Facecoverings : Practical Tips and Advice

[Mag_seven]

This thread is for the sharing of tips and advice re the creation and practical wearing of face coverings. Here are a couple of useful articles:

Step-by-step guide to making your own face mask

Our guide to different types of face coverings and step-by-step instructions on how to make them.

www.bbc.co.uk

[Withdrawn] How to make a cloth face covering

www.gov.uk

Feel free to post any other links / tips you may have found or want to share - for example I found this youtube clip in which someone demonstrates how to create a facecovering from a piece of cloth and a couple of elastic bands. I tried it with a handkerchief and a couple of elastic bands and it worked.

Note: This thread is not for the discussion of the requirement to wear them on public transport. That thread can be found here:

Face coverings compulsory on public transport in England from 15 June

Richard Clinnick reporting on Twitter that masks will become mandatory on trains from 15th June. https://twitter.com/Richard_rail/status/1268566623020961792 Hearing that face coverings for passengers will become mandatory on trains from June 15. You can be refused travel and even fined for not...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[leightonbd]

Personally I am going to go with my cycling tube (link below for an example):

Get Your Wiggle On | Cycle, Run & Outdoor Shop | Wiggle

Prepare to get your Wiggle on. We have the awesome gear you need to cycle, run, hike & swim from the world's leading sports brands. No excuses, LET'S GO!

www.wiggle.co.uk

I won’t actually be on public transport any time soon but have been using it in shops for a while.

Not yet mandatory here in Scotland but it has been talked about for a while. I’ll be happy to do it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Buffs and similar do work (best doubled over as they're quite thin) - by the way, Buff "headwear" and "neckwear" are identical - but I find they feel claustrophobic in the manner of a full-face helmet (e.g. a paintball one) because they direct the breathing sound to my ears. This being the case I've ordered a couple of "contoured" fabric coverings from Oddballs (other suppliers are available) and they seem of good quality and to stay in place reasonably well.

 

[Llanigraham]

Doing deliveries for the local food bank and others I have been wearing several different types of masks, and my opinions are:

1/ The flat 3 fold type with either ear elastics or rear ties are not that comfortable and the elastic ones hurt my ears after a while. They often steamed my glasses up

2/ The vertical folded type that stand away from the nose were better than 1 and appeared to make breathing easier, however they didn't fit well with my glasses, although the mouldable nose piece did stop my glasses misting up.

3/ The horizontal "duck bill" type were best of all. The mouldable nose piece stopped my glasses misting up and fitted well below my glasses. Breathing was easy and the ones I have been using have elastic that goes completely around the head so doesn't hurt.


Type 1 I used both bought and home made and found no difference between them.
Type 2 and 3 were all home made and comprised of 3 layers of fabric, and are washable.

If you are taking any masks properly you do NOT need to touch the front of the mask. Undo or unhook the elastic/ties with one hand and holding those drop the item in the bin or the wash.

 

[westv]

Buffs and similar do work (best doubled over as they're quite thin) - by the way, Buff "headwear" and "neckwear" are identical - but I find they feel claustrophobic in the manner of a full-face helmet (e.g. a paintball one) because they direct the breathing sound to my ears. This being the case I've ordered a couple of "contoured" fabric coverings from Oddballs (other suppliers are available) and they seem of good quality and to stay in place reasonably well.

Would be quite interesting seeing people walking about in the buff.

 

[adc82140]

Don't wear it with your nose sticking out. It's like wearing your underpants with the old man sticking out.

I wear a surgical one at work (NHS) but won't be removing any for my personal use on principle. I'm a not a big believer in use of face coverings in most situations in public places- they are no substitute for social distancing- but if I'm legally compelled to do so I will be sporting a snood, and looking like a 3rd rate footballer.

 

[bspahh]

Instead of looping a mask around your ears, it can be more comfortable to sew 2 buttons either side of a hair band and hook the face mask around that.

 

[Pete_uk]

I have one bit of advice on face masks:

Use them to cover your mouth and nose.

 

[Socanxdis]

What's your view on valved masks? I understand it's easier to breathe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What's your view on valved masks? I understand it's easier to breathe.

Valved masks are totally useless for the purpose intended, because they allow the user to breathe out without restriction.

The purpose of face coverings is to protect others from you. They do not achieve that and are therefore worthless in a COVID context.

 

[ashkeba]

2/ The vertical folded type that stand away from the nose were better than 1 and appeared to make breathing easier, however they didn't fit well with my glasses, although the mouldable nose piece did stop my glasses misting up.

3/ The horizontal "duck bill" type were best of all. The mouldable nose piece stopped my glasses misting up and fitted well below my glasses. Breathing was easy and the ones I have been using have elastic that goes completely around the head so doesn't hurt.


Type 1 I used both bought and home made and found no difference between them.
Type 2 and 3 were all home made and comprised of 3 layers of fabric, and are washable.

Can you link to any good patterns, please? A lot online are poor.

 

[yorksrob]

When wearing my scarf, I've found it beneficial to actually perch my glasses on the scarf, further down my nose. It seems to stop them steaming up.

 

[Llanigraham]

Can you link to any good patterns, please? A lot online are poor.

https://api.pks.rs/storage/assets/AFNOR-SPEC-S76-001-Barrier-masks-27032020.pdf

Standardization is an activity serving the general interest for the purpose of providing reference documents developed on the basis of consensus by all interested parties, concerning rules, characteristics, recommendations and examples of best practices relative to products, services, methods and processes or to organizations.
These guidelines have been developed at the initiative of AFNOR in the framework of its general interest mission.
Please note that this specification was produced, without any physical meeting, in a period of national confinement and in the space of one week, shortly after qualification of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the WHO. These guidelines, the result of in-depth work, have been drawn up in an emergency situation, in an open way and shared by a large number of parties and involving collaboration by more than 150 experts.
This document will be shared with our counterparts in other countries, both French speaking and non- French speaking, within the international ISO community, wholly mobilized to fight the pandemic.

This link gives a lot of details about the various masks and includes patterns for them.
We have tried all of them and personally, as stated above, I found the duckbill to be the best.
Following advice from health professionals we have added a mouldable strip to the top edge, inside the hem; this allows the mask to sit close to the nose and removes the glasses misting up problem.