No more diving with a fogged mask!

06 Mar No more diving with a fogged mask!

All divers experience it every now and then, you are diving around the most beautiful corals and marine life, but you can’t enjoy it because you simply can’t see it. Your mask keeps fogging up and all you are busy with is trying to clear your mask to see at least where you are heading.

Not only can this be very frustrating, it can also be dangerous, as you can’t see the other divers or see where you are heading. The reason your mask fogs is because of condensation, caused by the temperature in your mask, which is different from the temperature of the water, that is why small droplets form inside the mask. These droplets have to attach to something, usually to oils and dirt specks. With a clean mask the condensation has no chance to attach to your lenses.

So how do you prevent your mask from fogging? It all starts on the day when you buy your mask.

When you buy a new mask, there is a thin layer of silicone on the inside of the lenses, which is a result of the manufacturing process. This silicone layer is resistant to all conventional defogging measures. Before you can use the mask, you have to remove this layer.

There are a few different methods to so.

How to pre-treat or prep a new mask?

Method 1: Toothpaste.

Please make sure when you use toothpaste that is a simple white toothpaste, no extra whitening as it could damage the glass. Apply some toothpaste on the inside of both lenses and rub it around with your fingers. Leave the toothpaste overnight so that the chemicals in the toothpaste have time to react. Then rinse your mask with water. If you don’t have time to leave the toothpaste in for a night, then make sure you repeat the procedure a few times before using the mask.

Method 2: Burn the mask.

Hold the tip of the flame against the inside of the lens, until the glass turns black. You will see the thin layer of silicone flame off while you do this. Wait till the mask cools of and then rinse it. Keep repeating these steps 2 to 3 times until it is difficult to turn the glass black. Make sure you don’t burn the soft silicon skirt of the mask, it will melt. Also, don’t use this method on plastic glass lenses, they will get damaged.

What method you choose it up to you, they both work very well, but remember that removing the silicone layer doesn’t prevent it from fogging every dive. You still have to defog your mask prior to every dive.

Different methods of defogging your mask prior to your dive.

You can find ready to use mask defogger in just about every dive center. Put a drop on each lens, rub it with clean fingers, avoid sunscreen on your hands, rinse in water and don’t touch the lens anymore. These ready to use products usually work for 2 to 3 dives.

2 Spit.

Although it is not the most charming way, it works and it is cheap. Spit however doesn’t’ work as long as commercial defog, so make sure you repeat prior to every dive. Spit on the lenses on the inside of the mask and make sure the mask is dry, rub it with clean fingers and rinse afterwards. Don’t touch the glass with your fingers after rinsing.

3 Baby shampoo.

This method is getting more and more popular in the diving world. It is not expensive, doesn’t sting the eyes, comes in travel size bottles, is biodegradable and smells very nice. You can either use a drop or mix it with water and apply it through a spray bottle. Same as with the other two methods, you rub it in with clean fingers and rinse it afterwards. Don’t touch the glass anymore after rinsing.

One last note to keep your mask clean throughout the whole dive! Don’t breathe through your nose too much. You can breathe out to clear your mask, but breathing out of your nose constantly will cause more condensation, because the temperature of the air you breathe out is warmer then the water.

Follow our tips in this blog and you will have fogged free dives from now on and are ready to enjoy the underwater world to the fullest.