Five members of the Bear Facts Student Media, as well as the staff adviser, experimented with four different types of masks during the school day from October 21 to 26. Each participant wore each of the masks for an entire school day to test it out and recorded their thoughts and opinions on how they felt about various factors of the masks.
This mask review was written to provide general information about various types of masks to help people find the mask that is right for them since masks have now become part of daily life at school.
BLUE, PLEATED DISPOSABLE MASK
Overall Rating - 2/5
This mask was found to be very irritating to the majority of the Bear Facts staff members who participated in the mask review because of the scratchy material.
Breathing in the mask was not a problem. There is a wire in the mask which bends to fit the shape of your nose but despite the wire, it doesn’t fit securely around faces and it fell down multiple times during the day when the participants were speaking.
Speech was very clear and the participants could be easily understood. The participants who wore glasses reported that this mask is the worst type of mask for people with glasses because the glasses fog up so much, making it nearly impossible to see.
Even though the mask achieves its goals, most of the participants commented that the mask is not ideal.
Where to Buy
Stores: Walmart(depends on the pack: 3=$7.99) and Walgreens(depends on the pack: 25=$17.99)
Websites: Amazon($3.99 for a single), Medicus Health(depends on packs: up to $289.99)
D95 LOGO, CLOTH MASK WITH FRONT “RIBBING”
Overall Rating - 4/5
This mask was found to be very comfortable to the majority of the Bear Facts staff members who participated in the mask review because of its soft and smooth material.
Even though the mask is thicker than most masks, breathing was not a struggle for most of the participants, partially because of the ribbed wire in the mask which leaves plenty of room to breathe without feeling claustrophobic.
Speech clarity was not a problem at all with this mask. Those with glasses did not report any fogginess, but the participants commented that the mask fell down off their noses a couple of times because of the length of the mask.
This mask achieves its goals very effectively while going well with almost any piece of clothing and having exceptional comfort.
Where to Buy
Websites: D95 website
“KOREAN STYLE” MASK BY MASKLAB
Overall Rating - 3/5
This mask was found to be neither uncomfortable nor comfortable to the majority of the Bear Facts staff members who participated in the mask review because although the material was scratchy, the ear straps were tolerable as they did not pull their ears.
Another factor that made this mask tolerable was the fact that breathing was very easy even in warm environments because of the design of the mask.
The participants who wore glasses faced a problem because of the fogginess, but because of the other factors such as strong speech clarity, the participants did not mind. The function of the nose wire was not very useful to all of the participants because the mask seemed either too big or too little.
Fashion opinions on this mask were wide spread from “has a lot of great options for ‘pretty’ masks” to “it made me look like a duck”.
Regardless of the fashion opinions, this mask achieves its goals effectively while providing some comfort.
Where to Buy
Websites: masklab.us (10=$30)
KN95 3D DISPOSABLE MASK
Overall Rating - 1/5
This mask was found to be ultimately uncomfortable to the majority of the Bear Facts staff members who participated in the mask review because of the complicated design of the mask which was found to be too big and long on their faces.
Because of the design of the mask, this mask presented many problems such as breathing which was very difficult. The mask did happen to move around a bit on the participants' faces, but they commented that the mask never actually revealed their nose.
Speech clarity was a big problem as the participants were not easily heard and had a lot of trouble speaking while wearing the mask. The participants who wore glasses found the mask to fog up their glasses but not to the point that it was impossible to see.
The mask was found not to be very fashionable but it wasn’t found to be “ugly” either.
Overall, the effectiveness of this mask is very high but the lack of comfort makes this mask very intolerable.
Where to Buy
Websites: Amazon.com ($4.65), nextdealshop.com (varies), wellbefore.com ($1.49)
Overall, the D95 cloth mask was seen as the most comfortable and effective mask between all of the masks that were reviewed.