Questions about mask fitting

[Christian.Juanda]

Hello Folks

I am new to diving world and just finish OW certification.
I do dive for certification and first 2 dive by borrowing mask from my friend. Then I decided to investing to some dive gear.

I buy a low volume mask, I do a sniffing test in the store and the mask is stay in my face. Before i use it for dive, I also use my mask for snorkeling, the mask is OK.

When i use the mask for dive, the water always come in to nose pocket and "tickle" my nose, i find this is quite disturbing. I also have a habit to exhale the air with my nose when diving and the water will flood into my new mask.

I never experience this when i use my friend's mask, even when i exhale with my nose.

Is my new mask not perfectly fit into my face?
How to determine the mask is fit besides to do sniffing test.

Regards
CJ

 

[WhiteSands]

There are a few things you can do.

1. Make sure you are not wearing the mask too high up your face, which stretches the nose pocket and causes leaks. More commonly, it can also be worn too low on your face, and the mask seal is sitting on the top of your lip. The mask seal should be between your lips and nose.

2. Make sure the mask strap is not too loose. I know others will say the strap being too tight can cause problems too, but the most common problem is the strap being loose I think.

3. Practice no mask swims with a snorkel. Or you can use regular swimming goggles with a snorkel. This will train you to "lock up" your nose and not use it for breathing when diving. Swimmers have developed this as a reflex, you need to develop this reflex too.

 

[hroark2112]

I've jumped in from about 6' high off the boat with my mask strap still on the back of my head. The boat captain asked me if I was planning on doing the whole dive that way. Perfect fitting mask. No strap and it doesn't get dislodged.

That being said, too tight is worse than too loose. Breathing out through your nose is a bad habit. Use your nose for mask clearing only.

If you absolutely can not break yourself of nose breathing, invest in a full face mask. It is an easy habit to break, and you can practice while watching TV at night.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Nose breathing plus low volume mask will lead to leakage. Also, the low volume mask itself may be "tickling" your nose without water actually leaking. I occasional exhale through my nose purposely to equalize my mask, and water does not enter. I agree you should check placement on your face and work on limiting nose breathing to the occasional intentional one for mask equalization at depth.
DivemasterDennis

 

[DukeAMO]

What they said ^^.

My dive shop warned me that low-profile masks do often get a little bit of water in the nose pocket. It's a trade-off that you may have to accept if you want the wider field of view that you get with a low-profile mask.

Also make sure your mask straps are straight. A twisted strap can cause a leaky mask. If you have a heavy snorkel on, it may be twisting your mask strap as well. Consider getting a folding snorkel that fits in your BCD pocket instead.

My mask will also leak a little if I'm looking up, or if I'm accidentally breathing through my nose. It's not a big deal, though.

 

[hroark2112]

On the plus side, a little water in your mask can be useful in clearing up a foggy mask!

 

[eponym]

Is my new mask not perfectly fit into my face? How to determine the mask is fit besides to do sniffing test.

Do the test with your second-stage mouthpiece in your mouth. It might be distorting your face enough to make a difference, especially the nasolabial folds.

 

[Christian.Juanda]

Hi Folks

Thanks for valuable suggestions.
Clearly I need to works to breaking the habits exhaling with nose underwater and mask clearing.

As said by [FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]DukeAMO, if little bit water in nose pocket is a a low volume mask trade-off, I guess I will deal with it [/FONT].[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]

Regards
CJ[/FONT]

 

[Christian.Juanda]

Hi Folks

Just share an update.

I spend times to breathing underwater by snorkel only (no mask) to breaking nose breathing habit while dive.
I also check the mask placement before I dive.
Surely its paid off .

I dive couple times this week with the mask... water in the nose pocket problem is more manage-able.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards
CJ