In 2014 my practice helped Nerdwax in donating to their Kickstarter campaign, a little later I watched them pitch their innovative product to investors on Shark Tank. I did find their product interesting but as an Optician I was a bit skeptical so I emailed their owner, Don, to ask what he had to say:
One of the biggest objections I get from Opticians is that “if the customers glasses are properly fitted then they won’t slip”. And for the most part I agree with them. I’m fanatical about the fit of my glasses… and most of the time my glasses don’t slide. However, as soon as my nose starts getting oily or I go outside in the southern summers I’m constantly adjusting them.
I usually ask those Opticians… “Can you think of just one customer who no matter how much adjusting you do they still come back complaining about slippage?” They usually have to concede… and there is usually more than one.
We’re not saying we’re a silver bullet for slipping glasses… we’re not a glue that will affix a poorly fit frame to your nose.
We’re another tool in an Opticians tool belt to help customers achieve a better glasses wearing experience.
When I came up with the idea for Nerdwax, I was a touring audio engineer so we would do a lot of outdoor concerts in the summer and I would have to take my glasses off because I would get so sweaty that they would literally fall off my face.
When I brought this up with my Optician at the time the solution was to tighten the temples which gives me headaches. I tried the stick on silicone pads but those are terrible, and the temple hooks hurt the backs of my ears. I just wanted something that would allow me to wear the acetate frames I wanted without changing the look or feel.
I grew up around surfers so I knew they used wax on their boards to give them friction in the water, so I thought why can’t I do the same thing but for your glasses. I went home and bought some surf wax, tried it out, and it worked! But turns out surf wax is made to go on your board and never come off… so I ended up ruining the AR coating on those glasses trying to clean it off.
I knew I needed to formulate something specifically for this purpose so I got to work! It took me 2 years of trial and error to get the formula just right. It had to be tacky enough to keep your glasses in place but not so tacky that it would make a mess or harm your glasses (or your face!)
We’ve been doing the Vision Expo’s for the last few years now and my favorite moments are when an optician actually gives us a chance to demo Nerdwax for the first time… the minute they put it on their glasses back on they get it, and it’s always fun when they come back the next day and say “I can’t believe this stuff actually works!”
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Watch their product demo and pitch on Shark Tank:
Have you tried Nerdwax or have a question about it? Let us know in the comments below!