Let’s face it – masks have become a staple in our everyday wardrobe.
After countless hours of mask-wearing, day to day problems that we’ve never encountered started to emerge. This includes the infamous maskne as well as the discomfort caused by masks. For what seems like a potential source of panic, fret not as there are solutions to these problems.
Here are some tips and tricks to enhance comfort whilst wearing masks.
- General Mask Tips
- Tips For Ear Fatigue
- Tips For Foggy Glasses
General Mask Tips
General Tip No.1: Fit of Masks
When it comes to masks, especially non-reusable, disposable masks, the fit of the mask is hardly controllable as many are designed in a “one size fit all” fashion. Hence, a smart solution that can easily resolve your problem would be an attempt to replicate an N95 mask.
How to do so:
- Fold your mask in half
- Grab one ear strap on the side of the mask and tie a knot close to the mask itself
- Repeat on the other side
If done correctly, this would cause the mask to clamp up, ensuring a better fit and reduce any discomfort caused by irritation to the skin, due to friction. In addition, it effectively reduces the instance of gaps between the mask and face, ensuring a better seal.
General Tip No.2: Disinfecting Reusable Masks
No one likes a dirty mask, it not only smells bad but also causes damage to your beloved skin on the microscopic level, which, may result in the infamous maskne. Commonly, but oddly, compared to underwear, masks are recommended to be washed after every use, but how exactly should one wash their masks effectively?
There are in total, 2 effective ways to properly disinfect cloth masks, the first of which would be to dump it, with other clothing items, into the washing machine. To execute this easier method of disinfecting your reusable masks, simply set your washing machine to a high-temperature wash and couple that with quality detergents good enough to kill the virus.
On the other hand, if you think the cost that comes with machine wash outweighs its convenience, the second method would be to hand wash your masks. To do so, start by vigorously rubbing your mask with soap and after, let it soak in soapy hot water for an additional 30 minutes. This is to ensure that all the germs are killed off.
However, the disinfecting process doesn’t end there. This process is then followed by the drying process. It is best to dry your masks at high temperature since heat can sanitize items.
Hence, drying methods that encompass the act of heating up items to dry them would be highly effective. This includes the use of hairdryers, sunlight, and dryers.
On the off chance that you are still unsure of the cleanliness of your masks, ironing the mask post-drying will provide an added measure of safety to ensure that the virus is completely eliminated.
General Tip No.3: Choosing the right fabric
Even though we recognise the convenience that comes with disposable masks made from synthetic materials, a lighter and more breathable material like cotton would keep your face relatively cooler. Furthermore, softer, and more breathable materials like cotton may also aid in your conquest to avoid chafing, heat rash or any other skin conditions caused by heat and friction.
This is attributed to the mask’s ability to dispense heat quickly and easily, as compared to less breathable materials like silk.
Therefore, try out masks of different materials to see which one feels the most comfortable against your skin. This would not only significantly boost the comfort of day to day use but also prevent damages to your skin.
General Tip No.4: Colour of the mask
When it comes to choosing which mask to get, colour usually isn’t a primary factor to consider. However, many fail to acknowledge the role heat has to play when it comes to the comfort of the mask. It is a well-known fact that dark colours absorb a lot more heat as compared to lighter colours.
Therefore, to improve the comfortability of the mask, choose one with lighter colours to decrease the heat trapped within the mask, making the mask-wearing process more bearable.
General Tip No.5: How to combat Mask Breath
Mask breath has become such a prominent issue with all of us slowly noticing its existence once we’ve started wearing our masks.
Luckily for us, this issue has an inexpensive yet effective solution that we’ve been using to combat bad breath for decades. Mints. Popping in a mint before you wear a mask would drastically alter its experience, eliminating the stank from the mouth, also known as mask breath.
Mask Tips for Ear Fatigue
The use of face masks has become imperative for the containment of the Covid-19 virus, with its extended use, problems such as irritation on the back of the ear started to arise.
