How to Keep your Sunglasses Clean

Dust and grease to glasses are what metal is to a magnet, easily attracted. Filthy glasses affect vision and make it unattractive irrespective of the attire, which you surely would want to avoid. Keeping the sunglasses clean or maintaining their cleanliness is more challenging than cleaning itself due to its characteristic of getting dust and grease stuck.

One can also be judged based on how well-maintained their shades that might be true to a certain point, beyond which it’s a superstition. The epicenter of the problem is grease and dirt; even our fingerprints can ruin our sunglasses if we don’t clean them often. However, with the necessary precautions, you can keep your shades looking as good as a new one.

How to Clean Your Sunglasses

Follow these steps properly in order to clean your sunglasses the right way:

Ensure you have Clean Hands

Before cleaning the shades, make sure to wash your hands first so that the lenses shine like a bright diamond and don’t get soiled due to your fingerprints. It applies to every glass object; touching them with unclean hands makes a very prominent impression.

Emphasize the Frame and Rim

Before jumping straight into cleaning the lens, clean the frame and rim because they have much more dirt and grease than the lens. Make sure to clean them thoroughly before cleaning the lens, or you might end up smudging the lens again after totally washing it.

Use Running Lukewarm Water

There is no better cleanser than water, so if you want to eliminate those finger impressions, wash them under running water. While it might not be enough to clean the corners effectively, but is enough to clear your sight.

Dishwashing Soap to Rescue

These work well on glass surfaces and are not harsh, so you can safely use them. Take a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and mix it with a cup of water, then use the solution to clean the sunglass. Subsequently, wash it with regular water.

Diluted Isopropyl or Rubbing Alcohol

You must have seen how lens-cleaning solutions have a small amount of alcohol. Instead of buying the same, you can make a DIY solution with a few drops of isopropyl or rubbing alcohol with two tablespoons of tap water.

Always Keep a Microfiber Cloth Handy

This fiber has tiny pores much smaller than the dimensions of even the thinnest human hair. Microfiber cloth is a perfect fit for cleaning surfaces soiled by microparticles due to its multiple smaller sections compounding to a large surface area.

Precautions in Keeping Your Shades Clean

Keep these tips in mind so that you do not harm your favorite sunglass or damage it!

Avoid Paper Towels or Other Fabrics

Materials other than microfiber cannot remove dirt due to their fiber pores being much larger than that of microfibers. As a result, it translates to less surface area when cleaning microparticles. Another significant reason to avoid using anything but microfiber is that its fabric is more gentle on the lenses. Other textiles or paper towels can be harsh on it and scratch the surface, which can ruin its appearance.

Avoid Touching the Lenses

And this is something you should practice quite often; our fingerprints are the primary source of dust and greasy impressions on the sunglasses. Hold the sunglass by the frame and not by the lens itself, or else it will transfer the dirt or oils from your fingers and ruin their appearance.

Don’t Use Harsh Substances

The usage of surface cleaners or laundry detergent can be detrimental to the shades. Moreover, harsh substances can aid the deterioration of the UV protection coating or the blue light coating on the sunglasses. It can also damage and result in early aging of the sunglass frame. Using it often might even lead to rusting the metallic screws, etc.

Avoid Using Acetone, Vinegar or Alcohol Directly

You must have read about how acetone, vinegar, or even alcohol is so effective in removing stains; even this article advised on the usage of isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol. But here, the cache is to dilute them before using them to avoid damaging the lens or the frame.

Don’t Keep the lenses Faced Upside Down

We often keep our glasses as well as sunglasses upside down, but it is the wrong way of keeping them. Doing so aids the transfer of unwanted particles from the surfaces and the odds of getting scratched. The best way to keep your sunglass is to wrap them around the microfiber cloth and keep it inside the box when not in use.

Avoid Using Saliva to Clean

Now is the moment of truth, and we all know that we did use our saliva or breath to clean our glasses or sunglasses. More than being nasty, if the saliva is not cleansed or dried appropriately, it will stick dust more particles and let germs breed.

So, now you know how to take proper care of your favorite sunglasses and protect them to increase their lifespan!