What to Wear for Paintball

Got a paintball game this weekend and don’t know what outfit would be the most appropriate? Want to know what clothing articles can improve your protection along with the standard protective gear that you are going to be provided with for the game? Well, we are here to help you out with this issue by telling you exactly what to wear for your next paintball game that will make sure that you do not come home covered in bruises.

5 Main Things To Wear For Paintball

Head

One of the most crucial areas to protect while playing paintball is the head and the face. This is because if you take a paintball to the face, not only will it hurt extremely bad, but there is also a danger of the paint going into your eye. And while getting shot on the head does not hurt as bad as the face, it is still painful, and getting paint out of hair can be quite tedious. Therefore, it is important that you wear proper head and face protection beforehand.

We recommend that you wear some good paintball mask, visor, and goggles. You can usually rent the appropriate headgear from your paintball provider along with some other protective gear. Furthermore, even if you are provided with the headgear, we recommend that you wear some additional protection like a bandana, a cap, or a beanie to keep your hair out of your eyes.

Tops

The first clothing article that we are going to be focusing on is the top/shirt that you need to wear. We recommend that you wear a full sleeve shirt to protect your bare arms from getting hit by the paintballs. This is because they can hurt quite badly, especially on bare skin. Because of this, it is important to minimize the amount of skin that is exposed. We also recommend that you wear thick clothing like a sweatshirt or a hoodie, something that gives you additional padding without restricting your movement.

But if you play paintball in summer and don’t want to wear thick clothing, then you should wear something that is loose and flowy, like a large long sleeve t-shirt. This is because the loose material will absorb some of the impacts of the paintball before it reaches your body. And so, this will make it hurt less. You can also benefit from wearing camo print shirts to blend in better with your surroundings. And lastly, in our opinion, it is best to wear an old shirt that you don’t care about staining badly.

Bottoms

Moving on to the pants. Just like for the tops, we recommend that you wear a bottom that completely covers your legs. And so, you need to steer clear shorts of any kind. You also need to make sure that your pants are comfortable and do not restrict your movement when running, crawling, or crouching. And so, the ideal type of bottoms in our opinion are jeans, sweatpants, cargo pants, track pants and so on.

Shoes

When it comes to shoes, the ideal ones, in our opinion, are those that offer protection and support to the ankle. This is because ankle injuries are among the most common types of injuries in paintball. Furthermore, you need to make sure that you are wearing shoes that cover your entire feet, and so sandals or any other open-toe shoes are off the table. Also, your shoes need to be comfortable to run and climb in. This is why heeled shoes, which might upset your balance, are also things you need to avoid.

And so, we recommend that you wear shoes like hiking boots, running shoes, or comfortable sneakers. We also encourage you to wear an old pair of shoes rather than a brand new one. This is because while the paint is water-soluble and comes off easily, most of the time, you cannot just stick shoes in the washing machine to clean them. And so they need to be carefully washed by hand, and this can get kind of tedious. Furthermore, whaling shoes can also wear them out and ruin their ‘new; look. This is why you should wear shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

Extra Gear

Along with the protective articles of clothing mentioned above, you can also use extra protective gear to protect yourself further. One of these is a pair of gloves. You can use gloves to protect your bare hands from directly getting hit by the paintball. But you need to be aware of the type of gloves you choose as some can be kind of still or make your grip slippery like thick or wooly winter gloves. This can make it difficult for you to shoot your gun properly. We recommend that you use golfing, weightlifting, or some other type of fingerless gloves.

Elbow and knee pads are also suitable protective gear. This is because not only will they reduce the impact of the paintballs, but they will also protect you from hurting yourself while playing as the game requires running, crouching, jumping, kneeling, crawling, and so on. It is also important to protect your neck in paintball. And there is a chance that your paintball providers will give you a collar to wrap around your neck for protection. But if they don’t, you can protect your neck by either wearing a thick turtleneck or wearing your hoodie and having the hood up.