Now I don’t want to sound patronising, but I wondered how many of you lovely readers really do know the best way to clean your spectacles?
Many of us spend a fair amount of time choosing a spectacle frame, I know I do. We all worry “Do these glasses suit me?” “Does the frame go with my colouring and face shape?”. Many of us invest in some decent lenses to ensure we have the best vision possible. But then what? So often I see people cleaning their glasses with the edge of a tee-shirt or jumper!? Or even worse not cleaning them at all, some peoples lenses are so grimey that they look foggy and some have green or even worse, black nose pads. Yuck!!!!!
Read on and I will tell you how to keep your gorgeous new glasses looking brand new for longer.
It’s good to wash your lenses and frame every day using warm soapy water. Always use a gentle soap (Mum always says to use any soap you can wash your face with is fine) and plenty of warm water. Gently pat your spectacles dry with a soft cloth and polish them with your cloth.
For coated lenses use a special microfibre cloth as these absorb the grease from the surface of your lenses. “Why are microfibre cloths so special”? I hear you ask! Well, if you don’t use the microfibre cloth, then the grease will get smudged all around the lenses and you’ll probably end up with dirtier glasses than when you started. Don’t forget to wash your cloth regularly too. Mum is always recommending that her clients pop their spec cloths in the washing machine once a week, with the tea-towels. But never put fabric conditioner in with them.
We advise you to wash your lens cloth every day if you have uncoated lenses. Also don’t forget to wash your frame every day, again using a gentle soap. Again pat your glasses dry with a soft cloth. You then just need to polish your lenses with your lint-free cloth. As before I recommend that you avoid using tissue as it will damage your lenses. Once a lens is scratched, scratches cannot be removed.
Love your lenses
According to my Mum (Sheryl) there hundreds of different lens coatings out there. If you give her or my sister Abi a chance they’ll bore us talking about them for hours. They talk about things like transmission rates, residual blooms and anti-static properties, blah, blah blah! For those of us who aren’t lens geeks, there are 2 basic types of spectacle lenses-coatings. Hard-coats (Scratch resistant) and anti-reflection (Stops you seeing your eye looking back at you). In my humble opinion, the anti-reflection coated lenses are best. They reduce reflections (a must if you use a computer) and give you crisper vision. My fiance Simon likes them for the help they give when he is driving. They help to reduce the glare of oncoming headlights. Hard Coated lenses are a more basic lens but require similar-looking after. The hard coating is only scratch-resistant, it isn’t scratch proof. Only diamonds are scratch-proof, so I’ve heard. By knowing the best way to clean and take care of your lenses and frames you will get the very best out of your glasses and probably extend their lifetime.How to Clean your Coated lenses
To find out if your lenses have a coating on them, look at them under bright light. If they seem to have a purple or green tinge on the surface they have an anti-reflection coating on them. Lenses with an anti-reflection coating require a bit more attention and you will probably want to clean them more often than a standard uncoated lens. This isn’t because they get dirtier, it’s simply that any marks on the lenses are much more noticeable.
It’s good to wash your lenses and frame every day using warm soapy water. Always use a gentle soap (Mum always says to use any soap you can wash your face with is fine) and plenty of warm water. Gently pat your spectacles dry with a soft cloth and polish them with your cloth.
For coated lenses use a special microfibre cloth as these absorb the grease from the surface of your lenses. “Why are microfibre cloths so special”? I hear you ask! Well, if you don’t use the microfibre cloth, then the grease will get smudged all around the lenses and you’ll probably end up with dirtier glasses than when you started. Don’t forget to wash your cloth regularly too. Mum is always recommending that her clients pop their spec cloths in the washing machine once a week, with the tea-towels. But never put fabric conditioner in with them.
Don’t use tissues!
Please DON’T, whatever you do, use tissues to clean your spectacles! They are very abrasive and can damage your coating. Also, DON’T use washing up liquid to clean your lenses, it’s far too harsh and sooner or later a ‘filmy’ layer will build up on your lenses that is extremely hard to shift! It’s a good idea to keep a spray specifically designed for lenses to hand throughout the day. At Allegro Optical we use a specially formulated spray in all our practices. Our spray lens cleaner removes all traces of grease and those pesky day to day products such as hairspray, perfume and aftershave. It even has a lovely fragrance! This spray is one of the best ways to clean camera lenses and tablet screens as well! We also have a soap-based spray if you wish to carry something a little smaller with you. At Allegro Optical we have teamed up with our lens manufacturer who provides a lovely microfibre bag for cleaning and storing your glasses. And as we said the microfibre bag can be washed in your washing machine if it starts to look grubby.How to Clean your Uncoated Lenses
If you have uncoated lenses or lenses with just a hard scratch-resistant coating you’ll notice they don’t require as much attention as a coated lens. Dirt doesn’t show up as much on an uncoated lens, but they do get just as dirty. It’s only once you’ve cleaned them that you realise just how dirty they really are!
We advise you to wash your lens cloth every day if you have uncoated lenses. Also don’t forget to wash your frame every day, again using a gentle soap. Again pat your glasses dry with a soft cloth. You then just need to polish your lenses with your lint-free cloth. As before I recommend that you avoid using tissue as it will damage your lenses. Once a lens is scratched, scratches cannot be removed.
