Help me see please!

November 3, 2019 9:36 PM

I’m a new, wearer of glasses. I love them but I’m having an issue. I haven’t been “oily/greasy” for the past 20+ years but my new glasses beg to differ. I cannot keep them clean and every little smudge drives me nuts! Give me your best tips on keeping my new specs sparkling clean.

I have bought the specialty, spray cleaner and the soft little rags, I use them regularly. But as soon as I put them back on and breathe, I have a smudge. Arrrrgh!! Any help? TIA!

posted by pearlybob to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (22 answers total)

I found that this happened when I purchased the expensive anti-glare coating for my glasses. It drove me to distraction and I had to get new lenses after just a few months. I never get any fancy coating on the lenses anymore and that fixed the problem.

In terms of how to deal with the glasses you have, I found that washing them with just a small bit of dish soap and then carefully blotting the water away with the edge of a paper towel was the best way to get them clean.
posted by k8lin at 9:47 PM on November 3, 2019 [6 favorites]

Get a BIG FLUFFY microfiber cloth. Like one you shine your car with or clean a tv screen with. Those non-fluffy "glasses" cloths always just spread grease in my experience.

Consider where you touch them and how often. If you're not used to glasses, you may be touching them or they may be touching your face (like your eyebrows or cheeks.)

When mine get really gross I wash them with mild dish soap - as it's a degreaser.

I've never used cleaning sprays of any kind, and I kinda doubt they work that well and they may be leaving a film which is reacting to your warm breath too.

I find anti-reflective coatings to be pretty necessary for glare reasons. They also make coatings to resist oils/smudges/fingerprints.

ETA: Part of this is adjusting to glasses. I still super hate smudges, but I notice them much less.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:49 PM on November 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

Any place that sells safety equipment will have sprays and disposable wipe for safety glasses. I find them superior to products aimed at glasses wearers and they are cheaper to boot. $10 gets a year's supply, so cheap to try. I use the same stuff on phone and laptop screens
posted by Mitheral at 9:57 PM on November 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

You will stop noticing soon enough. I think it drove me crazy for about six months, but twenty years on, my glasses are always super smudged and I don't care at all.
posted by lollusc at 10:38 PM on November 3, 2019 [13 favorites]

Does this happen with sunglasses (if you wear them)? Are they a different shape from your eyeglasses frames?

A lot of it is getting used to wearing glasses and not unconsciously touching your face as much. (You may be touching your face more because there is something new on it.) Do your glasses fit correctly? Do you find they're slipping down and you're repeatedly adjusting them? You can walk into almost any optical store and they will adjust them to fit for free. Sometimes it takes wearing them for a while to get a feel for the fit you're comfortable with.

Eventually you may join the hordes of glasses wearers who stop noticing and rarely clean their glasses! But to keep them clean that soft lint-free cloth helps for anything that isn't super greasy; otherwise, warm water and a touch of hand soap removes tough grime and cooking grease. If you fry food or do anything (paint, etc) that causes splatter you didn't previously notice, this will help.
posted by mayurasana at 12:15 AM on November 4, 2019

If you can, wash them with a little dish soap like mentioned above, and rinse them in the hottest water you can stand, shake the excess water off, and they practically dry themselves.

Since hot enough water isn’t always available, keep a microfiber cloth or a small towel handy and never, ever wash it in a load of laundry that’s going to get fabric softener, because then it won’t remove smudges any more. It’ll add them.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:59 AM on November 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Actually hot water is a bad idea if your glasses frames have any plastic. I always had problems with frames discolouring and flaking, and the optometrist told me it was my habit of rinsing them in hot water. Since I stopped doing that, about five glasses frames ago, no more problems.

Cold water with a little dish soap works fine.
posted by lollusc at 1:06 AM on November 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

I wash them every morning with dish soap and warm water, rubbing gently with the tips of my fingers (though I'll switch to cool water on seeing lollusc's comment above) and dry with microfibre, never a paper towel. This may depend on the shape of you nose and glasses but I find there is less smudging if I am careful to wash the bridge of the glasses, where the glasses rest on my nose; I assume skin oils gradually work their way across from there.
posted by tavegyl at 1:49 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's fine, you will either stop noticing the smudges or develop a habit of neurotically cleaning your glasses with any cloth-like material nearby.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:57 AM on November 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

I have tried a whole bunch of micro-fiber cloths and I have found that some of them just smear the grease around, while others work very well. So far, the best one I've found is the E-Cloth glasses cloth. (UK link, although it also seems to be available in the US.) For serious smudges I use them with a glasses cleaning spray, but often water is enough to do the job.
posted by yankeefog at 3:53 AM on November 4, 2019

