If the smell of your wetsuit has followed it off the beach and into your house, you need two fixes, and the candle is the second one. The suit smells because bacteria are feeding on sweat and body oil trapped in the neoprene lining. A cool freshwater rinse after every session and a vinegar soak once a month kill that bacteria where it lives.
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Once the suit is clean, the best candle for the room it dries in is 100% beeswax with a bright, open scent. Our pick is Zesty, because its Ocean Breeze and Mandarin opening smells like the water you just came out of. Beeswax burns without paraffin soot, which is why our pure beeswax candles, hand poured in New York City keep a gear room smelling fresh once the source of the funk is gone.
Why the suit smells, and why salt water cannot rinse it out
Neoprene is a rubber foam. It is made of millions of tiny closed cells filled with gas, and those cells are what keep you warm in cold water. The inner lining sits against your skin for hours, and it soaks up whatever your body puts out.
Sweat and body oil work their way into the lining and the seams. Many surfers also pee in their suits to stay warm on a long session, and that sinks in too. Bacteria feed on all of it.
As the bacteria break those residues down, they give off butyric acid. Butyric acid is the compound behind the sour smell of rancid butter and old gym socks. It is the note you catch when you unzip the gear bag on a Saturday morning.
Salt water rinses the outside of the suit, but the sweat stays locked in the inner layer. A suit left warm and wet is a perfect home for bacteria. Every hour it sits damp in a bag or a trunk, they keep eating, and the smell gets stronger.
Indoors, the problem spreads. A suit drying in a small bathroom or a closed laundry room raises the humidity in that room, and damp air carries the musty smell into the next one. The EPA's brief guide to mold and moisture in the home explains why keeping indoor damp under control matters for the whole house.
So the order matters. Clean and dry the suit first. Then give the room a scent of its own.
Fix the suit first, because every other step depends on it
A candle works on the air in a room. The smell starts in the lining of the suit, so the suit is where the real work happens. These steps take a few minutes after a session and half an hour once a month.
After every session: a two-minute freshwater rinse
Hold the suit under cool fresh water for at least two minutes. Turn it inside out halfway through so the water reaches the lining, where the sweat sits. The beach shower works, and so does your own shower at home.
This flushes sand and salt before they dry into the fabric. It also washes away surface sweat before the bacteria get a full day to work on it.
Once a month: a soak that reaches the bacteria
A rinse only reaches the surface. To kill the bacteria living deeper in the lining, give the suit a full soak once a month, or right away if the smell comes back. Use either of these:
- White vinegar soak. Stir 1 cup of white vinegar into a tub or bucket of cold water. Submerge the suit for 30 minutes, then rinse it in fresh water. The acid attacks the bacteria's cell walls without harming the rubber.
- Wetsuit shampoo. Mix 3.5 fl oz (100 ml) of a dedicated cleaner such as Nikwax Wetsuit Refresh into 5 gallons (20 liters) of cold water. Let the suit soak for 5 minutes, then rinse.
Always use cool or lukewarm water. Neoprene is glued and laminated, and heat weakens both.
Drying: inside out, in shade, with air moving
Hang the suit inside out on a wide, thick hanger so the shoulders keep their shape. Dry it in the shade with good airflow. When the lining is dry, flip it right side out and let the outer face finish.
Strong direct sun breaks down neoprene over time, so a covered porch or a room with a fan running works better than a sunny fence. The faster the lining dries, the less time bacteria have to grow back.
The mistakes that undo all of it
- Hot water or a clothes dryer. Heat can melt the rubber and ruin the seams.
- Bleach, harsh detergent, or dish soap. These strip the neoprene of its stretch and break down the glued seams.
- A bunched-up suit in the car trunk. Folded wet rubber with no air is exactly where the smell grows fastest.
- A humid bathroom with no window. The suit stays damp for a full day, and the room takes on the smell.
With the suit clean, the room is what is left to fix
Picture the hour after a cold morning session. The suit is rinsed and hanging inside out over the bathtub, still dripping. Your board leans in the hall, and the bathroom holds that wet rubber smell along with the steam from the shower you just took.
