Skip to main content

Masks Revisited

I know what you're thinking: "So, tell us the latest about your very interesting mask situation!" OK, thanks for asking. I will. 

Go Gaiters

As I'm sure you'll recall from my previous post, I was thinking / panicking about getting some extra masks for my children. I also wanted to try some that were just one piece i.e. not pleated, to see if they found them easier to breathe through. I decided to try my luck with some "neck gaiter" style ones that they could wear around their necks and just pull up to cover their noses as needed. I went with a 5-pack from SA Company via a Facebook ad for suckers which cost $26.93 including postage and packing.

We tried these out on a walk one Saturday. At first they were a hit. My son liked pulling it up like a ninja, although he actually preferred pulling the face shield over his entire face, eyes included. They're not very thick, though, so apparently he could still see. After about ten minutes, however, it was clear that although these were child-size and my kids have at least average if not rather large heads, it was tricky to keep these up. I had to keep tucking the tops over their ears to hold them in place which totally defeats the object of them being able to wear them e.g. to school. We weren't sure what to do with my daughter's hair either. She rarely wears it up, preferring the lank scarecrow look, but it was itchy and bulky with her hair tucked in and too loose with it out. So yeah, I have 3 unopened face shields if anyone wants them. Although according to a study, these type of masks are worse than not using a mask at all! On a possible flip side, I also saw that only one example was tested so I'm sure different materials act differently. 

On to the Next Mask!

It wasn't long before I needed to waste even more money by making sure I also had enough face masks for myself! During a trip to Irvine Spectrum, we popped into my high street fave, Old Navy. The last time I had bought masks from them, I had ordered them online, there was a huge wait and a random assortment of patterns that you couldn't choose yourself. Now the walls were lined with 5 and 10-packs in whatever patterns your sheepy consumerist heart could desire, still at $12.50 for 5. My daughter chose a dog (or in internet parlance - "doge" pack - they are cartoon Shiba Inus) pattern, my son got dinosaurs and I got an assortment of black and white patterns. These also now come with ear adjusters which have been useful. Woo! And another $37.50 down. 

Yes, I'm Still Buying Masks!

My ultimate goal has been to find some good quality masks that my kids will wear and that are easy to breathe through. The Old Navy masks are our go-tos but my daughter still frequently complains about finding it hard to breathe. I started looking about for some one-piece masks and via another Facebook ad (how do they know?), I found these from an obviously pivoting Starks Vacuum's. And bingo! They tick all the boxes! I got 2 to start with in case they were a disaster (see face shields above) and spent $25.90. They have adjustable bands and a sticking-up nose bit which means they can sit a little lower on the face and not be so close to the mouth. The only downside is that with the nosepiece, they are a little fiddly for my kids to put on themselves but I'm sure they'll figure it out. Well, they'd better!


I will probably get some more of these in the future and it seems like there are deals on the site to make them more wallet-friendly. 

And so ends my quest! Although, when I went to Old Navy's website to get the links for this post, I found they are now doing one-piece masks for kids too! $9.50 for 3? I'll see you there!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Rant about Sharing

 Hi. At the time of writing this, my children are 8 and 5. We have been to parks many, many times. Sometimes we take stuff to play with. Other times they just play on the equipment there. But never once in either of their entire lives have they gone up to some child they have never met before and asked if they could have a turn with whatever that child was playing with. Now, granted, my children are annoyingly asocial so are generally not interested in whatever anyone else is doing but also they understand when something is not theirs. It's different if they're with friends or at school where things are communal (although I'm writing this in the middle of a pandemic. No sharing pencils, please) and sharing is expected, if not mandatory. Although, to be honest, my son isn't great at it then, either. But what I'm talking about is when we're minding our own business and some rando comes over and wants to use our stuff. They don't want to play with my kids. Ther

Masks for Days

Somewhere in the dim and distant past, probably about 3 months ago (remember then? March 2020? The month that never seemed to end and now seems like a million years ago?), it was becoming clear that in order to re-enter into society in any meaningful way, you needed to be in possession of some sort of facial covering. A mask, in other words. Of course, as is my wont, by the time I started realizing this, all the fecking masks were long gone. You could get stuff on Amazon, but it seemed to be the equivalent of a piece of toilet paper with two elastic bands on the ends for the princely sum of $500 for a set of 5. Late one night, I decided to get into a bit of a panic so literally googled "where can I buy masks". As it turned out, there were several places and my first mask purchase came from trendy LA scenesters, Monogram . I got a pack of 4 washable jersey masks for $43.10 including postage in a week or so. At first I was relieved, then annoyed with myself as they were too big

The Housewife's Lament

Heading into a so-called "milestone" birthday next year (*cough cough* 40 *cough cough*), it's tough not to occasionally take stock and think where my life is and also where I wanted it to be by this point. If you ask my 18 year-old self, I wouldn't be able to even imagine being 40. 30 was more than old enough. I would either be dead or a successful published author, maybe married but not that bothered, definitely no kids, no way! Gross! So, that hasn't happened. I went to an all-girls school from the ages of 11-18 and looking at my contemporaries now, I see doctors, vets, pilots, project managers, environmental scientists, financial managers, teachers and business owners. Most of them are mothers too. And then I look at myself. I have been a full-time parent for nearly 8 years and...erm...that's it. Yes, I know, being a parent is HARD, especially in the beginning. But my youngest is starting full-day kindergarten this August (COVID-19 permitting) and I gues