[planarhobbit]

Any reason you can’t use pure methanol to clean glasses? I don’t wear glasses so I don’t know the specifics, but that’s what we use to clean industrial laser lenses and any tiny speck or smudge or oil would immediately burn the protective coating. We also don’t touch the lens tissue when we clean it, rather we put methanol on the lens tissue and slide it across. Curved lenses are a bit more interesting but same method of cleaning.

[likpok]

Pure methanol is a little annoying to source. It seems like you can only buy it from lab supply shops -- not impossible to get but not exactly at the local Walgreens.

All of this feels a little overkill for eyeglasses. Dish soap works very well (it's concentrated so don't use too much or you'll be rinsing a while) and most people have it in their kitchen. I personally mostly use hand soap in the bathroom -- works less well if it's a soap with lotion but most places don't have that. The added benefit is that you can do it almost any time or place without thinking too hard.

[spike021]

+1 I just use warm water and hand soap, followed by rinsing and then a gentle wipe with a soft microfiber towel (the kind you'd buy for washing a car actually).

[Retr0id]

I use isopropanol to clean mine, works great. I just use toilet paper for the cloth, but combined with the isopropanol you don't need to apply any pressure, so scratching doesn't seem to be an issue.

[chicob]

Isopropanol also evaporates quickly, so if there is any dirt left behind one can immediately see it.

It probably would be more than enough to clean the hair brushes, instead of the ultrasonic thing.

[ISL]

Ought to generally be fine. That level of critical cleaning is kinda different from what glasses generally require.

Mine wind up with grease, fingerprints, dust, cooking oil, etc., so a good surfactant (i.e. dish soap) and some clean water tend to work pretty darn well.

If you want to finish 'em off with a critical-cleaning approach, go for it. The scratch/AR coatings on most glasses should be fine for both methanol and isopropanol. I would not, however, use solvents like acetone on plastic lenses of any kind; it'll probably destroy some of them.

[planarhobbit]

RE: “overkill” - I agree, but this blog post/article prompted me to suggest this as a one step solution to eliminate multiple steps with multiple products as an alternative to what another commenter called “OCD.” A bottle of methanol, and tissue lens. Yes, you can’t find it everywhere, but you can buy it in bulk from a local lab supply store. If you’re cleaning constantly, keep it in a small dark glass bottle dropper that you can take with you.

[perihelions]

It's very toxic and absorbed through bare skin. It's overkill, particularly with isopropanol being sufficiently effective and safe and easy to buy.

[SnowHill9902]

Do you really mean methanol? It’s toxic even at low concentrations. Can permeate the skin and produces irreversible blindness.

[dekhn]

Methanol works fine, it's great for removing the various things that soap and water won't remove (grease/oil). And yes, ideally wipe once in a single direction. Glasses are just another form of optics.