clear silicone on mask gets colored

[kensuguro]

ya know, it'll be cool if they got a silicone variation that discolored gradually to pure black, pure grey, or pure white. that'll look better than yellow. hehe.

 

[LI Diver]

I agree with all of the above and may add that use in highly chlorinated pools tend to accelerate the process as well as storing them after rinsing in an airtight container before they are completely dry can also be a problem.
Ed

 

[Ron Brandt]

Try a little shampoo and warm water.Brush it up. Takes most yellow out.

Ron

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

Back when I had a clear skirted mask I used to soak it with a little dishwasher detergent (the strong powdered stuff, not the liquid dish soap). That would clear it up some temporarily.

 

[Charlie99]

One can remove some of the yellow by scrubbing it with toothpaste. I found the easiest way was to work the toothpaste against the mask with my thumb and finger.

Even easier was to just ignore it.

My current mask has been yellowed for the last 5 or 6 years with no apparent ill effects.

 

[dbg40]

Just me... But I HATE clear mask skirts! They kill my ability to see in poor vis, and distract, and ruin my depth of field judgement. .....AND they turn yellow! Try a black one.

 

[Xman]

AS others have said, the main reason for the yellowing is contact with neoprene. Age, exposure to UV etc also come into it. The best way to keep a clear skirted mask clear for as long as possible is to always store it out of contact with anything neopren, and to thoroughly clean and dry it after every use.
I'm with dbg40 though in the preference for black skirted masks.
* you don't get reflection of the inside of your lense
* your eyes adjust more quickly to lower light conditions underwater
* they don't discolour

 

[tjmills]

I thought that I read on here at some point that if you soak the mask in bleach it will clear it up again. Is that true?

Also, its hard to find some masks with a black skirt and the extra peripheral vision (mostly light blocks) can be handy at times. Of Course....I am looking for a black mask now too.

 

[PaulChristenson]

well, I've only had my masks for an year, and they're sort of turning slight yellowish. Probably just due to the material aging. Is there something that takes out the coloration? Or is it a fact of life that I should just accept? (and my wife got the black mask... smart choice!)
Mine's a Cressi Matrix by the way.

I just found out since I pulled out my gear to clean it off.. It wasn't cool at all. I'm in Miami, but haven't been diving much since mid November.. which makes it like 3 months in the shelf for me and my wife's gear. 3 months in the shelf, as it turns out, totally sucks for the gear. Nothing serious, but we got slight discolorations of some of the rubber stuff (turned a bit white, no prob) and there were ants living in my wife's BC weight pockets. That sucked big time. We just threw the BC in the tub and drowned the entire colony. We were lucky the ants didn't cause any permanent damage.

If your gear's been sitting somewhere during the winter, now is a good time to check if everything's alright. I guess I learned it the hard way: if the gear's gonna sit, take it out like once or twice a month to do some maintenance. I still can't figure out how the ants got there tho.. Ants in BOTH left and right weight pockets, and nowhere else. Something about ants and weights? What's strange is, the weights weren't even there.

No easy solution for the mask...

The ants...you set out ant traps

Paul in VT

 

[Charlie99]

Just me... But I HATE clear mask skirts! They kill my ability to see in poor vis, and distract, and ruin my depth of field judgement. .....AND they turn yellow! Try a black one.

I find that in the few cases where a clear mask skirt causes problems, I simply shade my eyes. This is usually when looking into a dark hole on a bright reef. OTOH, I like the improved peripheral vision -- even if I don't see the object clearly, a light or motion to the sides will get my attention.

While I can shade my eyes to overcome the limitation of a clear mask, there isn't any way to magically make a dark skirt become transparent.