cheap anti-fog

Besides the regulars, I doubt any paintball players read this blog. However I've come to know that Google turns up all sorts of weird hits so maybe someone looking for anti-fog info will find this.

Well, I'm down to less than 24 hours before fielding my paintball mask (a V-Force Profiler) for the second time and to be honest, there was some fogging going on even tho I didn't complain about it as much as my friends did. In a pinch, I've learned that you can just breath only by the mouth and blown down away from the lens.

One of my fellow players is trying a RainX product... I went for a simpler trick: Johnson & Johnson's "no more tears" baby shampoo. A large bottle almost 600ml costs less than $5. And I figure, if it doesn't work out, at least I'll have clean hair. Anyway, all you need is a single drop for this exercise.

Remove the lens from the mask and rinse it in your sink. Carefully hold it by the edges and have a clean fluffy towel handy. drop some of the baby shampoo on your fingers and let the running water dilute it before allowing it all to drip onto the lens, swirl it around a bit with your fingers and allow the water to rinse it clean. Dab dry with the fluffy towel - no need to rub, the lens will be a little squeaky because it's so clean.

The theory I've read is that by having the lens so clean (using a gentle detergent like baby shampoo to avoid any chemical reaction that might weaken the plastic) that water particles won't stick to the surface. I don't know how much I believe that sort of explanation, but I do know that it seems to work fairly well. I wore the mask for a while and breathed hard in it and there wasn't any fog at all. Sweetness - I'm ready.