(Oh, and I know you are asking about keeping them clean, rather than cleaning them -- but I've found that once I've done the initial cleaning, I can get rid of additional smudges by breathing on them and then wiping off the breath with the e-cloth.)
posted by yankeefog at 3:54 AM on November 4, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I do have the fancy lens coating so that may be adding to the problem. And I’m finding that the microfiber cloths just smear the smudges more which drives me nuts! I’ll look into getting some of the fuzzier cloths/safety sprays mentioned above, and I need to make a habit of a morning wash with soap and cool water. It’s good to know that I’ll eventually get used to it...I just hope it happens soon!
posted by pearlybob at 4:53 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I concur with the consensus. The one thing I would add is that just scraping your finger over the spout of the dish detergent will harvest more than enough product to clean a pair of glasses.

Always dry with a soft cloth. Don't us any paper product other than kleenex. No napkins, no paper towels; they can scratch your glasses. Pro Tip: Don't use aloe infused tissues.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:00 AM on November 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

If your glasses are slipping so that you have to touch them to move them more often, or if they're sitting too close to your face or eyebrows, it's worth going back to the optician to have the fit adjusted again to reduce the smear problem (and improve comfort and vision.) Things get loose and need to be tightened now and then.
posted by asperity at 8:01 AM on November 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

It helps to toss your microfiber cloths in the wash from time to time, or hand wash them with a bit of dish soap. If I'm using them without water, I first breathe on the lenses to moisten them. That seems to help a lot.

FWIW, I find that dish soap with skin softeners, like Palmolive, doesn't work very well to clean my glasses. At home I use Ajax; right now I'm overseas for a few months and I'm using the cheap citrus dish soap from the local supermarket brand.

Paper towels are generally a bad idea because they contain wood fibers that can scratch the lenses or frame.
posted by brianogilvie at 8:02 AM on November 4, 2019

Definitely get the fuzzier cloths, especially ones that are big enough to cover your entire hand. The dainty little no-pile cloths that come with glasses cases seem to be designed to cause your fingers to touch the lenses and then smear the oil around.
posted by corey flood at 9:06 AM on November 4, 2019

How big is your nose? I have a flatter Asian nose and the "low bridge" styles that have finally made their way into the US market stay somewhat cleaner because they actually fit my face. (I've also seen them described as "universal" or "Asian" fit.) I futz with them less because the nose pads are shaped so they stay put on broader noses and they're angled so they don't get as greasy from constantly bumping up against my forehead.

If your nose is more broad than beaky, give them a shot! Like most "unusual" (grrrr) sizes, I've mostly seen these styles available online. Warby Parker doesn't have a huge selection but they do have a try-at-home program if you're not near one of their physical stores.
posted by yeahlikethat at 9:10 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I haven't seen this mentioned, so: the area around your eyes and nose can make a lot of oils to protect your skin, so rinsing that area can also cut down on smudges.
posted by effluvia at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I clean my glasses with soap from the bathroom dispenser - dish soap is fine but I won’t take a special trip to the kitchen. And I dry them with toilet paper, as does my Dad who has never scratched his lenses in his 60+ years of glasses, with or without the glare coatings. And my mother buys terrible scratchy TP even.

I also just stopped caring that much, although if I visit my parents I will have my Dad wash them for me. Such a treat! He is so good at it and it’s a nice gesture of affection.

Definitely be sure to soap up and thoroughly rinse the bits that touch your face or that you touch with your hands. Grease redistribution is a thing, especially when you go to dry them.
posted by janell at 8:35 PM on November 4, 2019

I have been told by two opticians to use dish soap and a paper towel. I specifically asked about the paper towel and one of them told me that they are soft enough and get softer when they're a little wet. I have been using them for almost 2 years now, and I don't have any scratches. Obviously, you probably don't want to use cheap paper towels like in a public restroom.
posted by ceejaytee at 7:00 AM on November 5, 2019

ive worn glasses for 42 years

the secret is to look through the smudges until your eyes adapt
posted by lalochezia at 8:41 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Iv'e worn glasses more than 40 years, and I quit getting the extra coatings some time ago - anti-glare, anti-smudge. It also bugs me when my glasses are smudged up, but what works best for me are the little individually-packaged cleaning wipes you can buy in the optical shop at Costco or Sam's Club. They are fairly inexpensive, and I can pop one or two in my pocket when going out, then throw them away once I use them.
posted by summerstorm at 11:15 AM on November 5, 2019