If your friends have been raving about how great airsoft is, you might feel left out because anything involving masks and goggles seems to contradict your prescription eyewear needs. Fortunately, wearing glasses doesn’t lower your chances of playing airsoft.
You can wear glasses under an airsoft mask as long as the mask is made of soft material or has enough room to accommodate eyewear underneath. Depending on the field rules, you might need to wear goggles over your glasses.
In this article, you will find out the best practices for wearing glasses under an airsoft mask, but before we get into that, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. This post is a must-read for anyone who wears glasses and wants to play airsoft.
Pros Of Wearing Glasses Under Airsoft Mask
You Don’t Need To Buy Prescription Goggles
One of the hardest things to get is a pair of prescription goggles that is just as good as your regular prescription glasses. These are hard to find in person and unreliable when bought online.
Wearing your regular glasses under an airsoft mask offsets this problem entirely by simply getting a mask big enough to go over the glasses.
You Can See Clearly While Playing Airsoft
The best part about wearing glasses that you’re comfortable with is that you get to see more clearly. Compared to using regular goggles and no glasses, wearing your prescription glasses is a great idea.
You Can Get Started Quicker
Finally, the biggest perk of using your own glasses under an airsoft mask is that you can get started right away. If you have a mask at home, and you can physically put it on over your glasses, you can start playing.
Cons Of Wearing Glasses Under Airsoft Mask
You Need A Specific Type Of Mask
If you plan to buy a mask, you must beware of the ones that stick too close to the face. Your mask has to be big enough to accommodate a pair of glasses. It should also not push the glasses against your face.
You Might Still Need Goggles To Play
Airsoft masks that don’t fully cover your eyes can be compatible with regular glasses. But you still need eye protection to be admitted to an airsoft game. Fortunately, goggles that go over glasses exist and can be used to maintain clarity of vision when playing airsoft.
Glasses Under Goggles Might Slow You Down
Finally, the drawback that may actually affect your airsoft results is the extent to which doubling up your eyewear can slow you down. If the goggles that you wear over your regular glasses aren’t strapped tight enough, they might not hold the glasses in place.
As a result, your glasses might keep sliding down, which would prompt you to pause and reposition them. This is obviously a disadvantage in any airsoft game where speed matters.
The Best Practices Of Wearing Glasses Under An Airsoft Mask
By now, you know that it is possible to wear your glasses under an airsoft mask, and there are multiple advantages to it. You also know that doubling up your eyewear can have some disadvantages. In this section, we will go over the best practices of wearing glasses under an airsoft mask.
Prioritize The Fit
As complicated as the glasses under mask setup is, if every piece fits well, you can play without any hiccups. For smooth gameplay, you must get a tighter-fitting pair of prescription glasses and a loose mask that can accommodate your glasses. Finally, you need to get a pair of goggles designed to go over prescription glasses. I recommend No Cry Safety Goggles as they have an anti-fog design, which keeps the lenses clear enough for more accurate gameplay.
Get A Mask That Complements Your Glasses.
As mentioned earlier, the mask should be loose enough with room for glasses under them. But that applies only to full-face masks. Masks that cover half the face don’t need to be too loose as they are lower than the glasses, anyway.
Wear Goggles Over Glasses
Goggles over glasses is the recommended setup for playing with prescription glasses because regular glasses don’t count as eye protection. Since many airsoft fields require eye protection, you might not be allowed to play with your regular glasses being the only means for your protection.
This leaves you with two options. The first is to wear prescription goggles, an option that I have compared in my article on playing airsoft with glasses. The other is to wear goggles over your glasses. That’s the most accessible option.
Give Yourself A Week To Get Used To The Setup
When you play airsoft as someone with weak eyesight, you have to wear glasses, followed by a mask and goggles. This setup can feel a little clunky at times. But instead of assuming the worst, you should have faith that you will get used to the setup.
Don’t order the items so close to your first game that you feel unprepared in the field. In my experience, it takes a week to get used to this 3-layer setup. Wear your airsoft goggles, mask, and prescription eyewear for an hour a day at home.
After doing this every day for a week, you will not even feel like you have three layers on. It eventually starts feeling like a single layer.
Swap Out What Doesn’t Work
Finally, keep yourself open to alternatives. You can make the different pieces of eyewear and face protection work together, but if things don’t work, please don’t force them to work. Stop wearing glasses under your airsoft mask if doing so leads to one of the following:
- Bitemarks – If your glasses are pushed too hard against your face leading to the frame biting into your nose, you should stop layering goggles over your eyewear.
- Poor game performance – If the setup is too distracting for you even after three to seven days of wearing it, you should stop not use it in your next game.
- Headache and eyestrain – When goggles over glasses start affecting your vision, it is time to start considering a single-layer solution.
Final Thoughts
You can wear glasses under an airsoft mask or get goggles that match the prescription of your glasses. Both solutions allow people with weak eyesight to participate in and win airsoft games. Don’t let your glasses be the reason you don’t play airsoft. Just make sure that your glasses match your eyewear choice.