9 Useful Face Mask Hacks Everyone Must Know
Having to wear face masks every day comes with new challenges, such as your glasses fogging up, kids refusing to wear glasses, and your mask simply not fitting well enough. Fixing these issues is hardly intuitive and definitely needs some trial and error, but we’ve got your back here, as we’ve collected 9 useful hacks that will render your face masks more comfortable to wear and more effective at warding off germs.
1. Make a Loose Face Mask Fit Better
Wearing
a face mask that is too loose on the face almost defeats the purpose of
wearing one, to begin with, as the germs will be able to escape and get
in through the sides of the mask. However, there is an easy trick that
only takes a minute that will be able to make any face mask fit
perfectly. This trick has been suggested by Olivia Hui, doctor of dental
medicine, who posted it in a Tiktok video
recently. “In absence of N95s, this might be a good alternative,” Cui
says in her video. In order to do this trick, follow these steps:
- Fold the mask in half.
- On the ear elastics, tie a knot on each side, making sure it's as close as possible to the mask itself.
- Open the mask: there should be little openings on the sides near the ear loop. Tuck those in under the elastics on both sides.
- Your mask is ready to wear and should fit your face more closely.
2. No More Foggy Glasses
Foggy
glasses are a real nuisance that can be dangerous, especially when
driving, but many people admit that they struggle with the issue every
time they wear a face mask. Now, this is a real problem that may
discourage you to wear face masks altogether, but luckily it can be
easily fixed by using just a drop of dishwashing liquid. Yes, you heard
us, use a drop of dish soap and rub it thoroughly on both sides of
the lenses before rinsing off the glasses. The dishwashing liquid will
create a transparent coating that will protect the lenses from
temperature changes and will prevent the clouding.
In
addition, you should also make sure the face mask fits your face on
top, as the very reason your glasses are fogging up is an ill-fitting
mask.
3. How to Motivate a Child to Wear a Face Mask
Kids
may be reluctant to wear a face mask, no matter how cute it looks. This
kind of makes sense, as wearing one is not a particularly pleasant
experience. If you can't convince a child to wear a face mask, what you
could do is lead by example and make everyone in the house, all family
members, and even their favorite toys wear a face mask.
You
can even use their favorite toys to roleplay an educational situation
explaining why wearing a mask in public spaces is important. Since kids
learn through fun, this little exercise may help them grasp the
importance of mask-wearing, even if they can't understand the full
severity and dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic due to their age.
4. Ironing Can Help Disinfect a Reusable Mask
Wearing
reusable cloth face masks is great, as you're not wasting money on
purchasing new masks, but you're also being kinder to the environment
and saving the single-use masks to people who might need them more, like
essential workers and medical staff. That said, reusing a mask means
making sure you're cleaning and disinfecting it properly before use, and
washing doesn't always kill all the germs from a reusable mask.
You
need to apply high heat while drying the mask in a tumble dryer for at
least 20 minutes to get rid of all the microbes, but by far not everyone
has one at home. If you're air-drying face masks,
like many of us do, especially in the summer, you ought to give them a
quick iron afterward to make sure all of the pathogens are long gone
before you wear them mask again.
5. A Good Way to Store Face Masks
Storing
used face masks in a plastic bag is a common mistake, and a dangerous
one, too, as the plastic will trap in all the germs in the mask and
won't let it air out in-between uses. A much better container for a used
mask is a paper lunch bag or a breathable container, according to the CDC.
A
container like paper is better because it's more breathable, making it a
worse environment for pathogens to survive, plus they're easy to
assess, as paper lunch bags are available in virtually every
supermarket. So, instead of plastic bags, use any clean paper bag to
store used face masks.
6. An Ordinary Headband Can Make Wearing a Mask Easier
Wearing
a face mask for hours every day can really irritate the ears and make
them ache and burn, which can potentially discourage you from wearing a
face mask every day. Instead of giving in, though, try wearing your face
mask in a smart way that doesn't hurt the ears. To do so, all you will
need is a headband or a hat, a couple of buttons and a needle and some
thread. What we will do is sew on a pair of buttons on each side of the
headband or hat and attach the ear loops to the buttons instead of your
ears.
To
do so, all you will have to do is wear the headband or hat, hold the
face mask on your face and measure out the placement of the buttons by
stretching out each ear loop over the hat or headband so that the mask
fits the face properly when it's not fastened at the ear. Sew on the
buttons in the places you measured beforehand, this will typically be
back of the headband, for example, and attach the face mask to the
buttons. Final tip - for a neater look, attach the buttons to the inside
of the headband or hat, so that the buttons are invisible from the
outside. With this trick, you'll be guaranteed to experience no more ear
pain.
7. Using Rubber Bands to Create a Better-Fitting Mask
To make a surgical mask fit your face as tight as an N95 mask, you can use 3 rubber bands and follow these steps:
- Create a chain from the three rubber bands.
- Put on the surgical mask, take the middle link of the rubber band and stretch it to fit around the mask, forming a tight seal around your nose and mouth.
- Secure the two remaining rubber bands at your ears.
8. How to Add a DIY Filter to a Cloth Face Mask
Many
reusable cloth face masks available today have a pocket on the inside.
Well, it turns out that this pocket is where you ought to insert a
filter, otherwise the mask will not be as effective as it should be.
Though
inserting a HEPA filter is the most effective way to prevent the
inhalation of pathogens, you can also make do with the following DIY
filters in its absence. You can use a coffee filter cut out to fit the
mask instead of a special mask filter, for example, which was found to
filter out over 60% of airborne microbes, but a double layer of paper
towels or tissues will also work in a pinch, offering a little more than
30% filtration of pathogens, too.
9. Your Phone's Face ID Doesn't Recognize Your Face in a Mask? Here's a Solution
If
you're using the Face ID function on your smartphone, you may have
noticed that your phone isn't recognizing your face when you're wearing a
mask. This is really annoying, as pulling down a face mask in order to
unlock your phone could spread germs to the mask and your face, so
that's a bad option. Luckily, there is a way around this issue, and that
trick is to upload additional appearances to your Face ID database.
In
order to do so, simply go to the Settings of the Face ID feature, find
"add alternative appearance" or similar option on your phone, click on
it, and take 2 new pictures: one with a mask folded in half over one
side of your face, and another one with the opposite side covered with a
mask, and you're done. Now, please keep in mind that not all phones
will have that option, but it's definitely worth a try.