10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You Wear Glasses


I started wearing glasses in my early teens and have done ever since. I did briefly try contact lenses but, unfortunately, we didn’t get on very well. So now it’s Team Glasses all the way!

But as much as I love wearing my glasses, there are times when it is thoroughly frustrating. Non-glasses people just have no idea of the daily struggle that we go through! Haha. So, without further ado, here are my…

10 things you’ll only understand if you wear glasses!

  1. Making yourself a lovely, steaming mug of tea, cupping your hands around it, leaning down to gently blow on it… and suddenly getting transported to an alternate, foggy universe!

  2. The horror of being told you need new glasses. Noooo! I like my old specs, thank you very much(!) – I’m used to how they look on my face, they still have plenty of wear left in them, oh and I don’t have a spare £250 to fork out on what is, essentially, a bit of plastic with glass inside!

  3. Trying to choose new frames at the opticians. As soon as I take my prescription glasses off, I am pretty much blind, so I might as well just close my eyes and hope for the best! The other option is to press your nose flat against the mirror and pull a grimacing, squinty sort of look until you find one that looks vaguely right

trying on glasses squint

  1. Having your photo taken in Specsavers. I don’t know if this happens in all opticians, but on my last trip, the shop assistant said they now offer a photo-taking service. Basically, I choose the specs I think I like. Then they come over with an Ipad and take photographs of me wearing them.

Excuse me?!

I hate having my photo taken at the best of times, but in the middle of a shop? By a complete stranger? When I’m pulling my grimacing, squinty face? I don’t think so!

  1. Merrily chatting away to your friend in the swimming pool and then realising that it’s actually a total stranger who happens to be wearing the same swimming kit!

My hubby once did this – he thought he was asking me if his new goggles looked okay, but it was actually a 70 year old granny! Haha. Anyway, she said they looked nice, so that’s one good thing!

  1. Getting into the shower and then having to make the terrifying choice to either shave without your glasses on (i.e. blind) or with your glasses on (i.e. still blind, because the water will steam them up!)
  2. Being told you can’t ride the rollercoaster unless you take your glasses off. Say what now?? You want me to go on this death-defying, bone-rattling, stomach-churning ride without being able to see?! No way!

Perfect Glasses Green Background

  1. Going shopping on a cold day – the minute you step into a nice, warm shop, your glasses steam up and you find yourself stranded in the entrance-way looking completely lost and bewildered
  2. Peering down from a high place. Okay I don’t know if this is just my family, but my aunty once told me that whenever she looks down from high up (e.g. over a cliff edge or from a tall building), she imagines her glasses falling off over the edge and it totally freaks her out. This had never even crossed my mind until she said it, but now I can’t bear to go near the edge at all! Haha

  3. The indescribably immense pain inflicted by someone bashing your glasses into the bridge of your nose. YEEEEE-OUCH! There is no pain like it!

Mournful violin music starts playing Yes it’s tough being a glasses-wearer. We have daily struggles that the non-spectacle-wearing population just cannot comprehend…

Have you got any others to add to the list? Do you have the weird fear of your glasses falling off your face? Or do you just wear contact lenses to save the hassle?!

(psst – don’t despair completely! You could win a free pair of sunglasses worth £50 if you enter the Rafflecopter competition in my Perfect Glasses review – prescription lenses are included if you want them)

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46 Comments

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  1. 2
    Abi - Something About Baby

    Oh my goodness, I had forgotten about so many of these, but yes to all!! Especially walking in from the cold to a hot room and instant steam!! And swimming, I always hated swimming because I could never see where my husband went. Thank goodness for the eye laser surgery I had 4 years ago, changed my life!! #DreamTeam

  2. 8
    Sparklett21

    What about having to look under the sofa etc, in my case to locate cat toys, ohmmmmmm. The dishwasher steam up! & the going away check out all the hot & cold taps etc & commit to memory before taking a shower

