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Comment by ndnfjttkrk | Hacker News Reader

One unexpected discovery for me was that wearing a tight FFP3 mask is quite pleasant during cold winter weather.

It's very effective at warming up the air, probably because it mixes it with the one in the dead space.

It's pleasant in short bursts but I find that after walking to work for 25 minutes in sub-freezing weather, my mask gets clogged with condensation and becomes stifling to breathe through.

During the spring though, I found that wearing a mask completely prevented all of my seasonal allergy symptoms.

This is probably because it eliminates the wind chill factor.

Yeah it basically acts like a ski mask for a good portion of your face.

And even that benefit isn't enough for many people to wear masks unless absolutely required (e.g. inside shops). It's been unusually cold the past few weeks in the UK and I've seen less and less mask usage on busy streets and even shop queues.

I can't speak for anyone else, but in NYC I've been finding I have to take my mask off outside or I literally can't see, because that's how much my glasses fog up. Like, I walked straight into a pole one night.

After that, I decided that the increased risk of getting COVID was lower than the risk of getting hit by a car.

I do know it's not this bad for everyone, and I have tried different methods to mitigate it—anti-fog spray, different masks, etc. From what I've read it's largely dependent on the shape of your face, so I assume I just lost the lottery there.

Oh, I sympathise even though I don’t wear prescriptions. I do like to wear sunglasses quite often, and even thought it’d help reduce a vector of infection. But I can’t get a mask and sunglasses combo that works for more than 10 seconds!

I mitigate it by simply not covering my nose. Before I started doing that, condensation on my glasses was so bad on certain days, that I had to have my partner lead me by the hand across pedestrian crossings, because I could see neither the lights nor cars.

Mask laws were instituted to get people to cover both nose and mouth, but it is interesting to see different levels of observance across Europe. In small-town Poland, for example, I see a lot of people not covering their nose, while in Romania I saw that people were very diligent about covering their whole face, and I have laughed to watch Albanian news and see that a lot of people in the street just have the mask over their chin with neither mouth nor nose covered.

> I mitigate it by simply not covering my nose. Before I started doing that, condensation on my glasses was so bad on certain days, that I had to have my partner lead me by the hand across pedestrian crossings, because I could see neither the lights nor cars.

So it's not just me! But, if you're not actively talking (ie, your mouth is closed), is wearing a mask below your nose any better than just taking it off? I figure at that point, I might as well put it in my back pocket.

I couldn't take it off entirely, because in the countries I have been this winter masks are required outdoors by law, and taking it off could lead to fines if police saw me.

My brothers work supplies masks with an internal nose flap to prevent steaming up their safety glasses.

It seems to be very effective. I can't find a picture, unfortunately my description leaves a lot to be desired.

But it's a common problem and there are a variety of products that try to address it.

You can almost 100% solve the issue by taping the top edge of the mask to your face with surgical tape. Just a 6 inch strip of tape along your nose and under each eye and glasses fogging was 98% gone for me. It's probably not the most comfortable for some people, but not so different from wearing a band-aid. Very cheap and works with almost any mask.

Also makes it hard to take off and on. Something I do frequently when I’m out and about as there’s no point in wearing the annoying thing in my car or outdoors away from crowds.

Try tucking the mask slightly under your glasses. And make sure the nose strip has metal and can bend to the shape of your face.

Believe me I've tried. :(

I've had the same experience in general. my lips often get chapped in sub freezing weather, but that hasn't happened this year.

now once some designer/fashion gets a wind of it, the masks will become a new niche clothing item - a nose/lips warmer like say ear mufflers.

Masks are a part of fashion in Asia already - habitual mask wearing in public has been a thing at least since SARS.

I found that too, especially when I had some bronchial / throat irritation that would normally encourage me to cough.

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