How to Tighten Sunglasses in 5 Basic Steps

Last Updated on Mar 08 2024

Tightening your sunglasses is an important part of maintaining your sunglasses and ensuring they feel comfortable on your head. However, most sunglass wearers have no idea how to tighten their sunglasses. If you are one of these users, you’ve come to the right place.

Scroll down to learn how to tighten your sunglasses quickly and efficiently.

Why Tightening Your Sunglasses Is Important

For many sunglass wearers, tightening the glasses seems like an unnecessary step. Although tightening your glasses is not always necessary, it’s important to tighten them when the sunglasses feel loose around your head so you can avoid unwanted scenarios.

Most commonly, your ill-fitting sunglasses will slip off your head. Obviously, your sunglasses will not provide adequate protection if they are constantly slipping down your face. In addition to falling off, loose sunglasses can actually cause headaches and be uncomfortable to wear since they don’t fit properly around your head.

To avoid these scenarios, you can tighten your sunglasses. Although you don’t want to over-tighten the glasses, tightening them up to just the right size will ensure they fit properly around your head.

Signs You Need to Tighten Your Sunglasses

Knowing when to tighten your sunglasses is another issue. If your glasses fit loose or are sitting crooked on your head, it’s time to tighten your glasses. For example, if one lens is higher than the other, tightening your glasses will fix the problem. Likewise, tightening the glasses is needed if the glasses simply will not sit on your face without sliding.

How to Tighten Sunglasses – The 5 Basic Steps

If you determine that your sunglasses need to be tightened, the next thing you need to do is diagnose the problem. There are three main areas that may need to be secured: screws, arms, and nose pads. When you are dealing with loose arms, you will adjust the issue differently depending on whether the arms are plastic or metal.

Here is how to tighten your sunglasses based on every situation.

1. Check for Loose Screws

Loose screws are the easiest to fix. All you’ll need to get is an eyeglass screwdriver. These screwdrivers are sold anywhere that glasses are sold. Simply tighten the screws using the mini screwdriver. It’s a good idea to tighten the screws on your sunglasses every once in a while to ensure no screws get lost.

2. Check for Loose Plastic Arms

Arms, especially plastic arms, are a bit more difficult to adjust. Sometimes, plastic arms can get bent over time, causing the arms to not fit properly around your head. With plastic arms, you have to be careful to ensure you don’t break the plastic while adjusting the frames.

To adjust loose plastic arms, run the frames underneath hot water or a blow dryer for a few seconds. You may need to put the frames under the heat for up to 3 minutes. The idea is to warm up the plastic so that it is more pliable.

Once the plastic frames are pliable, gently bend them so that they fit around your head properly. Be very careful when you are dealing with this plastic because it can be hot and can break. So, go slow and take your time.

After you have shaped the plastic frames to their desired hold, run warm water over the frames and then cold water after that. Using warm water before the cold water will ensure that the frame doesn’t get too brittle while moving back to its hard state.

3. Check for Loose Metal Arms

Loose metal arms are a lot easier to fix than loose plastic arms. All you need to do is gently bend the metal arms so that they fit around your head snugly. Technically, metal arms can break like plastic arms, but it takes a lot more effort and force to do so.

4. Check for Loose Nose Pads

If your sunglasses have nose pads, they become loose over time. The good news is that fixing loose nose pads is very easy. Nose pads have mini-screws that connect the nose pads to the glasses. Just get eyeglass repair screwdrivers and screw the nose pad back into place.

5. When to See a Professional

In most cases, you should be able to tighten sunglasses on your own using the techniques above. However, contact a professional if the sunglasses are affecting your vision due to their positioning or looseness. You might have an eye problem, or the sunglasses themselves need to be expertly fixed. You can always try to fix the sunglasses yourself and see a professional if your fix doesn’t work.

Conclusion 

If your sunglasses feel loose, don’t just ignore the problem. Not only are loose sunglasses annoying, but they can be painful and get broken. Instead, fix your sunglasses based on what area is loose. You will need to evaluate the screws, arms, and nose pads to make sure your sunglasses fit properly.

Even if you follow the steps above, it’s not guaranteed that your sunglasses will fit perfectly after. If you are still having trouble with your sunglasses being too loose, take them to a professional to see what the problem is.

Featured Image Credit: New Africa, Shutterstock