It’s great when a DIY is quick, easy, useful and cheap. And if it repurposed something, well, that just increases my eco-hippie surfer cred just a little more, brah.

When I’m doing a wetsuit modification, the first pieces to go are usually the sleeves, and/or the legs. This leaves me with nice scraps to make loops from, simply by chopping off the sleeve and leg ends. 

 
Hairbands and fun bracelets are my favorite projects for these bits. They’re no-sew, the hairbands are very handy to have around when I go surfing, and they’re a great way to repurpose a wetsuit. Don’t slice loops too narrow, however, or these could break easily.

 
If you want to try another surfing hair accessory,  I also made a nice comfy headband from the neoprene.

I cut a large loop from a leg piece I had, sliced it in half, whipstitched a short piece of elastic onto each end with some polyester thread (or thin fishing line would work), and it’s now a soft headband. The elastic takes some of the wear and tear off the main part of the band, and helps it fit better.



I had to do a quick internet search to find this under “Neoprene Accessories.” It’s a neoprene collar by Marni, a top designer. I can’t even imagine how much this was ($100-200???), but apparently it sold out. Those people should have just purchased a surfer’s old wetsuit and saved hundreds of bucks by making their own. No neoprene collars for me, thanks. That’s way above my freakiness level….yikes.