This is the moment a candle earns its place. The bacteria are handled, but the room still carries the smell of a suit that needs a few more hours to dry. Set our Zesty beeswax candle on a steady surface near the doorway of that room, and the air takes on a scent of its own while the last damp hours pass.
Zesty's notes are Ocean Breeze, Mandarin, Lavender, Jasmine, Black Pepper, Amber, Patchouli, Vanilla. The first impression is cold and clean, like salt air and a juicy mandarin split open. Underneath, the Black Pepper and Amber give the scent some weight.
That weight is the reason it works in a gear room. A thin, light scent gets lost against wet rubber. A scent with a bright, salty top and a warm base holds its shape and fills the room around it.
For a surfer, it also just makes sense. The house ends up smelling like the water you love instead of the gear you wore in it.
Why the wax matters more in a room that already smells
Most candles on store shelves are paraffin, and the name hides where it comes from. Crude oil is pumped out of the ground and shipped to a refinery. The refinery splits it into fuels and heavier oils.
Paraffin wax is what is left near the end of that process, after the fuels are drawn off. So paraffin is petroleum waste, poured into a jar and given a nice label.
When a paraffin candle burns, it often leaves black soot on the jar and on the wall above it. In a small, closed room that already holds the smell of wet neoprene, that soot adds a smoky layer to the very air you are trying to freshen.
Beeswax comes from somewhere else entirely. Honeybees make it to build their comb, and beekeepers collect it as a byproduct of honey. It is filtered and poured, and it is a single ingredient. MBur candles are 100% beeswax, with no blend.
Beeswax also has the highest melting point of any candle wax. Here is why that matters: a harder wax melts more slowly, so the candle burns longer and more steadily. Our 12 oz candle burns for 80+ hours.
What goes into the wax matters just as much. Many candles use toxic fragrances containing phthalates. Phthalates are chemicals added to make a scent cling and last longer, and plenty of people would rather not breathe them in a closed room. MBur uses only phthalate-free fragrance, with no chemical dye and a wooden wick.
| MBur 100% beeswax | Typical paraffin candle | |
|---|---|---|
| Wax source | Honeybee comb, a byproduct of honey | Leftover from petroleum refining |
| Ingredients | One: pure beeswax | Petroleum wax, often blended |
| Wick | Wooden, two on the 12 oz size | Usually cotton |
| Burn behavior | Slow and steady, highest melting point of any candle wax | Softer wax that melts faster |
| Soot | Clean burn, no paraffin soot | Often leaves black soot on the jar and wall |
| Fragrance | Phthalate-free fragrance | Often toxic fragrance containing phthalates |
| Dye | No chemical dye | Often dyed for color |
| Where it is made | Hand poured in New York City | Usually mass produced |
In a room that already has one smell to clear, the clean burn is the whole point. You want the candle to add its scent and nothing else.
For a room that smells like the next trip
Some surfers come home and want a break from salt. The suit is drying on the porch and the car is still full of sand. What you want in the house is the feeling of the trip you are already planning.
That is where our Out of Office beeswax candle fits. Its notes are Spearmint, Pineapple, Bamboo, Coconut. Cold pineapple and a crushed spearmint leaf come first, then the green, watery smell of fresh-cut bamboo with Coconut softening the base.
Spearmint does useful work in a musty room. A cool green top note reaches your nose fast and cuts through heavy, damp air. The sweet fruit keeps it from smelling like a cleaning product.
Scent that carries across a room, and lingers after the flame is out, is what a gear room needs. One customer put it this way:
"Absolutely obsessed with M Bur Candle Co my roommate and I own 6/8 of the scents! They smell up a WHOLE room during the burn & even a while after blowing them out."
Paige, MBur customer
That lingering scent covers the stretch of hours a suit needs to finish drying, even after you have gone to bed and blown the candle out.
Which size fits the room where your suit dries
Size comes down to the room and how often you surf. Both sizes are the same 100% beeswax with wooden wicks and phthalate-free fragrance.
The 5 oz candle has one wooden wick and burns 40 hours. It suits a small room, like a bathroom with the suit over the tub or a laundry room off the garage. In a space that size, one wick fills the air easily.
