Fog prevention tips for glasses wearers
Excellent product. With the below freezing temperatures this winter in the Northeast, it really helps to keep your face warm. I wear glasses and also had more fogging issues initially, but later read some tips to wear it tighter to prevent this. When I wore it tighter, the fogging issue with regular glasses is manageable. If you breathe through your mouth, fogging is mostly eliminated, than if you breathe through your nose. I don't really think about it, but if I do start to get some fogging on the outside of the glasses, I simply breathe through my mouth until the fog evaporates. I suspect the humid air that is coming from the nose is too close to the outside of the glasses and condenses on the outside of the glasses instead of the inside of the glasses when it is worn too loose. While breathing through your mouth, it gives time condensation time to evaporate without needing to wipe the glasses. If you wear the mask too loose, when you exhale your glasses will fog up on the inside of the glasses like a regular balaclava. This can accumulate to the point where you have to remove your glasses to wipe them off. Needing to do this makes wearing a balaclava impractical. The reason for fogging is that the air you exhale is leaking above the upper edge of the mask directly into the glasses. Warm moist air under the cold glasses = fog. For this reason, the two regular balaclavas I purchased in the past are completely unwearable. The air you exhale can't go down the balaclava if you tuck it inside your jacket, so it forces it up under the top seal directly under your glasses. If you can't see or breathe, you won't want to wear a balaclava even if it keeps you face warm. An additional benefit of the combo scarf over balaclavas is that it doesn't mess your hair up and is easily removed when you go inside. You can also flip the face mask under your chin and convert it into a neck warmer, if you are not ready to take it off yet. When you wear the Seirus mask, Velcro the mask snugly to create a good seal on the top of the mask. This will force all of the exhaled air to go out the nose and mouth hole which are outside of the glasses. As a surgeon, we have a similar problem of fogging when wearing surgical masks. The key to prevent fogging is to make sure the metal insert at the top of the mask is perfectly contoured and fitted to the nose and face to prevent leakage of air and keep the sides of the mask slightly loose to let the air leak out from the surgical mask. The Seirus mask accomplishes these two keys to prevent fogging. I think if there was a moldable metal insert similar to surgical face masks it would be even better. Breathing in and out through the mask is effortless. The small space around the mouth creates a small pocket if warm air from breathing out, which mixes and warms and humidifies the air when you breath in through your mouth. If there is a cold headwind directly into the mask, it can blow directly into the mask and lose the small pocket of humidity. When the wind goes away, it works normally. The only negative is that the inside of the mask accumulates moisture on the mouth holes and lower edge of the nose cut out. I don't think this is possible to prevent, since cold air will always cause moist air to condense into water. Just make sure to wipe it dry after you wear it. Can't take away any stars for this. Whenever I see the temperature is in the low 30's or below, I will wear it. I think it is a must have for day to day use (not just skiing) in this brave new world of global warming causing extreme weather conditions like the polar vortexes we are experiencing this winter. Although it is not perfect and there can be some improvements, I still think it is the best winter mask currently on the market. I highly recommend it with five stars. Read more
