If you can't see well without glasses, and don't wear contacts ...

[catbiskit]

... how do you go about choosing stylish frames that suit you?

Last time, my DH took photos of me wearing different frames, then I put my own glasses back on to see the photos. We also had a dispenser hovering, making suggestions. Unfortunately, the result wasn't great - I regretted my choice. But I'm due to get new glasses soon, and I'm wondering how to make sure I choose better.

What do you do?

I've got a big old noggin and so when I try and choose from the ladies range they can look comically small on my face. Amazingly I managed to find a pair of cats-eye frames that fit and replaced them with an identical pair when they wore out, I think this will be the last time they can replace the lenses in them and it will be back to embarrassingly choosing the same frames as my dear old dad.

I take someone with me. Then, when narrowed down to choice of 2 or 3, get them to take a photo of me and then put my glasses back on to look at the photo.

I know approximately what shape and colour suit me, and what size I need. So I choose several frames which tick my boxes, try them on and if they sit comfortably I look closely into the mirror or ask DH for an advice if he is with me.
I usually come separately from an eye test the same as @EnjoythemoneyJane and visit all possible places in town - I’m not easy to choose. I don’t mind choosing the same frame again if I like it and it’s available.

Selfies on my phone
A brutally honest friend
I used to go to Boots who had a great woman there, she would go "absolutely not, try these" and hand you something you would never have gone for and they always looked great

I usually stick to v similar ones now and always brown/tortoiseshell colours

What a strange question... Usually you're wearing your existing glasses so can see fine

Eh? But you have to take those off to try on the frames for a new pair, which don’t have your own prescription lenses in them, so you can’t see what you look like…

How can you try on new frames while wearing your existing ones?????

I get the same frame each time. Going to be gutted when they stop making it.

I gas permeable lenses for decades but had to give up when age, meno and thyroid eye disease made them too damn uncomfortable... 😭 I'm blind as a wanky bat and always look like a sea troll in photos, so they don't help... 👹

So I do NOT advise this, but I give my 10 year-old contact lenses a deep clean, then wear them for twenty minutes or so to frantically try on all the glasses... by this time they're getting sore, so I take them out and thoroughly rinse my eyes, but at least I've had a half-decent look at the glasses.

I suppose I should get some soft lenses to keep just for this purpose, but I tried them once and they were dreadful. Anyway, my main problem is getting the right prescription made up for my complex, varifocaled old eyes... then paying about £600 for them each time, so I can't afford to make mistakes...

How are Glasses Direct with varifocals,? I ended up getting my last pair from the shit range at my local opticians, purely because I knew they'd need adjusting a few times. Opticians were great at re-doing the lenses until they were right. But crap choice of frames!

I go round pretty much all the opticians in town when I'm needing new frames.
Worth it

You use a magnifying mirror, the optician should have one. Also, take some selfies. Photos really help you see how the proportions of the frame work on your face.

I use the hand mirror, get really close to the mirror and take selfies. Although, I’ve been wearing them for 40 years and tend to stick to the same style.

What a strange question... Usually you're wearing your existing glasses so can see fine

Strange answer. Are you trying glasses on over you old ones?

I look for the fanciest most fashionable independent optician in town, and try on thousands of pairs on my own before making a short list and then asking DH and Dsis for their thoughts.

I never knew you could do this. I have a small face and glasses look ridiculous on me. The next pair I get I'm definitely looking in the kids section

They've stopped doing it for now unfortunately and don't know when it will be back. However they are very good with their returns policy. I've ordered a few pairs in the past that I then felt didn't suit me and they let me return them and issued a refund straight away. I think they give you something like 120 days to decide if they are right for you or not

Ah I hate this!! What I always do is (politely) tell the assistant to go away and leave me to it, as I know I'll be some time, and I don't want to feel rushed. I also don't really trust their opinion as they're sales people at the end of the day.

I try frames of the shape I know is most likely to suit me. I get up close to the mirror to narrow down the potential options, but you really can't see yourself properly and what they really look like so close up, so I then take selfies, and ask my husband's opinion.

Even then I sometimes make a bad choice. I don't particularly like my current specs, they just don't suit me as well as I thought they did when trying on.

I'd love to be able to buy online and try frames at home, but I wear varifocals and I don't see how they can get those right if they can't take measurements.

Getting the measurements right and adjusting the frames to fit is crucial. I would never buy glasses online for varifocals.I

Nothing can replace an experienced optician making micro adjustments to your frames to make sure you get the optimum for IMO.

Specsavers take photos of you on their iPads.

I'm too short sighted to see properly, and putting my face close to the mirror isn't good enough.

I take my own mirror with me as the ones in Specsavers are usually too far away.

This brings back memories of my childhood. My Mum's sight was always very poor, she wasn't allowed to learn to drive. I used to go with her to choose frames, it was difficult. I think that I might not have picked exactly what she liked a couple of times, but she was fine about it. I vaguely recall that the optician she switched to when I was a teenager had some sort of special mirror and was better for people with her needs in other ways.

This doesn't help you much OP, but I empathise.

How to tell us you're not short-sighted without telling us you're not short-sighted 🤣

Take pics on my phone but shop lighting still does something weird to frame colours.

Once had the sales person keep handing me garish Su Pollard styles. I have no idea what crime I committed against her.

I think the poster saying it's a strange question was pulling your legs.

I explain to the dispenser that I’m very indecisive and would like to have a while to browse, then I try loads on and take selfies from all angles to look back on later. Sometimes I go home and go back a few days later when I’ve made my mind up. Don’t feel pressured to make a decision there & then.