  3. 10
    Lisa Pomerantz

    Every point you make, I have experienced. And I now have the added pleasure of my puppy Gatsby, chewing my expensive holders of vision like a bone… the ear thingy’s are wrapped in medical tape so as not to scratch my ears, the lenses, well, let’s just say everything looks like I am peeking through a snow globe! Oy, what we go through! #dreamteam xo

  4. 14
    Alana - Burnished Chaos

    Oh the pain when you someone knocks your glasses! I wear contacts most of the time but for the first part of the morning I’m usually in glasses and the amount of times the kids have knocked them, oh my god! It was funny when my husband first got glasses and the whole steaming up when you step inside, or open the oven really freaked him out. I’ve been wearing the same pair for years now and hate having to change them, but if someone came over and tried to take my photo I’d run a mile!
    #Ablogginggoodtime

  5. 16
    Squirmy Popple

    Yup, that all sounds familiar! I’ve had glasses since I was 8, but I got contacts at 13 and go back and forth between the two. Lately I wear my glasses a lot more because my eyes get so dried out when I wear contacts, especially when I use a screen (which is pretty much always). I think the worst thing is falling asleep with them on and waking up to find them indented into your face! #ablogginggoodtime

    • 17
      Lucy At Home

      Oh yes I’ve done that! I did like having contacts but my eyes didn’t, which is a shame – I do like the feeling of looking at the world properly rather than from behind a bit of glass

  6. 18
    Sarah - Arthurwears

    I feel you – I am horrendously short sighted, between -6 and -6.75 (each eye is different!) but I DO wear monthly contact lenses most of the time because of lots of the reasons mentioned above. Ive just ordered some new specs from Specsavers though and managed to get them for £10 because of the discount fronm my contact lens scheme (Plus another £60 as i have to have ‘thinner lenses’ because of my prescriotion!) I also had the joy of having the new photo taken – i think it might be more accurate than the old way though and he only took a pic of my eye area and then deleted it afterwards – phew! #ablogginggoodtime

  7. 20
    Barrie Bismark

    Yes! I have experienced every single one of these. I actually got Lasik about 10 years ago after wearing glasses for most of my life. It was honestly the best money I ever spent.
    #ablogginggoodtime

  8. 23
    Louise (Little Hearts, Big Love)

    Yes to all of these! It’s so frustrating trying on new glasses and not really being able to see what they look like! I used to have prescription goggles for swimming which helped but they weren’t very comfortable – now I just have to cope with not being able to see! Glasses fogging up is very frustrating – especially when you first walk into a shop and it’s also annoying when you’re cooking and you open the oven door to get something out! The worst one though is when you lose your glasses and it’s a nightmare to try to find them because you can’t see. My children once decided to take my glasses off my bedside table before I woke up – Mummy didn’t think that particular game of hide and seek was quite so much fun! #ablogginggoodtime

  9. 24
    Bridie By The Sea

    This is fab and as a glasses wearer too (who also didn’t get along with contacts – are we kindred spirits?!) you have nailed it! The swimming one is hilarious, the amount of times I’m just blindly falling up the steps getting out of the pool. I am blissfully unaware of the rollercoaster one as I am petrified of them…Thanks for linking to #dreamteam xx

  10. 25
    Nico @ yumsome

    Resigning yourself to never being able to wear eyeliner again. Unless you happen to enjoy looking like Alice Cooper.

    The worse thing (and you’re probably not there yet – I have a few years on you) is that as you get older, your close-up eyesight gets worse, which means that not only do you have to wear glasses (AND use a magnifying mirror) to put on your makeup but …. horror of horrors… you see that you’re sprouting facial hairs. Hairs the size of triffids. On your face.

    **sob**

    #BrillBlogPosts

  11. 27
    Ciara

    I switch between my glasses and contact lenses. The other day when it was gloriously sunny I wore contacts so I could wear my shades. After enjoying a lovely coffee at my favourite place I realised that I’d say in the cafe, chatted away to people etc in my sunglasses like an idiot. Why? I had a total brain flip and forgot they were shades not actual glasses. Twitt!!

