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I felt like I needed a better mask. Not only felt how – it was said by a number of experts, as well as by a federal agency, that it was time for all Americans to wear a facial cover that fit perfectly. To use two face covers, even! My favorite cloth masks, which I bought (and enthusiastically recommended) last July, were still beautiful after months and months of washing. They serve beautiful We will. But recently tuned in to the idea that a mask should really, same blocking the air, every time I put one on, I was suddenly aware of the gaps at the top of the mask, as I felt the air blowing through them through my eyeballs. I took this as a clear sign that my masks, which at the time fit the parameters of basic health recommendations, could be better.
Of course, I could look for new and more rigorously tested masks – like sophisticated ones with removable filters. Or I could go through the “Old West” of the N95s, which may or may not be exactly as described by the salespeople (although Wirecutter, my former employer, got recommendations after months of work). But I still loved the cloth masks – they helped me a lot. Instead of throwing them out completely, I did a little mission to try to make them better.
Double masking, which reached public awareness after the Buttigiegs were seen doing this at the inauguration – and had made most of the headlines for all new masking suggestions from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention – seemed like a good place to start. . I blindly ordered a box of disposable masks, as the recommendation is to put a layer that filters under the layer of cloth (and I hoped that the masks I chose would legitimately filter).
However, as soon as I layered my masks, it was clear that this setup would not work for me, at least not with my current stock of cloth masks. So many layers created a thick blanket; it felt like my breath was leaking from the sides instead of the filter. I suspected that this could happen – the purpose of the double mask is to have a layer that filters right below a layer that fits well and can define everything. To do this, you need a cloth mask that already fits perfectly. It may be a little easier to achieve this if your mask has bows instead of ear clips. “People who know how to tie that [their] heads, ”said a researcher to my guide on why and how to use the double mask.
Since I don’t have a cloth mask with ties, I decided to try to fake them with a mask extender.
The plastic straps on an extender hold the mask loops behind the head and look like they can make my non-binding masks fit more firmly. Although it took a while to adjust the strap around my ponytail, once secure, it looked very comfortable. The plastic strip made a mask fit little better than the mask does otherwise, and although it has improved my double mask setup, it still wasn’t comfortable enough to make it as safe as I would like. Still, it was a painless update, albeit a relatively small one – and it can be particularly useful to give some relief to your ears if you are managing an increasingly complicated tangle of mask and eyeglass rings.
Still unsatisfied with the gaps at the top of my mask, I decided to resort to a little different improvement that I had been wanting to try for some time: nose bridge strips. The new CDC guidelines suggest the use of a nasal bridge mask. These were very simple to put inside my beloved fabric masks. Easy to shape over the nose, they successfully prevented my sunglasses from fogging – which is also a good test to see if the mask is preventing air (and therefore aerosols) from leaking from the top. A warning: the strips are not in the washing machine, so you will need to wash the mask by hand, sew it or apply a new one after each wash (hey, even less waste than surgical masks). Contrary to everything I tried, they also made the mask look really good to wear. They obviously don’t solve the filtering issue – but for low-risk situations, like leaving the house or quickly entering a pharmacy, they make me feel safer than before, without making me put too much on my face.
The nose bridge straps did not improve my fabric masks enough that I felt comfortable with their level of protection in high-risk situations, so I resorted to mask fitters, another strategy recommended by the CDC. A mask adjuster frames your mouth and fixes the mask against your face, forming a seal and preventing air from leaking. They can be hard to find, so while waiting for my arrival, I decided to make one of the homemade versions available online.
I opted for a project created by engineers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Called the “Badger Seal” in honor of the school’s mascot, the design uses easy-to-order materials: vinyl tubes, padlocks, rubber cords and elastic cords. The instructional videos were easy to follow; although I didn’t time it, I estimate it took about 20 minutes in total to cut all the various pieces of tubes and ties and put them together. I appreciated that he did a good job of attaching the mask to my face, but part of the tube continued to slip because I made an incorrect cut and the rubber tie was uncomfortable against my face. It is not the most viable solution, unless you are ready for some adjustments. But my experience with the badger seal made it clear: a mask that fits your face perfectly is different from a mask that is very, well, sealed In your face. While not comfortable – which is why wearing a properly fitted medical grade N95 will leave marks on your skin – a mask adjuster allows the mask to actually filter the air Through the the mask instead of directing the air around the mask, making it more protective for the people around you.
After making my own brace, one arrived that I requested from a company called Fix the Mask. (They were experiencing inventory issues, but at the time of writing, they are available for shipment within a few days of purchase.) They are made of soft rubber. Mine was not much more comfortable than my home version, but it was an improvement. Because I didn’t do it alone, I wasn’t threatening to fall apart on me. Although a mask adjuster can be a good solution for those who prefer surgical masks – surgical masks already provide a good filter, and the adjuster only increases its effectiveness – it did not work very well with my cloth masks. The attached fabric is very thick. That said, although it is not super comfortable and I have difficulty using it in public, where I feel a little embarrassed, I am keeping my mask adjuster handy. A friend and former colleague gave this editor a positive rating at GQ and assured me by text that he uses it all the time.
I am lucky because much of my risk reduction strategy may simply involve not going indoors for more than a few minutes. But I still want to try to protect myself – and others – as best I can when I do. This experiment highlighted something that I feel continuously since the appearance of COVID-19: given the resources we have and our ever-decreasing resistance, it is very difficult – in any variety of pandemic situations – to find the perfect solution. Although I didn’t fall for a Holy Grail mask, I have a few more imperfect little strategies. At the beginning of the pandemic, I couldn’t imagine wearing a mask on my face while I was away from home, so maybe I get more used to these options. Strange things happened last year.