How to Wear a Face Mask Properly
Commonly used in the medical field, face masks create a barrier that captures potentially harmful particles in the air when breathing, making them an essential tool in helping to do things like prevent the spread of illness and even protect you against allergens like pollution, smoke, and pesky pollen.
While wearing one may seem easy, they’re most effective when they fit properly and are worn correctly. This means that knowing how to wear a face mask is an important skill everyone should master if they want to best protect themselves and their community from potentially harmful contaminants.
Even if you feel fine, there’s no way to know you’re carrying a virus unless you’ve been tested or vaccinated for it, so wearing a mask is a simple way to show kindness to those around you when you’re out and about.
Dos and Don’ts of Wearing a Face Mask Correctly
To help you learn the art of proper face mask wearing, we’ve put together a handy, easy-to-follow list of dos and don’ts:
Dos
1. Wash Your Hands
To keep your mask as clean and safe as possible, make sure you wash your hands for at least 20 seconds before and after touching the mask.
2. Only Touch the Ear Loops
It’s important to touch your mask as little as possible while putting it on and taking it off.
3. Adjust the Mask to Fit Properly
Once you have your mask pulled over your nose, mouth, and chin, adjust the ear loops and mold the bendable nose wire to snugly and comfortably fit on your face.
4. Check for Gaps
A proper face mask fit is essential for maximum protection. While wearing your mask, check for gaps along the edges that may allow particles to slip through and adjust it to fit more snugly. If you have to constantly readjust your mask, you may need to try a different size.
5. Remove and Store Your Mask Safely
When removing your face mask, make sure not to touch your face. If you do, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. Once removed, fold the outside corners of the mask together to keep any infectious particles from spreading, and store it in a bag or another safe place that isolates it from whatever else you may be carrying.
6. Wash Your Reusable Masks
Reusable face masks should be washed regularly — preferably after each wear. This is why we crafted each Enro mask to be machine-washable up to 100 times, so you can easily just throw them in with your regular laundry.
Don’ts
1. Don’t Share Your Mask With Anyone
In this case, sharing isn’t caring. The main purpose of face masks is to protect others from the potentially infectious particles you may be carrying, so sharing your mask with somebody else defeats its purpose. It will only cause you and whoever you share it with to be exposed to each other’s germs, as well as any others you may have encountered while wearing it. Be kind and keep your germs to yourself. It's important to teach our children this value, as we stress the value of sharing in all other areas of our their lives. This will protect your child's kids' mask from being contaminated at school.
2. Don’t Wear It Too Many Times Before Washing
If a face mask is working properly, it will filter out tons of germs and potentially harmful particles while you’re wearing it, which is what makes washing your reusable masks so important to maintaining their effectiveness. You wouldn’t wear your underwear more than once before washing, right? Ideally, to keep them as clean and safe as possible, masks should be treated the same way.
3. Don’t Let Your Mask Sit on Dirty Surfaces
In this case, sharing isn’t caring. The main purpose of face masks is to protect others from the potentially infectious particles you may be carrying, so sharing your mask with somebody else defeats its purpose. It will only cause you and whoever you share it with to be exposed to each other’s germs, as well as any others you may have encountered while wearing it. Be kind and keep your germs to yourself.
4. Don’t Touch Your Face
Because masks are used as a tool to help keep you and others from getting sick, it’s important not to touch your face at all while wearing one. Touching your eyes, nose, or mouth will give whatever germs or contaminants you have on your hands direct access to your body, rendering your safety measures useless.
5. Don’t Wear Masks with Valves
Exhalation valves are usually included on masks to aid with breathing in industrial settings because they allow the air you exhale to easily escape. While this works for situations where protection is needed against larger particles like sawdust, they don’t work to prevent the wearer from spreading illnesses. To do your part in protecting your community, always stick to filtered masks with no valves or openings.
How to Wear Your Face Mask
We get it — having something constantly covering your face can be an uncomfortable experience at times, leading some to want to wear their masks incorrectly. While it may be tempting to get a breath of fresh air, the popular mask under nose tactic you may see others using leaves the wearer and those around them completely unprotected from viruses, bacteria, and other contaminants.
When properly worn, face masks should completely cover the nose, mouth, and chin and should not be worn under the nose, or across the forehead.
Wearing the mask properly is only one aspect of its effectiveness. A snug fit is also imperative. We’ve built all of our masks to include comfortable, adjustable ear loops and a bendable nose wire, so you can customize your face mask to fit you perfectly, making them easier to wear all day. And because faces are not one size fits all, we 3D engineered a whole range of face mask sizes, so you can find one that works best for you. After all, the most effective face mask is one that you actually wear.
One more thing: Wondering how to keep your glasses from fogging with a face mask? The secret is in the fit — a properly fitting mask won’t allow warm air to escape from the top, which is what causes your glasses to fog up. Pinching the nose clip tight and making sure your mask is sitting in the right spot on your face will help to keep your glasses clear. Simply put, wearing a well fitting mask properly is a win-win situation for everyone.
Shop Enro Reusable Masks
Proper mask wearing is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to slowing the spread of infection in your community, and at Enro, we aim to make wearing a mask as effortless as possible. Stock up on our best-selling reusable masks made with adjustable features and lightweight fabric that helps you breathe well and live well, no matter what your day has in store.
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