What is your best anti-fog?

[nyprrthd]

Just got back from Cozumel. Baby shampoo is still the best anti-fog I've used. I experimented this trip, and diluted the baby shampoo. Instead of rubbing it around, I just poured enough in to cover the lenses, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then rinsed once. My mask didn't fog once!

 

[pterantula]

I use Cat Crap http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=608&memberId=12500226 ....

Okay, I have to get some of that just so I can say with a straight face, "I use cat crap."

I've used spit - works for about 20 minutes - and 500 PSI brand, which works but it's kinda involved; the best I've used thus far is a squirt bottle of heavily diluted baby shampoo (on Maui diveboats).
My question: which baby shampoo? I'm sure some have chemicals - especially fragrances - that would be irritating, if not simply annoying. J&J is amber/yellow, but the stuff in the diveboat bottles was vaguely blue...?

cheers,
t

 

[gaudencio]

I use closeup green toothpaste or mint. Rub it around the lense and rinse it with sea water will do. But if the mask is brand new, do the same thing but at least 15 x . i think that will do. also dip it in water for 2 days straight for at least 3 x )

 

[PaulVS]

Reminds me of probably the only time during PADI instruction I was able to impress our "You-name-it-he's-dove-it" instructor.

During some free time in the pool when we were to practice our skills... I noticed my wife's (brand new) mask was fogging up. I gave her the 'watch me' sign... and I peeled up the bottom corner of my mask a tiny bit to let some water in... and did the 'windshield wiper' manuever. She repeated it and cleared the fogging. The instructor happened to watch this take place.

When we got back in the classroom the instructor said, "You all did real good on the practice drills... of course Paul couldn't help showing off." :14:

 

[adrisen]

Spitting in your mask is acctually very unhealty. Your mouth is full of bacteria, when you spit in your mask and push it around, it gets into corners ect and even though you rinse, you have a festering breading bacteria. Not good. Rinsing it does not kill the bacteria and it can last a long time even if the mask is dry. Just becasue you can't see it, does not mean it is not there. I never spit in a mask, but still need to find a good defog product. I often let in a little water and swish it around. I find PSI5000 does not work. I think i will try the baby shampoo idea tomorrow

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Just got back from Cozumel. Baby shampoo is still the best anti-fog I've used. I experimented this trip, and diluted the baby shampoo. Instead of rubbing it around, I just poured enough in to cover the lenses, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then rinsed once. My mask didn't fog once!

Yep! Baby shampoo is the best! (Especially once I quit diluting it: Thanks, Walter!)

 

[jbichsel]

Spit. I have also tried the commercially available ones, but spit is always there for me. I've also tried Woolite and water. Just a couple drops of Woolite to about a cup of water. Works great.

But spit is my favorite.

 

[Mandy3206]

If spit is unhealthy or unsafe for the user, I would have been sick all the time the last 30 yrs !!

 

[pescador775]

These responses are all over the place. Mask fog is not a joke, not at all. It can make a dive experience MISERABLE. Fog problems occur with new masks with glass lenses, and all plastic mask lenses unless the plastic has a special coating as with Hydroptix. That is what makes the statement so interesting, that the Hydro mask does not fog after "break in". I don't understand because, if anything, the antifog coating should eventually wear off or degrade and then fog like crazy. Whatever. About glass, after scrubbing a new mask (with glass lenses) it should only be necessary to spit in the mask once before the dive to suppress fog. One poster said, "after spitting do one short rinse". That is correct. Personally, I will do anything to avoid the so called "windshield wiper" technique. That is for amateurs and really sucks, IMO. To avoid it means the diver must do the new mask scrub down and it ain't easy. I found toothpaste and soaps or detergents to be ineffective, frustrating even. I settled on a mixture of alcohol and vinegar, the same stuff that some folks put in their ears. If they don't work for you in combo, try the washes separately, vinegar and alcohol. After that, scrub with some detergent if you like. Whatever is lodged in the micro pores of new glass is mean stuff (don't say "release agent", glass is not made that way). Spit, detergents and other "antifogs" contain surfactants which coat the glass and reduce the surface tension of water in contact with glass. It allows the beads of water to puddle and run off or sheet out. One poster was correct to mention surface tension. That is the whole idea. Cleaning is only important with a new mask, to allow your personal surfactant to infiltrate the micro pores present in seemingly smooth glass. That won't happen until the first cleaning is successful. After cleaning and treating with detergent or spit, blow hot breath into the mask. Fog should disappear within a second or two. If patches of fog persist, repeat the cleaning process. Once a mask is clean, nothing short of a shot of silicone spray will prevent spit from defogging a mask completely. Don't do that and don't get any grimey fingerprints on the lens either.

 

[divo]

Yep! Baby shampoo is the best! (Especially once I quit diluting it: Thanks, Walter!)
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I totally agree. I will never spend another dollar on commercial anti-fog. I just returned from a trip and used both SeaGold Defog (supposedly one of the better commercial brands) and baby shampoo and the baby shampoo wins hands down. A lil dab before each dive and no fogging whatsoever.