Journal
Buying guides
Sizing, measurements and lens choices — the things worth understanding before you spend money on a frame.
Buying guidesThe numbers printed inside your glasses, explained
Every frame carries its own size printed on the temple arm. Learning to read those three numbers is the single most useful thing you can do before buying glasses online.
3 min read
Buying guidesSunglasses in Gulf sunlight: UV, polarisation and tint
Three different things get confused with each other on every sunglasses label. Only one of them protects your eyes — and it is not the dark lens.
3 min read
Buying guidesHow to measure your pupillary distance at home
PD is the one number missing from most prescriptions and the one you cannot order lenses without. Three ways to get it, in order of how much you should trust them.
4 min read
Buying guidesReading glasses, bifocals or progressives?
Somewhere in your forties, close work gets harder. There are three ways to fix it, they cost different amounts of money and adjustment, and the cheapest is not always the wrong answer.
3 min read
Buying guidesAcetate, metal, titanium or TR90: what the frame is made of
Material decides weight, durability, how the frame ages and whether it can be adjusted. Here is what each one is genuinely good at, and who each one is wrong for.
3 min read
Buying guidesPrescription sunglasses: four ways to get them
Squinting through the glare with your normal glasses on is not a plan. The four routes cost different amounts and suit different lives — here is the honest comparison.
3 min read
Buying guidesBuying glasses for a child
Children's frames are not small adult frames. What actually matters is fit at the bridge, material that survives being sat on, and a pair the child will agree to wear.
3 min read