    • 28
      Lucy At Home

      Oops! I once forgot I was wearing my sunglasses so I didn’t take them off when I was walking through a very long, dark tunnel through a cliff side at the beach. I couldn’t understand why everyone was striding off without me, but I was terrified because I could barely see anything and I was clinging onto the edge of the tunnel. It wasn’t until I yelled for help and one of my friends came back and pointed out my sunglasses that I realised my mistake! Hahaha

  12. 29
    Susie at This Is Me Now

    Hahaha!! I can relate to all of this!! I so did no5 when I was younger on holiday! (I’d been wearing glasses since primary school too!) And yes I now have to take selfies when trying on new frames, so annoying!! Also going into a warm shop in winter in the rain and steaming up so you can’t see – awesome! And, in labour, I was sweating so much my glasses kept slipping off down my nose and I had to keep pushing them up. In the end the midwife suggested I take them off so I did and greeted my baby girl in a blur!! Oh and no.10, my daughter did this recently and it was so painful, I had to ice my face with a bag of peas and it was actually bruised for a few days!! I wear daily contacts too but not very often as I have such dry eyes. They’re handy for exercising/summer when I want to wear sunglasses though! xx #ablogginggoodtime

  13. 31
    Morgan Prince

    Love love love! I’m with you on every one of these. Like you I’ve worn glasses since my early teens and it’s a constant battle. Here’s to all the glasses wearers out there! I feel your pain! Xx

  14. 35
    Samantha Abbott

    So relatable. The most annoying things for me are: My hair constantly getting caught in the hinges and snapping off. I’m slowly getting a fringe thanks to my glasses!
    Opening the oven door and being blind for a few seconds until the steam clears. ( could do with window wipers for specs)
    Totally agree about the pain of being knocked into too. My daughter knocked mine into the bridge of my nose the other day. Literally dying.

    Great post! Made me laugh. Thanks for sharing lovely xx

  15. 37
    Alice | Letters to my Daughter

    I would add lying down on the sofa to watch a film and having the glasses either be wonky or press into the bridge of your nose. Annoyed me into getting contacts but also didn’t get on with them so now have £60 worth of lenses gathering dust in the bathroom :/ I feel your pain with all of these! Xx

  16. 38
    Berni

    I was at Centre PARC’s some years ago and my glasses got lost in the flume. I’m as blind as a bat without them. Had every child at CP hunting whilst I stood he
    Please at the edge. CP staff said they would probably find them during the nightly switch off and clean so I’d get them the next day. Fortunately after 45 mins a youngster found them

  17. 39
    Berni

    being told you need new glasses!!! last time i went (2 weeks ago) this happened. I am at the age where i need varifocals, add on my astigmatism, etc etc these would be £350!!! I got home sobbed, then panicked and cancelled the order. I simply cannot afford them.
    The other problem is putting on makeup. I have to get so close to the mirror that if the eyeliner pencil isn’t really short i poke myself in the eye knocking against the mirror.
    And apparently I cant have any form of contact lenses because i don’t produce enough tears… you try making hubby believe that #sob

  18. 40
    Martina

    Spot on! I’m half blind too. I hate it when it’s cold outside then you walk into a warm pub and get all fogged up. So you can’t see. Then you take your foggy specs off. …And you still can’t see.
    And you have to marry someone with perfect vision or accept glasses clanging for the rest of your life.

  19. 41
    Jean | DelightfulRepast.com

    Number 3. I feel your pain! I have a pool story, too. A man yelled at me at the pool where we lap swimming. I had veered into his lane, and he shouted “Watch where you’re going!” I said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t see.” His reply let me know he had understood that to mean I was blind and he was feeling like a heel! #BlogCrush

  20. 44
    David

    3D films.
    Do you go with the 3D glasses on their own and then you can’t see anything, or choose to put the 3D glasses over your normal ones, which then becomes super heavy, uncomfortable and even sometimes painful

  21. 46
    Mel

    Yes, this! I often ‘lose’ my glasses, then enlist the help of my family to find them. I’ll be busy feeling around for them on furniture and the floor blindly, just to be told they’re on my head. ‍♀️

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