when I was a teen I was invited to a Halloween swim party. Hard to do a costume that was swim worthy. I finally found a pair of 1940's swim trunks in a trunk in the attic. They were cut very similar to the square cut trunks now and quite brief for the surfer mania suits that ruled California beaches. It was navy blue knit with the belt around the waist. The only problem was it was made out of wool. It itched so bad that I was going crazy. Besides the itching, once I had been in the pool the old wet wool smelled like a wet dog. The host (a member of my swim team) took pity on me (and those within nose shot of the wet suit) and loaned me a suit of his. He thought i had worn a speedo under it so was surprised I was having the problem - wish I had! I have no idea how they dealt with the suits that had tops and went to the knees that were made out of wool. Besides the weigh when wet, they had to be hot when in the sun and itch even more.
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