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Appreciation post: stopped flushing my mask with my own spit in 2019, now I use baby shampoo and I'm never going back
Everyone in the Gulf taught me to spit in my mask and rub it around, and I did that for my first 6 years diving. Then a guy on a pipeline job out of Morgan City handed me a little bottle of Johnson's baby shampoo and said just try it once. I mix a few drops with water, smear it on the lens, rinse it out, and I get zero fog for a 4 hour bottom run at 60 feet. Spit never lasted past 45 minutes for me, especially in cold water, and I was always lifting my mask to clear it. I know it's a tradition and old habits die hard on the boat, but I keep a bottle in my gear bag now. Curious if anyone else made the switch or if I'm the odd one out here.
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alex82023d ago
Baby shampoo works because it has surfactants that cut the surface tension, so it's not really magic, it's just chemistry doing its thing. One small fix though, you don't want to smear it on straight and rinse it all out, you want a thin film left on the glass, so just rub a drop around and give it a light rinse. Spit does the same job in a pinch (enzymes in saliva break the surface tension too), it just doesn't hold up as long or work as well when the water gets cold.
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