No more geek chic for me thank you

I first realised I might need glasses when I was around 11 and at school I had to sit really close to the front of the classroom to see the board. I could have guessed I'd need them as most of my family wear glasses so short-sightedness is clearly an inherited thing for us. However, this didn't stop my father from insisting it was watching too much TV that had caused me to need glasses. Not one for empathy my old man.

I still wear glass sometimes 

It was not cool to wear glasses and the NHS ones that my Mum let me choose from were not the cool 'geek chic' that hipsters wear them as now. They were the most embarrassing things ever and being an overweight schoolgirl with bad skin was enough to deal with, I didn't also need glasses that made me look even worse. I only put them on if I absolutely had to and sat at the back of the class so no one would notice. 

Then when I took a gap year and worked I went to get contact lenses fitted and it was a revelation. I had to have a 'lesson' to learn how to put them in - and she made me cut my gorgeous long nails - to be fair they were talons, but I did manage to devise a method whereby I could put them in and take them out with my incredibly long nails.

My first lenses were like a chemistry lesson with three separate bottles of solution and a process that included protein removal once a month,. My friend used to boil hers !! This would have been enough to put off someone else, but I am not so easily parted from anything that improves my chances of not looking like a dork. 

When I went to Uni I noticed a lot of my contemporaries wore glasses and put it down to the fact that we were all readers and probably weakened our sight from late night reading by poor light - that's what my grandmother told me anyway. I wore lenses so it meant I wasn't as self-conscious, but I did have to be pretty organised about it and I couldn't spontaneously stay over with friends (and it was a great excuse sometimes too !)

In my final year I chose to wear glasses to give the illusion of being clever - I had figured if I looked it I would be it. That's how it works isn't it ? It also saved me money on solutions and no one seemed to notice I was now wearing glasses. To be fair they were much better than my early ones and blended in with my greebo/goth stylings and long hair.

Post uni, however, I returned to vanity and practicality and wore contacts lenses again. I've always preferred them as I've found they enable me to participate in all the sports I enjoy including skiing, scuba diving, swimming and yoga. I can open the oven door without getting misty eyes from the steam and it's much easier to tell which bus is coming when I can actually see it. Wearing lenses really has made a difference to my life, so when I spotted the lovely folks from Acuvue at Britmums earlier this year I made a beeline for them. We had a chat about how I've worn lenses since I was a teen and they told me that children as young as five can safely be fitted for lenses now. I had no idea ! 

I feel more glam in lenses

I've worn lenses for over 25 years now and they really are my first choice. I find glasses a faff and even though I have much nicer ones now I still like to wear my daily disposables. I'd like to kiss whoever invented those because they really are magic to me. I can wear them and chuck them away. As long as I have a pair of glasses in my bag it's no stress at all. If they'd been around when I was a teen I'd have been in heaven :)

I wrote this review while participating in an influencer campaign on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.