Teen DD using mask to hide

[RiskyReels]

My teen DD is one of the last few still wearing a mask attached her school. It isn't due to anxiety about covid, which she's had twice and is fully vaccinated. She's gone without mask in busy places all summer when we've been out as a family and on holiday, and she doesn't mask at the café she works at.

But she's just gone to meet up with a school friend and was insisting on the mask again. I think she's using it to "hide" herself from school friends and teachers in a similar way to teen girls wearing baggy hoodies etc but she's very reluctant to discuss it. I don't know how best to deal with it and help build her confidence to show her face again. Anyone else have DC going through similar or have suggestions on how to handle it?

*at her school

Don't worry about it?

What reason does she give for wearing one?

Won't she feel self conscious at school if she's the only one in a mask? Isn't she likely to ditch it then?

I would not draw unnecessary attention, teens can be weird but grow out of it. Is it really any different to those people who had stupidly long fringes and hid behind them?

The fact she is not wearing it in other settings suggests it is something she can change if she wants to.

Why does it matter to you if she wears a mask? The thing with you stopping her is surely she will just put it in her pocket and do it at school anyway?

Maybe she's wearing a mask to limit the chance of getting Covid again?

She's been the only one for ages, and teachers are starting to raise it with us as it impedes her communication (she's also quite quiet)

We have a few left in my school who are still in masks all the time. I think for some of them it has definitely become a way of hiding and not showing their face. On sports day this year a student even insisted on running in one.
They aren’t harming anyone by doing it, but I do worry that it can be a sign of anxiety, low self esteem or social difficulties

I don't think so, we have surgical and ffp2 masks available in the house but she only wears a cloth face covering which won't help much with preventing covid. And she's not masking in some busy places that I'd consider risky - only when she's around school friends.

It sounds more like attention seeking to me

Ask her why. Perhaps she’s self conscious about spots and just needs a trip to the GP for some prescription medication to sort her complexion. Perhaps she’s shy about her teeth…if so get her to a dentist to assess for braces. Perhaps she’s paranoid about face recognition software on CCTV cameras and is secretly making a tin foil hat. You won’t know how to react until you know why.

How does she feel about her teeth?

Thanks all, I'll have a chat with her and see if we can get to the bottom of it

My DD1 was the same and I'm half expecting her to dig out her cloth masks once school starts again in September.
With her it's a mixture of a bit of social anxiety and thinking she looks pretty cool. The school has explicitly stated no more masks, but there's a handful of pupils who insist.
I'm not concerned, as a PP suggested, she'll get over it and doesn't wear one anywhere else.

Mine was/is the same.
She said at the start of the holidays that she was going to wean herself off it. So far so good but I can also imagine it creeping in.

Hers is definitely hiding. She knows it and says it herself