- Hi SD fans and welcome back.
In this video, I'm gonna be talking about masks,
or more specifically, how to clean a mask
so that it hopefully doesn't fog up when you're diving.
I've touched on this in our recent Q and A session,
as it was a question that had been asked
by a couple of people,
and we thought a more in-depth tutorial would be useful.
For those here for the first time, my name's Mark.
I'm the editor in chief of the Scuba Diver media brand
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Now, let's dive into the video.
(bright upbeat music)
So, the humble mask,
without it, you're not gonna see a lot
when you go on a dive,
however if it steams up,
there is nothing more frustrating
than not being able to see anything,
and having to constantly flood your mask
and getting a bit of water in so you can swirl it around
and get rid of any of the fogging.
But there are some things you can do,
which should be able to minimize
any fogging that's happening.
So, here we have a mask,
you just got it,
best bet is to give it a thorough clean
before you go diving, as we said.
So, best bet, get it wet.
Now the masks, when they're made,
when the silicon skirt is fastened onto the lens
and onto the frame and everything,
you get a very thin coating of silicon onto the glass.
Now, on the outside, it doesn't matter too much,
but it's the inside where it causes a problem
because when you're having a bit of heat from your body,
if you exhale through your nose a little bit,
it just causes all this to steam up
and that's where it can cause a problem.
So what I tend to do is just get a little blob
of toothpaste now, I like the sort that's got beads in
or is is quite rough and abrasive
because that helps to remove the silicon.
So I just put a little blob
onto either side.
Now, if you've got a single lens mask like this,
you can get away with one blob for the whole amount.
Just smear it on either side.
If you've got a two lens mask,
put a little blob on either side, it's common sense.
Now, make sure when you put it in,
you give it a really good rub in.
You can actually feel it when you get a new mask,
and you get used to it, you can actually feel,
as you're rubbing, you can feel the resistance,
initially from the silicon, and then it goes smooth
as you're just rubbing onto clean glass.
Well, basically you wanna coat in right into the sides.
Like this.
The advantage of doing this as well,
is that you get a minty-fresh
smelling mask when you're done.
So a nice added bonus.
Right, so there we go, so we've given it
a really good rubbing like that.
Now, what I tend to do as well,
is use your finger on the glass,
but I also like to get a toothbrush in
to get right into the corners when you're rinsing it off.
Two reasons: one, it gets right into
the corners for the Silicon, but also
it gets any last residue of the toothpaste out.
Now, some toothpastes like this one
is a blue-y color, you don't really notice it,
but if you've got a black mask
and you use white toothpaste,
there's nothing worse than having that
right around the inside of your frame.
So, get that into the water,
give it all a good scrub.
There we go.
Now, you can't see anything physically with that
but you can feel it.
If you do that, it feels nice and smooth,
so you know you've managed to get rid
of any of the residue.
Now it's not a one shot deal,
it might be that when you go for a dive,
you do find that it's starting
to steam up a little bit again
or just in certain places is what often happens.
So in that case, do it again,
give it another clean and then you'll be fine.
What I tend to do, is give it at least
two or three going overs with the toothpaste
on a brand spanking new mask,
purely to play it safe is the way I do it.
But once you've done that,
it should be all nice and clean,
will keep it all nice and clear through the dive.
If you still have an issue where you've got areas
of fogging, you can use a lighter.
Now this is one of those,
you either love it or hate it kind of things, really.
Some people swear by it, some people say don't do it
because you're going to kill your mask.
I have done it on occasion with masks
where they've been very, very stubborn
and just would not stop fogging in certain places,
and no matter what toothpaste I used
and how much I rubbed it,
I couldn't get rid of that last residue.
Now, if you are going to do it, like I said,
it's at your own risk because you're obviously
putting a naked flame near a silicone mask,
so you could melt your new mask,
but if you careful, I've never had an issue
the odd times I've had to do it.
Basically, you just put the flame
up onto the middle of the mask there
and you can actually see it burn around.
You can see the silicone actually going
and I just move so close around like this
and then leave a rim around the edge
where I don't get too close
and that's where I just give it a really good scrubbing
with the toothpaste and the toothbrush.
And that will do the trick,
but like I said, some people swear not to do it,
I have done it on occasion
when the toothpaste trick has not worked
but to be fair, you should get away with the toothpaste.
One thing I would definitely say
is if you've got one of the masks,
this has got a clear lens,
but if you've got a mask
that has got one of these UV protections
or it's got the reflective layers
and stuff like this on it,
definitely don't do the lighter trick
because you just got to take off
whatever coating the manufacturers put on the lens.
So yeah, so just bear that in mind
but hopefully that should clean it for you.
The next thing you've got then
is when you're going to go diving.
Now, good old spit has always worked well for me,
just a little bit into the middle of each lens,
rubbed it all the way in, quick swill,
on, off you go for your dive.
However, with the advent of COVID-19 and everything
spitting into your mask and rinsing it
into the mask bucket, or even just into the sea
close to where other people are going to be getting in,
if you're shore diving, for instance
is perhaps slightly frowned upon.
So I would suggest getting yourself
some decent mask fog, there are so many brands out there,
some work better than others,
it's a bit of trial and error really.
I've seen people swear by one,
I've tried it, didn't really like it,
other people swear by another.
what's often used on a dive boat
is just a very very mild, watered down squeezy bottle
with a little bit of washing up liquid in it.
So just a very small amount of washing up liquid
in squeezy bottle, put a little bit
into each side, give it a good swill around.
I usually sit with it in the mask
while I'm waiting to be diving.
So whether you're sat in the back of the boat
ready to get in on a hard boat or whether you're
in a rib of the way it's in a dive site, leave it in there.
And then just before you get in, get in, got a bit of water
in from over the side, give it a swirl around
empty it like that straight on your face, all for a dive
and then you should not have any fogging problems.
Have you got any handy hints for mask cleaning
any neat tricks to pass on to your fellow divers?
leave your comments below.
And if you have a question fire away
cause if we don't know the answer
maybe someone in our community will be able to answer it.
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As always stay safe.
And if you're able to get out and dive, enjoy.