Mask Leaking is Annoying

[rescuediverrn]

I am an instructor on the island of Oahu and I'm struggling with my mask. I bought it about a year ago and I love the soft skirt and it feels good on my face. However, when I turn and look up (like looking at the top of a cave) it leaks around the top. I am trying to avoid buying 10 different masks and spending a ton if $$. I have an eyebrow piercing, could this be causing it to leak? In the beginning this mask was great but it seems to have stopped being great. I replaced the strap with a neoprene strap to keep it from snagging my hair. Could it be that I need to go back to the silicone one it came with?

TIA
Michelle

 

[TSandM]

Certainly, if you got the piercing after you bought the mask, it could have changed the contour of your forehead enough to cause a small leak. It's also possible that when you look up, you are changing the expression in your face -- I know when I look up, I raise my eyebrows -- and that may be causing the leak. If the neoprene strap is adjusted the same as the one you had before, it shouldn't make any difference at all.

 

[spectrum]

Pay particular attention to where you are placing the strap on the back of your head. A ilttle high or low can really change the seal behaves. There comes a point where mosts mask will leak with enough gyrations.

Pete

 

[Lorenzoid]

Some masks seem to be less tolerant of facial movement. Once I realized this, and made an effort not to twitch my facial muscles, such as when smiling or looking up, my mask leakage problems went away.

 

[Scott L]

Try a more interesting place for the piercing. Two fold benefit.

 

[rescuediverrn]

LOL Scott. I thought that perhaps the neoprene strap was slipping because it didn't have the ratchet points that the silicone one has. Didn't work but it very well could be the facial expression I'll have to test that theory.

 

[3D diver]

FWIW: I dive a Viking dry suit with a thin rubber hood. As I descend I sometimes have to blow air into the hood via my mask. The hood skirt is within the mask so, to get air into the hood, I hold the mask against my face and blow. I happened to catch this on video last weekend and was surprised to see where air was escaping the mask (see pic below). I presume if air can get out, some water may be getting in the rest of the time.

 

[gcarter]

FWIW: I dive a Viking dry suit with a thin rubber hood. As I descend I sometimes have to blow air into the hood via my mask. The hood skirt is within the mask so, to get air into the hood, I hold the mask against my face and blow. I happened to catch this on video last weekend and was surprised to see where air was escaping the mask (see pic below). I presume if air can get out, some water may be getting in the rest of the time.

Why is the MASK skirt not under the hood? My mask would leak like crazy if I did not tuck the skirt under the hood.

 

[3D diver]

The Viking Surveyor hood is thin rubber. You wear a "beanie" under it for insulation---like drysuit underwear---and to keep your ears from being squeezed. To get air into it the air has to either burp past your neck seal or you blow it in from your mask. The face opening is therefor small enough that the mask seals over it. Here's a pic of me before the dive:



I had to trim the face opening a lot---it actually interfered with my eyes when I first got it!!! (I've gone through several hoods over the years and this is the first that was that small.)

Another pic (3D pair) showing the mask over the hood:



Only my lips are exposed.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Why is the MASK skirt not under the hood? My mask would leak like crazy if I did not tuck the skirt under the hood.

And my mask leaks if I put the strap under the hood. Over the hood it's fine. Besides, under the hood and you lose the seal the hood creates.