Tricks to combat fogging

[Vuk Milicevic]

I just had my class work done last weekend. Going down to a quarry in southern Illinois with my brother over Labor Day weekend to get our 4 open water dives in.

One issue I've already encountered is fogging of the mask. The mask is brand new, obviously and fits nice and snug. When I bought it, the rep at my LDS recommended wiping plain white toothpaste on the inside then rinsing and doing this about 5 or 6 times. Apparently there is an oily residue on new masks that cause them to fog up and this needs to be worked out gradually.

While it helped in the short run, the mask eventually fogs up again. Are there any other tips you can suggest? I've heard baking soda works too. What other options are there or am I simply SOL and need to get a new mask?

Thanks in advance.

 

[SOFDiver]

If you have cleaned your mask thoroughly, fogging may be result of nose breathing. Many new divers have not mastered full isolation of their nose and are breathing into the mask via their nose. This will cause fogging even if a mask is clean and treated with defog. I recommend using glass stove top cleaner to clean your mask, but more importantly try not to exhale through your nose.

 

[wheeledgoat]

I use toothpaste with success (in fact I keep a travel size toothpaste in my kit for a scrub every 5-10 dives), but lots of people recommend an abrasive kitchen cleaner like SOF says. I've used barkeepers friend, didn't notice it doing any better than toothpaste. (Don't worry, your lenses are glass, they won't scratch).

You don't mention using defog - gotta apply defog every dive (or at least the first dive of the day). The scrub only gets the residue off like you said - first step for any new mask. Squirt a drop or two in, rub it around with your finger, and give one good swish rinse once you're in the water.

Also, you don't need to buy the [expensive] commerical defog - search for DIY defog.

 

[Vuk Milicevic]

If you have cleaned your mask thoroughly, fogging may be result of nose breathing. Many new divers have not mastered full isolation of their nose and are breathing into the mask via their nose. This will cause fogging even if a mask is clean and treated with defog. I recommend using glass stove top cleaner to clean your mask, but more importantly try not to exhale through your nose.

Thank you for this. I can say with 100% certainty that I was breathing through my nose at times. This could very well explain it. Much appreciated.

 

[Skeptic14]

The things I found to be most helpful for combating fogging were scrubbing out the masks thoroughly with toothpaste when new, using a defog before every dive, and splashing a little water on my face before putting on my mask to cool my face a little particularly if its a hot day.

 

[GreggS]

I always put a little dab of defogger on each lens, spread it around and then rinse it before each dive. Have never had any fogging problems. Defogger is relatively cheap for no more than is used each time. If comes in gels, sprays, and liquid forms, but I prefer the gel.

 

[VR78]

None of the methods mentioned above work on my favorite masks (Atomic Venom). I burn the bejeezus out of the inner side of the glass with a lighter, trying to stay >1 cm away from the rubber. It can be very easily seen how a thin film of whatever coating they use breaks down with heat. Then I let the glass cool down naturally and use toothpaste to remove the black residue from the glass.

After that, just spit and polish just before the dive. And yes, indeed, not exhaling through your nose helps.

 

[stuartv]

Use a good degreasing soap, like say Dawn dishwashing detergent. Clean the whole mask thoroughly, including both sides of the lens(es) and the skirt, inside and out. If you only clean the inside of the lens(es), the residue on the skirt can/will leech back onto the glass and cause problems.

Baby shampoo (Johnson & Johnson No More Tears) mixed with water works very well as anti-fog. And it is also great as a lube for helping a wetsuit to slide on. I keep a sports squirt bottle with about 1/3 baby shampoo and 2/3 water in my dive bag. I squirt some in my mask and let it sit until time to splash then just give it one dunk in the water to rinse it out. Bonus: Unlike most commercial anti-fog, if you don't rinse it out of your mask well enough, it won't get in your eyes and burn like crazy. And I squirt some in each arm and leg hole of my wetsuit before I put it on. The suit slides right on, wet or dry. And I smell so fresh after the dive!

I was helping with an OW class at our local quarry this past weekend. A couple of the women in the class were seriously struggling to get their 7mm wetsuits on. Going at it for several minutes of serious frustration before I saw them and neither one even had their suit all the way up their legs yet. I let them use my squirt bottle of baby shampoo and their suits went right on. They were SO happy.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I have used all of these methods but burning is the only one that works permanently.

 

[shurite7]

Using non-gel toothpaste, a lighter, soft scrub or which ever medium you prefer is highly recommended, as you notice above, repeating the process several times before using the mask. Same is true for using defog such as baby shampoo.

One other thing that is recommended is to put your face in the water, before putting the mask on, to cool the skin down. This works quite well in cold water. The temperature difference between the outside and inside of the lens is part of the reasoning for defogging. I constantly breathe out of my nose, I have a beard, since water always seeps in under my nose. Cooling my face reduces fogging significantly.

Good luck.