How To Prevent Your Snorkel Mask From Getting Fogged Up
Having your goggles get foggy while you snorkel can be very annoying. We’ll check into some different ways to prevent your snorkel mask from getting fogged up.
Imagine for a minute that you are floating in crystal-clear, warm blue water someplace in the tropics. There is a school of brightly colored fish that are swimming close by under the surface of the water. You put on your snorkel mask and then put your face in the water. However, your mask fogs up entirely in less than two minutes.
What a way to put quite the damper on an experience that was otherwise amazing.
This is where we come into play. We understand how frustrating it is to have your snorkeling time ruined by your mask getting all fogged up and needing to clean it always, we are going to provide you with some of our best tips for how you can prevent your snorkel mask from getting fogged up.
Carefully Choose Your Mask
Our very first tip for you is to be sure that you carefully select your snorkel mask. Mainly this tip applies if you are going to invest in buying your own mask (and if you enjoy this hobby as much as us, then you definitely will want to). If you are using rental equipment from a tour operator or a freebie, then that will not be possible always.
These days many snorkel masks have anti-fog technology built into them. Although in theory that sounds great, truthfully some designs work well, while other leave plenty to be desired.
If you will be buying your own mask, it is worth it to read through some of the snorkel mask reviews that we have to find that works for you and that comes with anti-fogging technology.
Preventive Measures
Apart from ensuring that you use a mask that features an anti-fog design, taking a couple of preventive measures is the best thing that can be done to prevent fogging. One of the primary reasons that fogging happens, to begin with, is due to the mask being dirty. When condensation and moisture build-up within the mask, they have to attach to something, which is the debris and dirt on the inside part of the mask.
What Is Facial Barotrauma and what are Mask Squeeze symptoms?
So keeping that in mind, to help to prevent your mask from fogging up, you will want to ensure that the mask is clean. Using toothpaste is one of the best to clean your snorkel mask and also works great to prevent fog.
You will want to use a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean a snorkel mask. Take a small amount of the toothpaste and apply it to the toothbrush. Then rub it over the inside part of the mask for a couple of minutes. There are some people to leave the mask with the toothpaste on it to sit overnight. You can do that if you want to, but it isn’t necessary. Afterward, just quickly rinse the mask with hot water.
If you are using the toothpaste method, it is imperative to ensure that overly abrasive toothpaste isn’t used, since that can damage the lens on the mask, particularly glass ones.
Similarly, some snorkeling fans swear by using baby shampoo rather than toothpaste. Many divers carry a small baby shampoo bottle with their scuba gear just in case to prevent their mask from fogging up.
Flaming is another common way of preventing mask fogging. Just use the tip on a flame and then run it across the lens until it becomes black and burns all of the debris and residue off that causes fogging. Once you are done, let the mask completely off using a small cloth to wipe the residue away. If necessary, this method can be repeated two to three times.
When it comes to the flame method, one crucial thing to note- it only should be used with masks that have a glass lens. If it is a plastic lens, the heat will melt it, and make sure to be careful not to hold the flame close to the silicone skirt, since that can melt as well.
Lastly, and probably the easiest and for many best method is to use a commercial defogging product. You can find a lot more information in our post on defogging products for snorkel and dive masks.
Conclusion
We have thoroughly tested all of the three methods that we discussed above, and they have been proven to be quite effective at keeping a snorkel from getting fogged up. If you are in the water already, theoretically, in a pinch, you could use your saliva if you needed to. However, in general, you will do a lot better if you take the appropriate measures in advance to help prevent any fogging from occurring.
Remember these tips for the next time you plan to head out on a snorkeling expedition to ensure that you will thoroughly enjoy your experience. We understand it can suck when you have to spend most of your time wiping off the fog on your mask when you are in the water. Fortunately, if you use our tips above, you won’t have to spend as much time on fog so that you have more time enjoying all of the fantastic sights that await you.
