Sunglasses are dirty

August 13, 2006 2:09 PM

How can I clean my sunglasses and keep them clean?

I never touch the lenses with anything except an Oakley bag (even non-oakleys) and they get dirty anyway. Most importantly i want to know how to get rid of sweat marks but also little scratches just tend to appear somehow.
Also, what can I do about the little indents they leave at the top of my nose?

posted by joshuak to clothing, beauty, & fashion (11 comments total)

Wipe them with a cotton cloth. Sometimes my boyfriend fogs his with his break to get the sweat marks off.
posted by k8t at 2:34 PM on August 13, 2006

Recently I sprung for one of those nifty little eyeglass cleaning kits they sell at eyewear shops, with a microfiber cloth and the cleaning spray, and I find it does a much better & longer lasting job at cleaning my glasses. You'll never get your glasses to stay permanently clean, however, because of dust in the air and skin flakes and hair and oils and whatnot.

As for indents on your nose, there are little pads you can buy & attach to your glasses to help that. I've never tried them, but I've seen them at supermarket checkouts. I'm sure better quality ones must exist.
posted by tastybrains at 2:54 PM on August 13, 2006

There's no reason not to wash any glasses with soap & water. Dry them after with a clean towel.

The little scratches are almost certainly from grit caught in your wiper of choice. If you don't wash (launder) that microfiber/silk/cloth-of-gold wiping cloth frequently, it turns into a lens scratcher. See my first sentence.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:46 PM on August 13, 2006

Clean your glasses with liquid soap and warm water.

Wet the glasses, dab liquid soap on each side of each lens, rub lightly with your (clean) fingers to lather, then rinse with warm water. Wipe them clean with a clean white cotton t-shirt. (Or whatever you have that is 100% white cotton and absolutely clean.)

Don't use any special lens cloths, eyeglass cleaners, etc. Lens cleaning cloths tend to stay dirty, and you end up scratching your lens with grit, dirt, etc. from the cloth. Liquid soap beats any eyeglass cleaning sprays because the soap keeps you from scratching the lens as you rub it between your fingers.

An alternative to this is to use shaving cream instead of liquid soap -- this will keep your glasses from fogging up but doesn't clean quite as well as liquid soap.
posted by jca at 4:52 PM on August 13, 2006

Second the soap & water recommendation. I use a dab of (detergent) dish soap and running water to clean my mirror-lensed Oakleys (just swirl it on/off with your fingers).

And yes, wash the bag. Even with frequent washing, I turn the bag half-inside out and wipe the glasses with the inside (as the outside has been busy catching dust from my purse).

Re indents: it's possible the frame isn't adjusted properly to your face. I've never noticed if Oakleys have the ability to be adjusted (usually it required loosening/tightening of screws and bending of frames) but it's worth checking into. Lacking that, there's always the OptiGrab.
posted by jamaro at 4:52 PM on August 13, 2006

liquid dish soap and a soft cloth to dry, simple and old school

microfiber cloths are the great lens cleaning advance
posted by caddis at 6:31 PM on August 13, 2006

By the way, don't ever use paper, like Kleenex or paper towels, they often have a harder hardness than some lens coatings and can scratch the coatings. Lens cleaning papers sold for such purpose should be fine.
posted by caddis at 6:32 PM on August 13, 2006

Fill a spray bottle with a 50-50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water. That's a much more economical lens cleaner than the one you buy at the drugstore. Spray liberally on your glasses, wipe dry with a soft, clean cloth. Never use paper.
posted by Soda-Da at 7:32 PM on August 13, 2006

Liquid soap has a longer-term deleterious effect on any plastic in your frame, and in particular on the nose pads; it also corrodes metal fairly quickly.

I ditto tastybrains -- get a special kit with the special microfiber cloth, preferably buying it from an optician who sells good products, not a cut-rate chain. If your sunglasses cost anything like my specs, they're worth a few dollars to keep in good condition.
posted by anadem at 9:20 PM on August 13, 2006

There's a brand of paper towel called Viva which is the softest you can buy (it's by Kleenex). Wash with soap and water and dry with a sheet of Viva. The stuff is amazing and will never scratch.
posted by whobynumbers at 10:43 PM on August 13, 2006

Sort of off-topic, but I've only been wearing glasses for about two years. It constantly amazes me how much crap seems to be jumping off my face and head during the day.. I feel like a little beacon of skin and oil.
posted by mariokrat at 12:09 AM on August 14, 2006