Preventing a fogged up mask can be a real pain and frequently leads to a non-enjoyable dive at times. Many people will state that you can’t beat a good spit and rub the sputum onto the mask interior, works every time? Well not really, but help is at hand.
No I am not going to push some super anti-fogging agent costing several dollars for a few ml, there is a true and tested remedy available very cheaply … namely Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.
If you don’t believe me just give it a try, if it does not work I will be very surprised.
I was always under the impression that a brand new mask required the toothpaste treatment before use then always a good helping of sputum before every dive, however after witnessing JBS on a brand new mask last year in the Philippines I am converted.
I have seen people use a lighter to remove some invisible film from the interior and then with a liberal scrubbing of toothpaste and soaking the new mask overnight only to have a fogged mask on their first dive the following day.
Having recently purchased a new frameless mask I decided to only use JBS and it worked on the very first dive without any other treatment, no fogging and a very happy underwater photographer.
Please note that if you do still use spit, please do not rinse the mask in the fresh water barrel that is sometimes found on boats for mask cleaning, rinsing dive computers or cameras.