The 12 oz candle has two wooden wicks and burns 80+ hours. Two wicks build a wide melt pool faster, and a wider pool of melted wax releases more scent into the room. Pick it for a bigger space, such as an open living room where the suit hangs near the back door.
The 12 oz is also the one for a room you light after every session. If you surf most weekends and the suit comes home wet each time, that is the candle you will reach for again and again.
Where to put the candle so it helps while the suit dries
A few small choices decide how well the candle works in a gear room. Most of them come down to air movement and distance.
- Put it in the path of the air. Set the candle near the doorway, or in the hall between the gear room and the rest of the house. Moving air carries scent, so the candle reaches the rooms the smell was drifting into.
- Keep the gear well clear of the flame. Never set the candle under the suit or beside the drips. Water falling into a melt pool sputters the wick, and fabric near an open flame is a fire risk.
- Give the first burn time. Let the melt pool reach the edge of the jar before you blow it out. Beeswax remembers its first burn, and a short one leaves a tunnel down the middle.
- Trim the wooden wick short. Before each burn, trim it to about an eighth of an inch. A short wick keeps the flame even and gives you that soft crackle.
- Burn up to four hours at a time. Open a window or run a fan while it burns. The moving air spreads the scent and helps the suit dry faster too.
Beeswax light also sits closest to natural sunlight of any candle wax. In a dim mudroom at the end of a long day, that warm glow makes the space feel like part of the house again.
What surfers ask once they try this
"I rinse it every time, and it still smells."
A rinse clears the surface, while the bacteria making the smell live deeper in the lining. Add the monthly vinegar or shampoo soak, and let the lining dry fully before the suit goes back in the bag. After that, the candle only has a room to fill, and Zesty fills it.
"My gear lives in the garage."
Light the candle in the room the garage opens into, like the mudroom or the laundry room. That is where the smell travels, and an indoor room is a safer spot for a flame than a garage full of gear. The 5 oz Zesty is the right size for a mudroom.
"I want something that does not smell like the ocean at all."
Then Out of Office is your scent. Spearmint and pineapple bring the trip into the house without any salt, and the cool green top still cuts through damp air.
FAQ
Can a candle actually get the smell out of my wetsuit?
No. A candle works on the room, and the smell lives in the suit's lining. Wash the suit with a cool rinse and a monthly soak, then light a Zesty beeswax candle in the room where it dries so the air smells fresh while it finishes.
Does burning a beeswax candle clean the air?
Some people believe beeswax candles help freshen indoor air, though this is not scientifically established. What we can say is that 100% beeswax burns without paraffin soot. A candle like Out of Office in pure beeswax adds its scent and warm light without a layer of petroleum smoke on top of the damp.
What scent works best in a musty gear room?
Look for a bright or cool top note, since that is what your nose catches first. Zesty and Out of Office both do this well. If you want something colder and sharper, our Sunday Reset beeswax candle has the notes Peppermint, Clove, Cedar, Patchouli, Vanilla, Eucalyptus, and its first breath feels like winter air.
How long should I burn the candle after a session?
Burn it while the suit is still wet, up to four hours at a time. On the first burn, let the melt pool reach the edge of the jar. In a big room, the 12 oz Zesty candle with two wooden wicks reaches that full pool faster and spreads more scent.
The candle for the room your suit comes home to
A wetsuit smells because bacteria feed on what your body leaves in the lining, and a rinse plus a monthly soak is the real cure. Once the suit is clean and drying right, the room needs a scent strong enough to fill it while the last of the damp clears.
For that room, choose Zesty in the 12 oz size ($65). Its Ocean Breeze and Mandarin top makes the house smell like the morning you just had in the water. The two wooden wicks build a full melt pool quickly, so one candle fills a living room through 80+ hours of post-session evenings.
You can count on those hours. One customer wrote about her MBur candle:
"Candle burned slowly and was exactly the amount of hours the company said it would burn."
Portia Darby, MBur customer
Order it before your next session, because the evening the suit comes home wet is the evening the room needs it.
Get the 12 oz Zesty beeswax candle for the room where your wetsuit dries
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