cleaning mask

[Whale Whisperer]

try a cigarette lighter to burn off any residue from manufacturing. It's very effective and you can see the product coming off.

That's cool! I'd be afraid of damaging the silicone though

 

[The_DivePirate]

I've personally gone through 5 masks in my limited experience, and the best way in my opinion is what pretty much what everyone else does. Take some non gel toothpaste, and a clean toothbrush that you don't care about anymore. I'll put in enough toothpaste to scrub around the glass surface and scrub it in real good. Let it dry out for a half hour and wash it out and remember to use the brush to get the paste out of the frame corners. Let it dry and repeat two more times. That usually does it with me. I'll test it by rinsing it with cool water after the last cycle, spit in the mask and rinse like I'm about to go diving and put it on. I'll exhale through my nose for a minute and it shouldn't fog up.

5 Masks? in less than 200 dives. Your badge says you need a cow bell, sounds to me that you need a seeing eye dog You know that if you keep your mask in the box it came in, the possibilities of breaking them are greatly reduced!! As far as soft scrub, it doesn't have the minty fresh smell though. Also, as far as defog goes, J&J's no more tears baby shampoo works AWESOME, and you can get a huge bottle for the cost of an ounce of defog for divers, and it works as well if not better! Sorry LDS owners, but I believe that if you give the customer tips like that, they'll not have a problem spending their savings on other items in the shop. IMO I'm getting ready to start my own shop, and treating my patrons as if they were me, will be my goal. Hopefully, by doing this, they will trust my business and support the shop when things get slow. Honesty is the best policy!!

Dive safe/Train hard,
Joe

 

[Whale Whisperer]

5 Masks? in less than 200 dives. Your badge says you need a cow bell, sounds to me that you need a seeing eye dog You know that if you keep your mask in the box it came in, the possibilities of breaking them are greatly reduced!!

Yeah that's alot of masks lol. I still have all of them and in good condition. I was going though masks because I have alot of trouble keeping a good face seal, so I spent the money and experimented. I also keep a spare mask with me when I dive. It's convienent to have extra masks when people want to try out different masks, but they just take up space for the most part.

The J & J works great too!

 

[trucker girl]

IMO any dive shop that's worth frequenting will show you how to do it- in the process, they'll do it for you. I wouldn't want them to just do it in the back room- see what they do. And instead of just telling you to do it... they should tell you why. It doesn't sound like they did. I didn't know how to scrub the film off my mask and my dive guy got out his toothpaste and a bucket (no running water in his shop which is in an old barn on his farm) and showed me how.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I've seen people ruin their masks with SoftScrub. It's a bit too "aggressive" in terms of it's grittiness.

The resort operation I work for has been aggressively softscrubbing masks for years, with a teflon safe scrubby sponge. Most masks require more than one hard scrubbing to be usable. Most/all decent scuba masks have glass lenses, the only scratched mask I have seen was a guests cheapo (not glass?). I would definately use a finger over the toothbrush, it's very hard to get enough abraision with a toothbrush. The white toothpaste ring around my black skirt does not bother me.

Most snorkle and dive boats here use generic baby shampoo mixed ~50/50 with water in a spray bottle. I recommend a small amount of spray, rub it around, dump the excess then let it dry in the shade. If you rinse too soon you just wash the stuff off, some captains even tell people not to rinse. No matter what you use, I suggest keeping the mask out of the sun (cool?) before donning, a hot mask fogs no matter the anti-fog (mask on forehead = bad). My favorite anti-fog is white ultrabright toothpaste, everything is minty fresh after the dive. Our Costco doesn't sell white toothpaste; luckily we have a leaf here that is nearly as good (no mint).

I come in contact with quite a few begginers/snorklers who have never had foggy masks, even brand new ones. Spectrum's link is good but I doubt facial moisture is the common culprit. Most people breath out through their nose even when they are breathing out from their mouth, it's the warm moist breath that fogs the mask. AFAICT, the very few beginners with no fogging issues have properly sealed masks and never breath out through their nose. I never gave it a thought until certifing on a Draeger Dolphin, excessive nose exhilations invalidates your inspired O2 calculations (no O2 sensor).

I take beginners diving nearly every day. Even my best mask with proper anti-fog will fog for the forehead mask &/or excessive nose exhalers. In general, divers with well sealed masks breathing out only enough to equalize the mask have the least foggy masks. Conversely, mustache divers have so much water in the mask they can just clear the fog with all that water.

 

[cummings66]

For someone who wants to try the lighter bit, remove the glass from the skirt and do it.

I've tried it, didn't notice it being any better than scrubbing the mask for what it's worth.

 

[MaconBubbles]

When I bought my mask, the dive shop told me to soak it in Coke for a few minutes to remove the film. I guess it worked; I haven't had any problem with it.

 

[H2Andy]

that's a new one to me ... glad it workd, stephi

 

[wulvrine74]

yeah, I'm not a fan of softscrub...
CHEAP tooth paste will do wonders, and like it has been said before, no gel, doesnt do much of anything for ya

 

[diverdown247]

snorkl,

Something that some folks can easily forget when using toothpaste to clean a mask is that you absolutely want unflavored/unscented toothpaste. Some of the flavored toothpastes will burn your eyes once water hits any left-over residue if you flood your mask or sweat. It's like adding straight menthol to your eyes, nose, and skin.

Sometimes it takes more than one cleaning to get any gunk off the inside or film if you're a smoker.