Winter Photography for Glasses Wearers

If you wear glasses and wear a mask, whether that’s for keeping your face warm or to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or the flu, I wanted to give you some helpful hints about mask wearing during winter.  One thing that I’ve noticed with masks is that people who wear glasses have a hard time keeping their glasses from fogging up. This is especially true when masks are worn correctly over both your nose and mouth, which is the expectation to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. It also happens in winter when your warm breath comes in contact with the cold surfaces of your glasses. Because this is a common problem, people have come up with a lot of solutions. I’ll list the ones that I’ve heard below.

Even before the pandemic, my favorite solution was to use a product called Cat Crap. It’s an anti-fog spray with an unfortunate name that was designed for skiing. I like the spray better than the paste, but the paste also works. You can get it at Amazon here: https://amzn.to/39CvGpd Note: if you buy it from Amazon via that link, I’ll get a little commission.

Here are a few tips to help prevent your glasses from fogging up:

1. Use an anti-fog spray on your glasses. The ski brand Cat Crap is one of the best. Get the spray version and not the rub on version.
2. Rub a sliced onion on your lenses to prevent fogging.
3. Make sure the area around your nose fits tightly. Adding a soft piece of metal into the mask around your nose helps. Then when you put it on, mold the metal so that it fits perfectly. Amazon sells metal pieces with stickers on the back that stick to masks.
4. Wear the mask higher on your nose.
5. Tighten the mask.
6. Wash your glasses in dish soap and water, do not rinse and let the glasses dry. Dawn works best. Do not use anything that says sensitive skin.
7. Put a nylon stocking over the mask to hold it tighter to your face. This helps prevent your breath from going upwards towards your glasses.
8. Tape the top of the mask to your face using athletic tape or micropore tape.
9. Apply shaving cream and wipe off and let the glasses dry.
10. Try a different mask.

When you use an anti-fogging spray, you should keep a bottle of it with you, because you will need to refresh it throughout the day. With Cat Crap, I can get about 3/4rds of a day out of one spray. So, I put it on when putting my sunglasses on for the first time in the day and then reapply in the afternoon.

I hope these tips help you. It is helpful to try these solutions at home before you come to a photography workshop. That way you can concentrate on learning photography instead of learning how to keep your glasses fog free.