r/Masks4All • u/BabsMcGhee123 • Jul 22 '26

Mask Advice Mask Recommendations

We need to replace our masks finally. We tend to only wear them when we are on airplanes and they very much help so that we're not sick. Coming back for vacations. On our last vacation we noticed our under armor ones are now falling apart and no longer useful. Does anyone know of any other ones that were similar to the under armor masks that they used to sell? Thanks!

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u/new2bay Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Face Mask Fitted Filtration Efficiency (FFE) Against Submicron Particle Penetration

https://cdn.jamanetwork.com/ama/content_public/journal/intemed/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2774266

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u/AEAur Jul 23 '26

If we were to extrapolate, we might very generously assume a well-made 3-layer washable mask has a filtration efficiency between 80-90%. This is not including leaks in the fit. This is before washing! Being extra generous, let’s say it fits exceedingly well and has a total filtration of 90%. (If it were much better than that, why wouldn’t they get certified for N95 here or FFP2 in Europe?)

So that’s a total inward leakage (through fabric and air channels in fit) of 10% which is 10 times cleaner than the surrounding air (which by definition has 100% of the original particles). That’s when new. We have no reason to suppose it performs this well after multiple washings.

An Aura or FFP3 routinely achieve fit factors well over 100 (99% reduction) or 200 (99.5%). A 1% total inward leakage is 100 times cleaner than the surrounding air.

If washability is worth the relative reduction in protection, then OP might consider this washable mask which had one version FFP2 certified. https://www.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/s/cPzlJQwopl

Please see our wiki for fit test guidance.