from getting tangled up in our mask and snorkel straps. Our Tuga rash guards above have a built-in hood. But when we wear our Fourth Element rash guards we also wear some great hoods by EcoStinger.
They are a very nice thickness. Not super thin, but not as thick as most neoprene hoods divers use, which means you can hear better in them, and they are not as hot. They are also fairly snug, so they don’t move much when freediving.
You do need to make sure the material is not under your mask. But we like how close they fit to the mask, preventing forehead burns. We tuck them down into the necks of our rash guards.
Note that the company advertises them as Women’s or Men’s on Amazon, but in fact there is no difference, only different size options.
See the EcoStinger hoods on Amazon here.
More Options and Tips
Full Body Rash Guards
A full body rash guard is also called a dive skin. It is a one piece garment that zips up the front. While this is certainly a good option, we prefer two pieces for freedom of using the restroom. If they appeal to you more than the two piece option above, Tuga makes one for men, we link to some Fourth Element options above, or you can find them on Amazon, made by other manufacturers.
More Affordable Snorkeling Rash Guards
If the sun protective clothing is above your budget, there are options on Amazon that are more affordable. Just note the materials may not be as stretchy, comfortable, or durable. They will lack the snorkeling specific features of the Tuga garments, and the UPF stated is almost never tested, so some sun is likely to get through. But we used similar products for years and they are much better than slathering on sunscreen or getting burned.
Men’s tight fitting snorkeling rash guard on Amazon.
Women’s tight fitting snorkeling rash guard on Amazon.
Men’s loose fitting rash guard on Amazon.
Women’s loose fitting rash guard on Amazon.
Why Not Just a Long-Sleeved T-Shirt?
A cotton t-shirt is not a good idea. First, a typical white cotton t-shirt only has an UPF rating of between about 6 to 8, when dry. And when wet that goes way down. We have seen family members get a good burn through a wet t-shirt.
There are a couple of other reasons not to wear cotton. First, it picks up water-weight, decreasing your buoyancy. Second, when wet it will get very baggy creating a lot of drag when trying to swim and will make you much more tired. And if you freedive, it is much easier to snag it on something underwater than a more form fitting snorkeling rash guard.
What Reef Safe Sunscreen to Use for Exposed Skin?
If you choose a snorkeling shirt without a hood or snorkeling shorts, you will need to sunscreen your exposed parts. Please read our page about choosing a reef safe one.