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I am a natural nose breather and sometimes find that my mask gets fogged up, probably because I inadvertantly breathed out my nose. Is it ok to wear a noseclip?
Supposedly, the risk of eye infection is increased due to the high bacteria content in spit. I'm no medical expert, that's what they told us. Maybe it's just propaganda started by the defogger manufacturers.
Supposedly, the risk of eye infection is increased due to the high bacteria content in spit. I'm no medical expert, that's what they told us. Maybe it's just propaganda started by the defogger manufacturers.
I am a natural nose breather and sometimes find that my mask gets fogged up, probably because I inadvertantly breathed out my nose. Is it ok to wear a noseclip?
Hi. I noticed for shallow dives (snorkeling and less than 30 feet) I seem to struggle keeping my nose plugged and air escapes into my mask or something and I get water in my mask. This does not seem to be an issue at deeper depths. It is distracting and annoying. I was thinking of using nose...
scubaboard.com
it is perfectly possible to wear a nose clip inside the mask without compromising the emptying of the water or the equalization, as also shown in the video by Hans Hass:
Using a nose clip inside the mask is an old technique and as far as I know it was widely used in Europe and Australia from the 1940s to the 1960s. Raimondo Bucher, the first freediving record holder (1949), employed noseclip inside the mask for all his life (he was also a great scuba diver...
scubaboard.com
This technique was very popular between the 40s and 60s, as can be seen from the photos and articles of that period.
In conclusion, I don't know if the use of a nose clip can solve your fogging problem, but it is possible to use noseclip without problems.
I have the same issue as the OP. Keep in mind, nasal exhalation is warm, moist air hitting a cold glass surface. Defogger does not, cannot, prevent condensation completely. It works by reducing the surface tension of the water on the lens thereby preventing micro droplet condensation, what we call fog.
Eventually if you keep breathing out through the nose the total humidity in and through the mask will reach a point sufficient for condensation to occur, perhaps even unnoticed at first. Once that happens it will overwhelm the anti-fog and eventually rinse the AF away from the surface of the lens.
If you continue breathing out through the mask via the nose then as the air escapes you will have small "leaks" that allow seawater to come in and remove more defogger. Clearing the mask further exacerbates this process.
And then you start doing the fill and clear and remove the rest of your defogger.
The best way to reduce the greatest cause of fogging is to not breathe out through the nose. And certainly that is a skill we can learn. I know I am able to exercise that skill. But I can also say that when I'm in the "zone" my natural tendency is to use my nose, so much so that I don't even realize it until I have to clear my mask, lol.
I switched to JJ Baby shampoo about 3 months ago. It does a much better job than two most common defogger brands, or spit in my experience. Dilute it 50/50 with water. Put it in a small travel-sized spray bottle or other container.
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