This post is by Bernie Carr, apartmentprepper.com
Now that the CDC has recommended that people wear cloth face coverings while in public spaces, I have started wearing a mask when I go out to buy food.
One thing I have noticed is my eyeglasses fog up when I wear a mask. I’ve experienced my glasses fogging up when I go out into the humid air, particularly in Houston. But now, they fog up even indoors because I’m wearing a mask. Somehow breathing into the mask causes air to flow up toward my eyes, fogging up the glasses.
My daughter and I talked about this, so we did an experiment to see what would help eliminate fogging.
What prevents glass from fogging up?
We discussed a few items that are known to help eliminate fog from glasses:
- Anti-fog spray for lenses
- soap bar
- shaving cream
- spit (widely used by people who go snorkling to avoid fogging up the snorkle mask).
We did not include spit in the experiment, as we are trying to avoid spreading germs. So for this test, we only used anti-fog spray, soap and shaving cream.
What we used:
The test
To test all the three methods, we wiped a section of the bathroom mirror with each item.
After rubbing the substance into the mirror, we wiped off the excess with a paper towel.
Then we turned on the hot shower to fog up the bathroom.
We took photos of the bathroom mirror with the light on and with the light off so you can see the results in the photos below.
Here are pictures of the testing.
Foggy bathroom mirror, light on
Foggy bathroom mirror, light off
Results
Anti-fog spray:
The anti-fog spray was easy to rub into the glass until the patch of glass was clear. Once the mirror fogged up, the anti-fog spray left streaks. It did wipe away easily.
Soap:
FINDINGS: The soap worked VERY well. It was a little more difficult to rub into the glass until clear. There were some streaks resulting from the soap being mixed with moisture, but they wiped away VERY easily when touched.
Shaving Cream:
The shaving cream was very easy to rub into the mirror, and cleared jp easily. But it did leave a lot of streaks, and it was the least clear of all three. It still got fogged up and was the hardest to wipe away. The streaks still remained even after cleaning mirror.
Conclusion
All in all I’d use soap, for a temporary quick fix, because many people already have it on hand. Buy the spray if you don’t mind spending money. Shaving cream is the last option if that’s all you have on hand.
A big thank you to my dear daughter for helping me with this test!
Check out our related YouTube video:
I use a folded up piece of paper towel that I stick up inside the top of my mask, and it prevents my glasses from fogging up.
Hi Benjamin, Good tip, I’ll have to try that. Thanks for the comment.