why are most mask-wearers now wearing the inexpensive surgical masks (blue/white) rather than fabric ones? Safety or just lost interest in having beautiful masks?

[loveyouradvice]

Just that really - I'm still wearing fabric ones and was thinking of getting some silk ones for people as christmas presents....

What do you think?

I wear fabric ones but with filters; I find the paper ones very uncomfortable which seems at odds with everyone else!

I have quite a few but I'm not sure how I'd feel about a silk one as a present, it doesn't seem like a very practical fabric and I wouldn't wear one I can't put a filter in?

I have noticed the surgical / blue ones must be chemically treated as they have caused a contact dermatitis issue on my face

Because I got a job lot and using them up.

Because Covid has left my lungs in a worse state than they were in the first place. I struggle to walk and talk at the same time, I have almost no voice post-Covid and find it hard to be heard (I wear a portable microphone to teach now). I can no long project over a class of children.
Fabric is much harder to deal with for me.
It’s far from ideal, but that’s the way it is. I was an avid fabric mask wearer before I caught it.

I'm not in the UK but every time we go and get a pcr test here we are given a free box of 50 so we use them because we always have some around.

Agree with previous posters, disposable masks feel more breathable and mold better.

I do still wear masks but would really hate a mask for Christmas!

@mynameiscalypso

I find the paper masks much less hot than fabric masks - given I mainly wear one on the tube now, I much prefer to feel a bit cooler. Plus yes, I've also very much lost interest in 'pretty' masks.

The problem is, they aren't made of paper, they are made of plastic.

TheYearOfSmallThings
"I just kept losing all my fabric masks. You know all the masks you've seen lying in the road and on the pavement? Those were mine.
I now use a disposable surgical one, a new one every morning, usually lost by the end of the day.

Plastic everywhere.

@loveyouradvice

Just that really - I'm still wearing fabric ones and was thinking of getting some silk ones for people as christmas presents....

What do you think?

Silk or not, they aren’t really presents. It would be like giving someone hand sanitiser, or some tissues for Christmas.

Neither are effective and the paper ones go into landfill.

I use FFP2 masks but hate the look of them so put cloth over the top if I can be bothered. I don't go to very many places so don't get through an awful lot of masks.

I think their moment as Christmas presents have gone I'm afraid.

Because the surgical masks are more affective and I guess for people still wearing them (like me) we want to be more protected rather than wearing it for fashion.

I don't like them because I find they make my face feel hot and sweaty. The disposables are much cooler to wear

Because most of the people I still see wearing them are older people that don't give a damn about throwing them (along with their disposable gloves) straight in the bin after every trip to the supermarket. They've never worn fabric ones and were prepared to buy them at extortionate prices at the beginning of all this to ensure that they were doing mask wearing 'correctly'.

Like others have said, if you bought me any mask, even a nice one, it would go to a charity shop, I'm never putting one on again, and I don't want to be reminded of them on Christmas Day especially.

I made lots of lovely fabric masks last year. Now I wear the paper ones. Occasionally black paper ones.
For me it's simply because they are more comfortable and I can breathe better. Since having covid I find it much harder to breathe in a mask although I always wear them in shops etc as a courtesy to others.

I wear FFP2s only to get some protection for me. Either disposable or my Cambridge Mask (washable, FFP2 grade). With the amount of maskless people coughing and spluttering all over on public transport, I care more about protecting myself now.

I used to wear fabric, but stopped in the summer as they were making me so hot and faint. I wear a disposable all day at work (school) and they are quite good as I can really mould the wire close over my nose.

Giving masks of any material as Christmas presents is a big fat nope from me!!

I've been on flights where only masks of the surgical kind are requested to be worn I can only imagine they are deemed more effective.

Please don't give silk masks as Christmas gifts! They will be useless and how are people supposed to clean them? The reason more people are now wearing the surgical masks is because they are far more effective and that has been publicised so people are now aware of the fact. I used to wear the fabric ones more usually until a friend who is a former A&E sister and now trains care homes in use of PPE told me how ineffective they are.

Surgical masks are made to a certain standard. Your homemade fabric one isn't. I am pretty sure no one would want anything Covid related for xmas.

Another one here still wearing a fabric one - but I made my own, they have three layers of fabric, a filter pocket (I always use a filter), plus they have a nose wire.
I've been wearing them for over a year, so occasionally I have to unpick a bit to replace the wire.

The blue paper ones are actually much more effective but I find the fabric ones comfier to wear all day.

i get them for free, the surgical ones

interestingly enough when donating blood i was asked to wear a material mask, i didnt

a cloth mask

I find the concept of a beautiful mask rather oxymoronic.