Question Is baby shampoo really that bad?

[tridacna]

but the cost of E/O cords is to me.

Explain "E/O cords" please...

 

[ABay Diver]

I wonder how urine stacks up in this debate. Anybody here pee in their wetsuit? Lets get a grip people.

 

[happy-diver]

Some of the early coloured Orings, of the plastic-ish camera housings, would sponge up and squish out
if you even looked at them the wrong way let alone lubricate them with silicone or squirt other solutions

 

[lexvil]

The worst part of baby shampoo is the close association with babies

 

[VikingDives]

 

[Nemrod]

“Common” knowledge is that the baby shampoo used to defog masks, “eats” the silicone O-rings of cameras when they share a rinse tank

Urban myth or truth??

The baby shampoo does not "eat" O-rings. What many mask defogs including baby shampoo can and will do:

1) Is to wash the lubricant from the control glands.

2) Act as a wetting agent which is what soaps and defogs and shampoos do, which can then allow water to sneak under an O-ring and flood the camera.

Since camera systems have many controls with O-rings and gland seals, typically run about $500+ for an overhaul/service and may represent upwards of $10,000 investment, please, refrain from washing, dunking baby shampoo defogged masks or any defogging agent in the camera bucket. Including spit because that is just rude, well, both are.

 

[Germie]

Are the ingredients of 'sea drops' that different from shampoo?

Sea Clearly Reef Friendly Mask Defog | Stream2Sea ( know, no sea drops as I cannot find ingredients)

Ingredients​

Our eco-friendly mask defog is made with only the safest ingredients, including Deionized Water, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract and Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate. There is a small amount of isopropyl alcohol added to the formula that helps with evaporation on your lenses. If any irritation occurrs, flush eyes well with large amounts of water.

I cannot find them from 'sea drops'. But the SLMI is part of shampoos too. IPA is also a mold remover and probably no part of shampoo, but this is a very very very very very good FAT/GREASE remover.

So if you are worried about shampoo and O-rings I would do the same with IPA. You can say it will evaporate, but not everybody let all things dry before rinsing.

For my mask I use spit, any shampoo, dishwashersoap, but never rinse it together with my camera. But after a dive, the mask is already rinsed in the water during the dive. So then it is no problem.
But I won't put my wetsuit together with other stuff. I am a diver that pees in a wetsuit (you only have 2 types of divers, the ones who lie about pee and the ones who pee). Of course I rinse before getting out of the water my wetsuit a little bit by letting water in around the neck, but the real rinsing is done under the shower. And then it is clean again. But just taking it off and then put in a rinse tank, I have never done. The smell from other wetsuits can be really bad, some divers don't rinse I have seen and smelled

 

[bvanant]

Very funny most of this. If you have ever tried (on purpose) to dissolve silicone grease you will soon find that it is not very soluble in anything let alone aqueous shampoo (xylene maybe). So it is pretty clear that mask defog neither kills o-rings or removes the silicone grease that is used to lube them. As for coral health, detergents in their many forms are very different than sunscreens where the sunscreen effect is perhaps (the data is not clear yet) causal.
Bill

 

[Richard Dayan]

Explain "E/O cords" please...

underwater unpluggable electrical connectors.

 

[vjb.knife1]

I spend a lot of money to dive and even the smallest amount of shampoo causes my eyes to itch, the cost of sea drops is not a concern, but the cost of E/O cords is to me.

That is fine. Use whatever you like and / or are used to. I am not trying to tell anyone what they should or should not use for any part of this activity. I have at least 3 U/W camera rigs, lights of many varieties, top tier regulators, tanks and BC's and have been diving recreationally, commercially and professionally for over 53 years all over the world, and have found no problems with o-rings degrading. All I am trying to say is that there is nothing wrong with using baby shampoo diluted in water the way that I use it. If you prefer Sea Drops or whatever else that is fine; enjoy it. The amount of baby Shampoo that goes into the environment the way that I dilute it is far less than other chemicals and I have been using the same 8 ounce bottle of baby shampoo for my self and my wife for eight years and it barely has a dent in it. That includes six years of me working as a diver 40 plus hours a week and both my wife and I diving recreationally. Now, I am retired from that but we swim 1-2 times a week and I usually wear a mask.