care & filters

The masks are made from cotton and are washable. It is best to take out the ribbon before you wash the masks and wash this by hand separately. 

If you have enough masks you could also simply leave them for a week after use and the Coronavirus will have gone by itself. Testing on clothes is still undergoing but hard surfaces such as ceramics can have the virus surviving for up to 5 days.

All my material is un-used an up-cycled and for most of it I was not given washing instructions. It is therefor best to handwash the masks in soapy water. I am putting mine in the washing machine and that works fine with the ones I have.

It is not recommended to tumble dry the masks – however, I tumble dry my own masks and they get all tangled up and I need to iron them back into shape afterwards.

After washing, re-insert the ribbon with a chopstick or back of a brush or screwdriver, the loop is at the bottom of the mask.

Research in Germany has shown that even coffee filters or multiple layers of kitchen roll or other paper based filter materials have made a positive impact on viral spread: https://www.mpg.de/14742087/0427-chem-131851-fighting-the-coronavirus-with-fabric-and-paper-towels

So, if you have no hepa filter at hand, you can use a coffee filter or multiple layers of kitchen roll or blue cleaning roll. As the masks have got an outer and an inner layer, they already provide protection even without an additional filter. I am using coffee filters myself.