RIP Facemasks?

It's funny how I and the world has come around on facemasks.  I should blog post about it some other time, because I was going back to one in March at the advent of COVID-19 where I was adamant that I did not need a mask at all.  Fucking worm turns.

Anyway, it was around that time Mother made me a mask, unprompted.  First I was all, "Er, OK ... thanks, I guess."  But pretty soon I came around to believe that there were a lot of people carrying the virus without knowing it, so it would help to wear a mask to either stop it from reaching me or, more likely, to prevent others from getting the virus I was carrying.  So I came around relatively quickly to wearing that mask, and the three others Mother made later, whenever I was out in public.

Mother also taught me how to wash them.  She gave me a big metal bowl wherein she would fill it up with the hottest water coming out of the bathroom sink.  Throw in the mask and some detergent (we have a lot of detergent, a lot of which is not high-efficiency and thus useless to use in the relatively new HE washing machine we got a few years ago), then hand wash.  Pour out the water, refill with hot water again, and let the mask sit in there to rinse.  Pour out, hang the mask to dry, iron, then reuse.

I have been doing that with all four of my masks for months now.  Still holding up.  But I can see the wear on them.  This afternoon I stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to cash in on a discount I got through T-Mobile (or at least I think I did) when one of the customers complimented me on my mask -- it looked comfy, she said.  And for some reason I decided to expound on the fact that I thought it was getting old.  I even thought to take it off.  Yeah, that was stupid of me.  I looked behind me to see if any customer was coming in, and seeing that there wasn't, I took off the mask to show that there was just a second layer, a liner of ... cotton I guess behind the knitted cotton that presses up against my nose and mouth, and it was getting frayed, as was the yarn.  I hope I neither got nor gave corona.

Anyway, that wasn't an epiphany that struck me at Dunkin'.  As I was washing and rinsing and ironing each mask, I noticed the fraying and the holes getting a little bigger.  So I have looked online to see if there are better-manufactured masks that I can buy.  Currently I am obsessed with finding ones with the recommended materials, first as decreed by the World Health Organization, then by this French organization that deals in, like standards in industries called AFNOR.  (They have a guide to the best materials, but 1) I am not allowed to download the list and 2) it's in French so I can't read it.)  It looks as though the "ideal" mask has three layers: An outer layer that is man-made, like polyester, in order to keep moisture and other people's moist breaths from reaching your face (I'm actually thinking the cup of a bra would make a great shell for a mask); an inner layer made out of cotton that lets you breathe in comfort; and an inner, possibly removable, filter layer, ideally made out of polypropylene that captures the virus.  As far as I can tell, no mask fits this standard, which surprises me, because if a company or even someone on Etsy can, it or she can just put on its or her advertising "Meets WHO Standards Of Masks," and it or she could make millions.  But I shall keep looking.

In the meantime I am getting slightly worried that the masks are no longer up to snuff.  But I am a tad more worried that my mask will be seen as no longer up to snuff.  All these months I have not seen a knitted mask.  Most people are masking up now, but all of them seem to be made out of, well, man-made materials that do a better job.  They probably have more than two layers, neither of which is starting to break down, like mine appear to be.

I appreciate so much Mother making me these masks.  And when the time comes, I will show her that they're starting to wear, and is it possible she can make new ones, better ones, ones that fit the standard of safety the world seems to be abiding by now.  And I think she'll make them.  Till then, I will continue to wear and wash these on the weekends -- to keep my community safe, and as an appreciation for Mother's love.