What's the best way to clean new snorkel masks

[Joe & Kim]

We have new snorkel masks and have read that the protective film should be cleaned with tothpaste. What kind, any suggestions. :confused:

[kirbmeister]

Use your finger and rub the mask down with toothpaste (I don't think it really matters what kind).

[bruce-r]

Use your finger and rub the mask down with toothpaste (I don't think it really matters what kind).

Brand doesn't matter as long at you use paste and not gel. Put a small amount on the end of your finger and polish the glass with it.

[jimw]

and go for it--toothpaste may also be used before beginning a snorkel session as a de-fog agent. Rub a little on the inside of the lenses and rinse with water.

[mowrider]

I use Rain-X on the inside & outside of my mask, and it works good as a defogger and "de-dropper"

[DesignGuy]

The best defogger I've found is blue "Dawn" dish soap. Don't use any other color. It is also used by a lot of professional dive companies to defog the mask. I am hesitant to use Rain X because of the chemicals. I think that the dish soap would be safer but to each his own.

 

FYI, a tablespoon of blue Dawn to a gallon of warm water makes the best window washing solution! Squeegy then dry with a clean towel for sparkling windows!! (learned it from a professional window washing company)

 

:)

[kamfan]

Before using the toothpaste, make sure that it is tempured glass and not plastic. The plastic does not need it and will scratch. If it is glass, it may take a couple of really good hard scrubbing sessions to actually get it to work well enough. Have fun under the water. Do be aware as well that the defogger mentioned above will most likely not remove the film mentioned in the OP.

[Host Star]

on my last snorkel trip they passed around a defogger , it worked so much better than what I had been using and bought at a dive shop I asked one of the excursion people what was in it.. he said dishwasher soap.and water... I don't think it was dawn because it wasn't blue.. he wasn't sure what it was but it worked so good, I'm mixing my own batch before I snorkel again..

[BeachDreams]

on my last snorkel trip they passed around a defogger , it worked so much better than what I had been using and bought at a dive shop I asked one of the excursion people what was in it.. he said dishwasher soap.and water... I don't think it was dawn because it wasn't blue.. he wasn't sure what it was but it worked so good, I'm mixing my own batch before I snorkel again..

 

I am from the Virgin Islands, most locals use the "blue" Dawn or "green" Palmolive dish soap to prevent your mask from fogging up. Works for diving too and is much less expensive than the crap at the dive shops. Use only one or two drops on inside of mask, smear and rinse well right before you put mask on for fog free mask.