I bought my first-ever pair of prescription sunglasses last Fall – totally awesome decision, should have done it years earlier. I have a few pairs of regular sunglasses but I never wear them because 1) while my eyes aren’t a terribly high prescription, imperfect vision is annoying enough that deferring to my ordinary glasses is the favorable alternative and 2) I need to drive with glasses, so the regular glasses are the optimal eyewear option in the car.
My prescription sunglasses were from Warby Parker – at $100, highly recommended for any of you fellow glasses-wearers – but even though I spent a month processing back-to-back-to-back-to-back at-home trial orders to find frames that looked and felt good on my face, the final pair I received (Griffin, measuring 53-19-140) still felt like the wrong fit. While they looked fine width-wise in how they align with my temples, the arms hyper-extended a little bit, allowing them a tendency to fall off my face when I looked downward (awkward), or slide down my nose constantly because they were floppy around my ears (nerd). Thank goodness for a little hack.
Sugru is a moldable glue product that that’s a little bit like Play-doh, but dries like rubber and adheres to basically anything. I’ve been a (personal, unsponsored) fan of Sugru for a long time and have written about it a lot, but that’s because it works wonders. Now, in addition to Lowe’s, the product is rolling out into Target stores across the country for which I’m super excited (go, Jane!). We’ve been ordering it from the UK since its inception, and this was the first time that I actually went into a store and picked up a pack (3 colors for ~$12, FYI).
The goal here was to create tiny, tiny micro-wedges that would prevent the arms from splaying open as wide as they naturally wanted to.
I’ve never had a hack that required so little product – literally, the teeniest pinch did the trick. I rolled it around in my fingers to smooth it out, and then mashed it on the end of the arm.
I had a pretty good idea of how the arms of the glasses would need to fit around my head, so I opened them to the correct angle, and allowed the excess Sugru to squish out.
I cleared away the small amount that bubbled out, and allowed the product to air-dry overnight.
Bam. A perfect fit to my head – comfortable, secure, and resistant to opening wider than the Sugru permits. A must try!
15 Comments
Sweet! Can you still fold them up?
Totally. It’s only stuck onto the end of each arm, so when they open, it pinches between the front frame and the arm. Does not stick both parts together :)
Great idea. I am so glad to be able to get Sugru from a stateside source. Such a great product! So useful.
I have this problem with my glasses! I’ve been rock climbing lately and my glasses are constantly sliding off my face.
Although I’m getting a new pair in only a couple weeks time, this will maybe drive me less crazy for the next few weeks.
How did you like the Warby Parker home trial ordering?
Big fan of the at-home trials (can’t argue with free – fast shipping too!).
I’ve never favored the virtual try-on experience which they (and many others) also offer, because I think the fit of the glasses has a lot to do with where they naturally sit on your face and around your ears and other factors. If you know the width of your current glasses (sometimes printed on the inside arm of your glasses, and it’s the number usually in the 48-55 range) it makes it a lot easier to narrow down your options when you’re planning your at-home order… i.e. I’ve figured out that 50 is too narrow for my face, even if I like the glasses on a virtual try-on.
Great idea! I have a pair of inexpensive prescription sunglasses ($35 I think? I forget where I ordered them from) that side off my face constantly and it drives me crazy. I’m actually waiting on a pair of Theo frames from Warby Parker, and was thinking about ordering sunglasses from them, too. I can’t remember if I tried tilting my head down to test if they slid off my nose, so I will definitely keep this in mind if I have the same issue!
I just go to a local Walmart or the like and get them fitted!
They bend the frames in that case, right?
Genius!! I have this problem with every pair of glasses/sunglasses I own!! I always go back to get them adjusted at the eyeglass store but have been told that my prescription makes the glass so thick that the frames just won’t bend the way that I need them to. I’m so going to try this!
The Sugru is holding up perfectly for me – wishing you luck too!!
Looks brilliant!! Just to be clear, you have to fold them when they’re drying, otherwise they will dry permanently stuck in the open position? There’s no way they will release otherwise when the Sugru dries?
I had mine bent when they dried; it might release easily if it is left touching both pieces of plastic, but I didn’t want to risk it.
I’m asking this 2 years later than the other questions listed, so I hope you’re still around.
Let’s say I try out the Sugru, but it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe my glasses are now too tight, for example. Can the Sugru applied to my glasses be removed?
Hi Mike, Happy to say that I still wear these sunglasses, and they still do have an awesome fit. The Sugru is only like a hardened clay, and I haven’t attempted to loosen it but I’m sure it could pry up, sort of like dried hot glue, as long as it’s not affixed to a woven surface.
Thanks. I’ll give it a try.