Face Mask Recommendations

[paulyron]

So when coronavirus happened, I was abroad and still am now but majority of my time is abroad.   Im from the US.  Back then i bought those face mask the light blue ones off a site and they were very expensive like almost a dollar each for a package of 50 of them.  Now i do visit the US and when i do, i buy a lot of things there since when im abroad, i can't buy certain items abroad.

 

 

I checked amazon and seems like face masks are much cheaper now.. along with other things now available like lysol and sanitizer etc.  I see some mask that cost like ten dollars for a pack of 50 of them etc.  But some review seems to say they are horrible but some ppl say they are good.  Can anyone here recommend me a specific face mask that they bought off amazon or anywhere online which is good and doesn't cost that much?

 

 

I got to assume many of you buy those face mask that are disposable and buy a pack of 50 or l00 etc right as oppose to just getting a regular face mask and reusing it like those that are made for that?  I don't want to buy a pack of 50 and then find out they are horrible quality etc.   Thanks.

[FRD]

I can help you out, since we even use them when there's no virus around, against polution.

The light blue ones you are talking about are probably the same as the now cheaper ones that are only ten dollars. All made in China and mass produced. They are basically the same, maybe the cheaper ones will have a less snug fit. Back when the masks were $1 each compared to $10 for 50, they were just making big money from them as advantage to the situation. The masks you mentioned are non-medical and one use only masks.

Good masks are the heavier duty ones which are the medical ones. These usually have the certification of FFP1, FFP2 en FFP3 or Type I, II or IIR. These are much more useful than the cheaper ones, but also heavier and less comfortable.

I believe in the US medical masks aren't mandatory yet, so you're fine with the basic green/light blue/white masks. They are pretty much all the same, I'd suggest get the cheapest you can and use them only once or a whole day, throw them out and use a new one. I've seen them in stores for as low as $5 for 50 masks.

Also, there are washable masks, but usually these aren't that effective, most consumers don't use them properly as well.

[Yummychickenblue]

I personally have a few cloth reusable masks that I use once and wash every week. I also only leave my house 2 or three times a week though.

[Intergalacticbits]

In the very beginning of this thing. I just had a sloppy home made mask. I cut out of an old tee shirt.

I forgot it once back then and a nice woman in a store I was in gave me a blue disposable one to wear.

I've been using that same one every time I go out for over a year lol.

The strap on one side came off about six months back so I just taped it back on with some masking tape. 

I've been unemployed so I'm not spending my money on it.

 

What I do though is first thing when I come home before I do anything else.

I wash my hands with bar soap and use some antiseptic mouth wash.

In my mind I feel these two things make more of a difference then what kind of mask I'm wearing.

 

 

 

 

[tikker]

19 hours ago, Yummychickenblue said:

I personally have a few cloth reusable masks that I use once and wash every week. I also only leave my house 2 or three times a week though.

Yep same here.

18 hours ago, Intergalacticbits said:

What I do though is first thing when I come home before I do anything else.

I wash my hands with bar soap and use some antiseptic mouth wash.

In my mind I feel these two things make more of a difference then what kind of mask I'm wearing.

The masks aren't meant to protect you (apart from medical masks and correctly filtering ones), they're meant to hinder the spread of droplets from you onto others. Washing hands etc. is still the right thing to do.

[paulyron]

Could you reuse those blue masks that are the disposal ones though?  I have used it a few times and I believe what you could do is after wearing it, just wash it with some cold water and hang it on a hanger so you could reuse it another one or two times.  Thoughts on that?  Also if you were to wash it, is cold water the right thing to use?  What about alcohol?  

 

 

But with the low prices now, this is obviously foolish right since most people just use one a day since it cost like twenty cents or so for one mask right now?  Back when i bought a pack of them, they were like a dollar each and i didn't felt like using one everytime i left the apartment.  Note i only leave once or twice a week out of apartment.

 

 

To the person that said they got one of those blue mask from a woman and been using it ever since because they are unemployed and don't want to spend money on it, may i ask how often you went out a week and washed it and how you washed it?

[dalekphalm]

11 minutes ago, paulyron said:

Could you reuse those blue masks that are the disposal ones though?

You can, but you shouldn't. Unless you use it for a very short time period each time, they'll become compromised after wearing one all day.

11 minutes ago, paulyron said:

I have used it a few times and I believe what you could do is after wearing it, just wash it with some cold water and hang it on a hanger so you could reuse it another one or two times.  Thoughts on that?  Also if you were to wash it, is cold water the right thing to use?  What about alcohol?  

You could wash them but they were never designed for that. I would probably use luke warm water. Cold water wouldn't specifically be good or bad for it. It won't be cold enough to kill the virus.

11 minutes ago, paulyron said:

But with the low prices now, this is obviously foolish right since most people just use one a day since it cost like twenty cents or so for one mask right now?  Back when i bought a pack of them, they were like a dollar each and i didn't felt like using one everytime i left the apartment.  Note i only leave once or twice a week out of apartment.

You should not be using disposable ones at all, unless you're specifically going into a high risk environment and you're doubling up with a reusable cloth mask.

 

You should just buy some good quality cloth masks - make sure they're at least 2 layers (3 is better) - bonus points for the ones that have the little pockets for the Particulate Filters (they are little rectangles of what looks like cloth or paper, about 3" long and 2" wide) - most of them are PM2.5 but you can find different qualities.

11 minutes ago, paulyron said:

To the person that said they got one of those blue mask from a woman and been using it ever since because they are unemployed and don't want to spend money on it, may i ask how often you went out a week and washed it and how you washed it?

That's a scary situation. If you're unemployed and desperately need some masks, just go to the local library or something and ask them if you can take a few extra home with you. Or check out the local food bank or a church.

[Tonyx]

1 hour ago, paulyron said:

But with the low prices now, this is obviously foolish right since most people just use one a day since it cost like twenty cents or so for one mask right now? 

you mean surgical ones?

i use one at day, since you used one for 5-6-8 hours straight it get wet and somewhat unclean

but since i pay like 8 cent for each i dont care about washing a reusable one