Thoughts on hand made facial masks during Covid-19

It was the end of March when I found a Youtube video showing how to make hand-made and washable face mask. It seemed easy to make, but unfortunately I was too clumsy and couldn’t make proper ones. Some became too big, some became too small.

I never liked wearing facial masks. It is too stuffy and I can’t breathe properly. Here in Japan, it is not unusual to see many people wearing facial masks from around end of autumn to mid-spring. This is mainly due to the dry weather in winter, to keep the throat moist. Also, people try protect themselves contagious disease such as flu or common cold. Another reason is to protect from Cider Fever. There are millions of Cider trees planted across the country without much tending. So in spring, the Cider trees spout out pollens, which causes allergy and terrible sneezing. Also, fortunate thing is that Japan is not targeted by terrorist attack, so people can cover their faces.

People in some countries feel uncomfortable seeing people covering their faces because it makes them look suspicious, hiding their identity.

I heard interesting conversation about this. In the countries which facemasks are not common, people express their feelings by the shape of mouth. Their facial expression, especially how they move their mouth is crucial to communication. Alternatively, in countries which facial masks are common, people express their feelings by eyes.

In Japan, I think we express our feeling by eyes more than our mouth. One proof of this theory is that people in Japan tended to not wear sunglasses even during the summer. Some take it as a fashion. Lightly- tinted sunglasses are popular, and but some elegant shaped sunglasses are also nice. However, some say people with sunglasses are suspicious because one can’t tell what the person is thinking underneath the dark glasses.

In 2020, people beginning to wear hand-made masks around March, when the ready-to-wear facial masks were sold out at many shops and chemists.

Colourful masks were everywhere – not only the cool-looking black masks, but red, orange, pink, purple green, blue, grey. Some with floral pattern, checker pattern, and animal prints. I never thought we could be this creative. All we used to see was white facial masks, which looked hygiene enough. We never thought they would be unavailable from the local stores. We took them for too granted. Now they are gone from shop shelves.

Needs must. People apparently dug through into handkerchiefs or unused piece of cotton fabrics, along with elastic bands to make anything that can cover their own face. I vaguely wondered if it is effective in any way.

When I get home, my mother shown me a magazine which described how to make you own mask. One of her friend was very kind enough to circulate a magazine once she finished reading it. The instruction on the magazine of how to make a mask was cleverly done, with patterns printed on the pages, and instructed to put a soft wire on the top to make it fit to your nose. I could not thank　more for my mother’s friend’s kindness.

Some of my friends did sawing, and made facial masks. One of them gave me two masks, one white, one green, which I still wear it nowadays. I believe these will be a reminder of 2020 once Corona situation is over.

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