They’re usually small bottles, either a spray or sometimes a gel-like substance where you squeeze a blob into each lens. Go into any dive center and you’re likely to see at least one, if not several, commercial mask defoggers. There are many different products on the market you can buy to help with this, as well as home-made solutions, and of course the cheapest option, saliva. To get the most out of your mask and out of your snorkeling adventures you’ll want to defog your mask before each and every time you use it. You’ll be surprised how quickly yucky stuff can build up inside!Ĭlean, free of fog mask Day-to-Day Defogging Remember that for polycarbonate masks you’ll need to be extremely careful not to scratch the surface of the lens.Įven after the initial burn and toothpaste treatment, many divers continue to use toothpaste now and then to give their mask a good deep clean. Leave your mask to one side for an hour or two and then rinse with water, using the toothbrush again or your nails to clean the surface until it’s completely clear again. If you’ve burnt your mask you’ll end up with a smoky black mixture. Squirt a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on each lens and gently scrub. The reason we use toothpaste is because of the slightly gritty texture which will gently remove the protective layer from the lens. The next part of the process includes toothpaste and an old soft toothbrush, or your fingernails. Step Two (Skip straight to this step for polycarbonate masks) The staff will no doubt be happy to help you remove the factory layer. Try your local dive center or the shop where you bought the mask. If this process seems scary to you and you’re worried about harming your lovely new mask, ask a professional to help you. Then put it to one side for a few minutes to cool down. Burn the entire inside surface of each lens so that the glass turns black. It’s easiest if you hold the mask above you and face down so that the flame is pointing straight and you can see what you’re doing. Be careful not to burn either yourself or the surrounding silicon material when you are doing this. Use the other to carefully burn the inside of each lens with a lighter. Step One (Only for masks made with tempered glass)įind somewhere where there’s no breeze and hold your mask carefully with one hand. You’ll need to get rid of this to have any hope of being able to see underwater. Masks that are made with tempered glass leave the factory coating with a thin protective layer. If you have bought an anti-fog mask then you can skip the following steps completely. If your mask is polycarbonate you need to be extremely careful when cleaning it, as these types of masks can scratch very easily. Most masks are made with tempered glass and silicone, however there are also some plastic or polycarbonate ones, as well as those with anti-fog properties How to Defog a Brand-new Maskīefore we go into the different methods of defogging your mask, let’s talk about the first one-off treatment required for lucky owners of a brand-new snorkeling mask. This is much easier to see through than the tiny individual droplets all over which give that fogged up result. Using some kind of surfactant such as an anti-fog spray, washing up liquid, or spit, helps to smooth out the tiny droplets so that they form an even layer of moisture on the lens. This includes not wearing any sunscreen or lotion which could easily be transferred to your mask in the water. ![]() Keeping your mask as clean as possible is important to not only prevent fogging but also improve your snorkeling experience. The level of fogginess also depends on how humid it is inside the mask, and what the temperature is like outside the mask. This could be miniscule impurities in the glass or it could be specks of dirt and sand. When water vapor collects on the inside of your mask, in order for the tiny droplets to stay on the lens and not run down to the bottom of the mask they must have something to attach themselves to. So how is it possible to stop this annoying occurrence? This is why we can rinse a mask and it’ll be fine again for a few minutes, because we’re evening out the difference in temperatureīut before long the condensation starts to build up again and the mask becomes foggy. The water outside the mask is a different temperature to the air inside the mask, next to our face. It’s similar to what happens to a mask when we go diving or snorkeling. Where did this water come from? It’s condensation from the differing temperatures inside and outside the bottle. What happens when you take a cold bottle of water out of the fridge and leave it on the side? Soon enough it’ll be sitting in a puddle of water. Which Solution Works Best? Causes: Why do Masks Fog?
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