How do you wash your masks?

[albustydumbledore]

Posting for traffic.

Hot wash?
Reg wash?

Would soaking in boiling water be enough?

People who iron “to kill the germs” - do you feel the need to iron your hands too if apparently soap and water won’t get them clean enough??

I steam the disposables over the kettle and then reuse. These are the only type that don't stesm up my specs, but I'm damned if I'm throwing them away each time.

I have used one a handful of times. For a few seconds. And once I went to a shop for about 30 minutes. So I just use the same one and hang it on the washing line in between uses. I am nervous of the nose clip coming out and ruining my washing machine.

I don’t.

I've got a handful, so I just put them in with the hot towel wash once a week and then tumble dry them. Seems to be working out so far :)

Just in the next wash load, but in a mesh bag so they don’t get tangled or stretched.

Regular wash. If I've worn for longer than 5 mins I wash them. I have 4. I also have disposable ones in the car and by the front door if I don't have a clean one to hand. I have to wear them for school run now for literally 1 min. I don't wash it every school run.

@Comtesse

I mentioned I iron my masks but I didn't say why so I'm not sure if I'm one of the people your question is aimed at, so just in case I'll answer even if i do think its a really bonkers question to start with

I make my own masks, I chuck them in the wash with my everyday washing, as they are 100% cotton they get creased, so I iron the creases out, that's all there is to it :-)

When we bought our washing machine, it came with a free pedestal washing machine. It’s a tiny washer for under the regular washer. At the time it seemed like the most first world indulgent thing. Turns out it is the most wonderful appliance in the Covid era. Masks get dropped in as we use them. When we are almost out we run them.

60 degree wash.

Washing machine in a mesh bag then dry in the sun outside.

@middleager

I steam the disposables over the kettle and then reuse. These are the only type that don't stesm up my specs, but I'm damned if I'm throwing them away each time.

I mentioned it downthread but I wash the disposable masks in the machine in a mesh bag and all have survived so far. I prefer them to the material ones.

expert on TV last night, washabel masks can just be thrown in with the washing. No need for special treatment.

There is a great poster thing about why washing your hands with soap, even with cold water, works. It is the same for the masks. The soap attaches to the virus and lifts it off your hands.
I'll see if I can find it

Washing them normally with your clothes is perfectly adequate. There is no need to boil, steam, bleach, sterilise, iron etc.

If I've worn mine for more than 10 mins or so I'll wash it. If not I leave it hanging up for a couple of days and then reuse.

I have never washed mine lives in my bag. I wear it hardly ever as l won't go into a shop if l can get something online instead. Not a mask fan. Also l shopped and worked all through lockdown without a mask l can't see the point. I get tested every week at work at work so I'm pretty sure l don't have virus

here

this is a link to an article explaining it, if you scroll down to near the bottom there is a poster thing.

Soap doesn't kill batceria or virus, it attches to them and lifts them off, so the temp of the water is irrelevant.
If you want to kill it, that is a different matter. water over 60 will kill bacteria, but not necessarily a virus. When I lived overseas ad we had to boil water, we had to boil it for 20 minutes to kill some of the virus etc in it. I have no idea how long you would need to kill corona. But no need, soap removes it!

@Botherfreedays

There are several stages in my routine. Firstly I shake off the dirt that has collected on it from the car footwell. Then, as I get out of the car I rub it on my trouser leg. Then for the belt and braces sanitation I wave it around in the fresh air while I walk to the shop door where, ta-dah, I have a clean fresh mask to wear

This is me.. We also have the 'where is my mask dance'. I ask id anyone has seen my mask, one will be waved around and I will say "that doesn't match my dress"

We now have a mask box on the stairs as well as a hat/glove box.

I make my own masks and line them with DS's old vests. The fabric is lovely and soft.

Havent washed any of ours yet. Only worn them for short periods of time on an ad hoc basis. I figure the germs die after a few days so if I'm only wearing it days apart, they are dead when I put it on again. At some point I will wash them though.

@Botherfreedays

There are several stages in my routine. Firstly I shake off the dirt that has collected on it from the car footwell. Then, as I get out of the car I rub it on my trouser leg. Then for the belt and braces sanitation I wave it around in the fresh air while I walk to the shop door where, ta-dah, I have a clean fresh mask to wear

Love this routine. I've just realised I've been missing out the wiping-on-trousers stage.. Must make an effort to try to include it. Thanks

steppemum, you've misread your link. Soap DOES destroy the virus.

The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules attempt to evade water; in the process, they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.
“They act like crowbars and destabilize the whole system,” said professor Pall Thordarson, acting head of chemistry at the University of New South Wales. Essential proteins spill from the ruptured membranes into the surrounding water, killing the bacteria and rendering the viruses useless.
www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/why-soap-can-kill-coronavirus-and-how-its-discovery-changed-human-history-1.4210184

Of course it ALSO lifts the remains of the virus from skin, fabric, etc.

Hand wash in the sink with washing powder with the water as hot as I can get it from the tap. I usually leave it to soak for 20 mins or so and then rinse through and leave to dry.