This is caused by the loops and straps attached to the masks causing friction between the mask and skin, causing a phenomenon called ‘ear fatigue’.
The appearance of ear fatigue has sparked a whole wave of innovation, resulting in the creation, and use of various products and gadgets with the sole purpose of combating this exact issue. These gadgets may take various forms, ranging from the newly invented “Ear Savers”, to everyday household items.
Here are some gadgets that can relieve you of ear fatigue:
First gadget: Face Mask Strap Clip / Mask Extender
The first gadget on our list begins with the ever popular “ear saver”, also known as the strap clip or mask extender. Arguably the most popular and effective way to absolutely annihilate behind-the-ear irritation, it has a simple design and function. It is designed to allow the user to easily wrap the mask’s straps around the clip, rather than one’s ears, relieving the user of any pressure and friction caused by the strap.
Second gadget: Headband with Buttons
Alongside its simple and frankly, self-explanatory name, this gadget is essentially a headband with buttons on either side of it. Its primary function of dissipating ear fatigue lies on its strategically placed buttons, providing an alternative place to hook mask straps rather than on the ears themselves.
Third gadget: Face Mask Baseball Cap
If you are one who is not a fan of headbands but love to wear baseball caps on the daily, the face mask baseball cap is the ideal product for you. Alike the headband with buttons, this product is basically a baseball cap with precisely placed buttons on either side of it, to hold your mask in place without irritating your skin.
But with places requiring you to remove any headgear for temperature taking, this would be quite a hassle.
Fourth gadget: Paper Clip
Don’t want to go through the hassle of purchasing a product to overcome the issue of ear fatigue? Why not solve your problem by utilising an easily overlooked everyday household item instead? Paper clips.
Simply hook both sides of the mask elastics on to a paper clip and wear it over your head. This would completely obliterate the issue that is ear irritation as it removes all the pressure applied by the mask on the ears and instead, distribute it over the circumference of your head.
Mask Tips for Foggy Glasses
On top of all the existing and prominent issues that comes with wearing a mask, such as maskne, ear fatigue, etc, there is an additional concern that only glasses wearers face. Foggy Glasses.
Here are some tips that hopefully would bring you some clarity:
Foggy Glasses Tip 1: Seal the mask
A common trick that is even employed by medical professionals would be to seal off the top of the mask by placing a piece of double-sided tap across the bridge of the nose before putting on a mask. This would, in turn, create a better seal and hence, prevent the warm air from escaping through the top of the mask but from the other three sides of the mask instead.
Foggy Glasses Tip 2: Washing your lenses with soapy water
To prevent fog, before slipping on your face mask and glasses, one should wash them in soapy water, shake off the excess moisture and let it air dry or gently dry them with a microfiber cloth.
What this does is that it leaves a thin film, reducing the inherent surface tension and prods the water molecules to form a transparent layer, decreasing the amount of warm air drawn on the glasses. Therefore, reducing the chances of foggy glasses.
Foggy Glasses Tip 3: Try de-fogging products
If the previous two foggy glasses tips have proven to be non-sufficient in your case and you don’t mind spending a few dollars to combat this situation, why not try some de-fogging products.
Applying over the counter anti-fogging sprays, waxes, and gels to your lenses before putting on your glasses has the ability to quickly disperse tiny fog droplets when you’re wearing a mask.
However, with the difference in body chemistry between person to person, some de-fogging products would work better on you than others. Therefore, you’ve got to test a few brands to find out which works best for you.
Foggy Glasses Tip 4: Try out anti-fog lenses
If all else fails or you just want a permanent, hassle-free solution, you might want to consider buying lenses with an anti-fog coating.
What the anti-fog lenses does is it introduces a unique anti-fog coating to the lenses that eliminate the condensation of moisture on the surface of the lens.
We live in trying times with viruses running ramped and stress levels consistently increasing. With that said, we owe it to ourselves make the best out of this dire situation and live comfortably, free of all problems and discomforts. Have we missed out on any essential mask tips? Let us know in the comments below!
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