Instead of toothpaste you can carefully burn off any manufacturing residue on the mask with a cigarette lighter. Warning the mask will become hot and should be left too cool afterwards.
Purge valve = foggy mask?
- Thread starter fisherdvm
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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. I see no evidence the purge valve would cause fogging.
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. I see no evidence the purge valve would cause fogging.
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