Beard or bald?

[NimChimpskii]

After reading the posts here I think I'm going to grow my facial hair back.
It just doesn't seem the same without it.

 

[String]

I use an X-vision mask which is a little too big for me - i keep it as i love the field of view. However it means if i don't shave on the morning of a dive it leaks like hell all day.
1 day of non-shave and it fill up every 30 seconds.

However, i never shave my neck on dive days due to salt and neck seal rubbing painfully so i look quite odd - stubble/hairly neck and smooth face. Diving isnt a hobby to worry about looking decent though thankfully

 

[PaulSims]

use a little vasaline.

 

[sglake]

I have had a mustache and goatee before I started diving also , A little leakage I suppose but I don't notice and if it is too much, mask clearing is automatic so there never is a problem.

 

[highdesert]

Doing just fine with a beard and Mares X-Vision (the regular issue, not the Liquid Skin). I shave a narrow strip under my nose every 3-4 days during diving, and not a molecule of leakage. Even unshaved under the nose, I get only minimal seepage.

 

[Footslogger]

Who dives with a beard or moustache?
If so how do you get a decent seal from your mask?

======================================

I've had a beard/moustache since I started diving in the early 70's. The skirts on some of the older masks were a bit rigid and I did get some leakage. But the newer soft silicon rubber skirts give me a darn good seal ...and I do absolutely nothing special.

Maybe I'm just lucky. Truth be told, just about all the masks I've ever used leaked a little and over the years I've learned to like having a little water inside my mask. Then if I get any fog I just look down and tilt my head back and forth to clear the fog away. If the water builds up to an annoying level I just blow out through my nose and do a little mask "clear" at depth.

MJ

 

[Darnold9999]

Guess I'm in the minority. If I don't shave the top 1/8" under my nose where the mask seals it leaks. Fills the bottom 1/4 of the mask in about 5 - 10 min - drives me nuts. Creating positive pressure just makes it worse. On a liveaboard I have to shave that area twice a day otherwise on the last couple of dives of the day the mask starts to leak.

 

[Walter]

Guess I'm in the minority. If I don't shave the top 1/8" under my nose where the mask seals it leaks. Fills the bottom 1/4 of the mask in about 5 - 10 min - drives me nuts. Creating positive pressure just makes it worse. On a liveaboard I have to shave that area twice a day otherwise on the last couple of dives of the day the mask starts to leak.

Experiment. Try sealing the mask on your upper lip instead of just below your nose.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Experiment. Try sealing the mask on your upper lip instead of just below your nose.

Better yet, try not worrying about sealing the bottom at all, and keeping enough air in the mask to keep the water out. If you have a better seal on the bottom than some other point, the mask will eventually collect water up to the weakest point on the seal. Keeping that weakest seal on the bottom (by having a mustache, for example) makes it much easier to keep the mask full of air.
So, guys, lose the razor, pitch the vaseline
Rick

 

[james croft]

Rick is right. This is similar to the Chuck Norris beard/ mask method. When it comes to Chuck's facial hair and water entering the mask, the water knows when to back the hell off.