How Not to Clean Your Glasses
Posted on 14/09/2015
Wrong Ways to Clean Your Glasses
There is a right way and there is a wrong way for everything, even for things as simple as cleaning your glasses. You would definitely be amazed at all the methods people use to clean their pairs of glasses and the end result being a worn down pair which they have to replace. And that means a visit to the ophthalmologist for a prescription, and paying for a new pair. That does not sound practical, does it? So why not simply think of a way to clean your glasses so that they stay clean and don’t feel used and ready to be replaced. In this case, the right way to do it is too obvious, so here are some wrong ways to do it which you should definitely avoid.
• Do not clean the glasses dry.
Does the following scenario sound familiar? You need to clean the glasses, so you wipe them off your shirt or trousers. This is a universal way of doing it fast, but this is not carpet cleaning – it is definitely not effective. You might be able to see better, but with every time you do it you wear your glasses down. Your shirt contains micro specks of dust which scratch the glass surface and they become more susceptible to breaking or further – and more visible – scratching. So when you need a quick cleaning, use a moist towel or handkerchief, or anything else that is not dry.
• Do not use soap.
This is not always a bad idea. It is only bad when you use soap – or any other detergent – that contains bleach, ammonia or vinegar. Those are for window and sofa cleaning, and not your glasses. When using them, you wear down all the special coating that makes for their efficiency that you sorely need.
• Do not use just any material for cleaning.
Paper towels, clothing, and tissues are definitely not recommended for cleaning glasses. All of them have crude edges and gather specks of dirt that have a higher chance of damaging the lens than cleaning them properly. And don’t you use newspaper just because it does well with windows! What you need to use one hundred percent of the time is a microfiber cloth. This is the safe material, with soft fibres that take on even the smallest problems on the lens.
• Do not clean the rims the same way you clean the lens.
People think that it’s all the same, cleaning the glass part and cleaning the frame. But you will feel the difference when you soap up the whole pair and then dry up the glasses and put them on. The rim part you forgot to clean thoroughly will stick directly to your skin, and it may cause small itchy spills. Yes, your glasses should be cleaned thoroughly, and if the glasses were a house, then their cleaning would be analogous to domestic cleaning, but just as every room is cleaned differently, so is every part of the glasses. For the frame, you need only rinse with water and use soap only if you have a nasty stain that needs removing.
• Do not apply too much force.
Be gentle with your glasses when cleaning them. Always hold both sides of the lens and don’t force the stains out. This is not oven cleaning, you have no sticky grime and grease that needs to be scraped. Simple wipes do the trick.
• Do not seek convoluted solutions.
At the end of the day, cleaning the glasses is a matter of applying a microfiber cloth, cold water and basic kitchen soap. Any special way to do it is just overdoing it.
Cleaning the glasses is not brain surgery. There are a few right ways to do it and everybody knows them, and there are many wrong ways which you should avoid. Read them up and remember.
