How to Prevent Safety Glasses from Fogging Up?

Safety glasses are a great protective gear if you work in conditions where it might cause a hazard to your eyes such as chemical plants, electric department, wood mills, saw mills, etc.

But the safety might be endangered with the fog that gets build up on the lenses due to several reasons while working; one of them is sweating due to excessive heat.

Once the safety eyewear has fogged up, it might give you a hazy vision and that can create other hazards in the workplace.

Therefore, it is very important to prevent fogging so that it does not block your vision!

In this article, I am going to tell you about some exciting tricks which will surely save the problem of fogging up your safety glasses. There are several of them you can try including shaving cream, soap bar, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, anti-fog wipes, etc.

So, let’s get started!

How to Make Safety Glass Anti-fog?

1.) Home-made anti-fog spray:

There are a lot of anti-fog market products for lenses, but I have an exciting home-made remedy for your quick-fix:

• • • Take a spray bottle and mix an equal amount of distilled water, alcohol and vinegar.
    • Give the bottle a shake to mix the three liquids thoroughly.
    • Spray the mixture on the lenses and using a microfiber cloth, rub off the mixture from the lenses.

2.) Anti-fog sprays and gels:

You can get plenty of anti-fog sprays and gels in the market which are designed for making your lenses anti-fog. Just spray them on the lenses and will be saved at least for the day.

3.) Give your lenses an anti-fog coating:

Anti-fog coatings are made from chemicals that prevent fogging on the surface of the lenses by inhibiting the condensation of water on the surface. These are actually optical thin film coatings made from hydrophilic coatings.

Why Do Lenses Fog Up?

Glasses generally fog up because of the temperature difference between the inner and the outer surface of the glass. Lenses also fog up for the very same reason. It is the temperature difference between the inside of the lens (the part which is facing your face skin) and the outside of the lens (the part which remains exposed to the outside atmosphere) that causes the sweating and thus the fog build up.

But fogging up of the lenses can happen due to several other factors such as:

1.) The heat of the outside atmosphere:

If the temperature of the surrounding environment you are working in is very high, it may cause fogging because the temperature inside the lenses that is between your face and the lens will be far less.

2.) The exertion of the body produces sweat and thus fogging:

When you are working for several hours, you generally sweat (more sweat is produced inside the covered parts of the body). The sweat is formed due to the heat produced in the body and this heat builds up moisture inside the lenses which ultimately results in fogging.

3.) High levels of humidity in the surrounding atmosphere also cause fogging:

Humidity means moisture in the air. The more the moisture in the air, the more will be the fogging in the lenses.

4.) Too tight eyewear cause fogging:

 If your eyewear is too tight, it will cause a lack in the airflow and thus lead to fog build up inside the lenses.

Other causes which lead to fogging are:

• • • Walking out of the air conditioning room into the outside heat cause sudden fogging of the lenses.
    • Sudden opening the door of the oven cause fogging.
    • Working in the sun causes fogging.
    • Working with heat producing equipments also causes fogging.

How to Keep Your Safety Glasses from Fogging?

Though there are several inevitable reasons for the fogging of your safety glasses, yet I have some amazing tricks for you to prevent the safety glasses from fogging up:

1.) Using a soap bar to prevent fogging:

Soap bar prevents the fogging of the safety glasses to a large extent. You just need to do the following steps:

• • • Take a bar of soap, preferably a very mild one (obviously not the ones with scrubbers) and wipe it over the lens.
    • Let the layer of soap sit on the lenses for a while.
    • Buff the lenses with a microfiber cloth or a lint free cloth.
    • That’s all and your lenses will take longer than normal to fog up (if not prevent it totally).

2.) Your normal shaving cream can also work wonders for getting the job done:

With just the change of product, the process though remains the same and is as easy:

• • • Take the shaving foam and spray it over the lenses.
    • Allow the shaving cream to sit for a while.
    • Buff off using a microfiber cloth or a lint free cloth and you are done.

3.) Anti-fog wipes are the best and handy remedy to prevent the fogging of lenses:

There are plenty of brands of anti-fog wipes available in the market and you can just get any of them (just read the reviews carefully before making the purchase). Anti-fog wipes are the best in terms of office use, when you are stuck with the fogging of your lenses and need an immediate solution. Obviously, you would not have a bar of soap or shaving cream at your job site. The only thing then that would come to your rescue is the anti-fog wipes and also they are so easy to use:

• • • Take the anti-fog wipes and wipe them on the lenses whenever necessary.
    • It will not only remove the fog from the lenses, but will also prevent the building up of the further fog on the lenses.

4.) Choose the glasses that sit at quite a far off distance from your face:

One of the main reasons of fog build up on the lenses is the close contact between your face and the lenses of your safety eyewear. One way to prevent it is to buy the safety glasses which have considerable space between your face and the glass. In other words, your skin of the upper chick bones should not touch the lenses. Therefore, before buying wear the glasses and check on this point.

5.) Making your safety glasses water-repellent is another way to prevent fogging up:

There are plenty of water-repellent sprays available in the market for lenses and glasses. Buy the one which says are safe for lenses. Just spray them on the lenses and let sit for a few moments. Then using a microfiber cloth, pat dry the lenses and your lenses will not for 24 hours again.

It’s time to bid Adieu!

Well that was all about preventing fog build up in the lenses. Though it is inevitable, still if you try the tricks and ways that I have shared, you are sure to get rid of the problem to a great extent. Keep your safety glasses clean to reduce the combined effects of fogging and dirty lenses issue. 

That’s all for today!

Have a great day ahead!