Saturday, December 11, 2021

Mask Adaptations

I was not going to blog today. I couldn't think of anything. This morning, I read comments that came in overnight. Mary G wrote this:

The over the ear ones are great but watch out for them pulling off when you take off your mask. I lost one that way a while back. Now I wait until I am in the car before I take the mask off, so that if the hearing aid does pull off, I can find it. I have three bags full of extras with these.

I had a trial pair of these hearing aids for a month, so I've had some time to fuss about masks. I wrote about our adaptation here.


Sue worked on making it a little better ↑↑ and it worked pretty well. But then I had the bright idea of finding the kind with the double strand.


I ordered Balancing Crane (left) and Steady Toad (right) ↑↑ from Old Tribes which is Native Spirit on Facebook. They look like the double strand type, but I contacted them to be sure.

When they arrived, they were the single strand, over the ear type. They haven't replied to my query on from either the email address I got from their website or from messaging them on Facebook.

Oh well.

We have no fabric store nearby, but Sue found elastic on Amazon and has remedied the situation as she tends to do. While we would have preferred black elastic, she could only get white. It's a mask. White will do.

Oddly enough, two masks that I ordered previously came with the double loop, but I was wearing in-the-ear aids at the time, so Sue converted them to over-the-ears. She has since reconverted them.

This is how life goes in these strange times.

17 comments:

  1. There is nothing good I can think of about wearing a mask, but if one must, then comfortable ones are preferred. That said, I have recently seen several people wearing ones with the elestic extensions shown in your post, AC.

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  2. Though my husband tells me I should have my hearing checked, I haven’t yet. I am just celebrating life without glasses and wearing masks. Life as a senior requires much adaptation.

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  3. What happened between order and mask delivery? I can't contact those mask companies when I try either. I like the idea of the elastic at the back, but how do you take that kind off? Seems like you could easily lower the mask (which I do when eating and then wanting to walk around in a public area)...but you would probably have to pull it over your glasses...I'm sure you've figured out a way! Glad you posted after all. I dither when you don't!

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  4. I have long ago given up wearing my expensive earrings, the few that I have, just for the very same reason. Masks can pull them off. It is amazing that after more than two years we cannot get a design that is popular and works.

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  5. I made a couple of masks as well as having a box of the blue kind. At first I made my masks the double fastening kind and couldn't navigate them at all. They don't work with a mass of curly hair. So I changed them for loops over the ear. I have to knot the elastic in the bought ones to snug them up, they being made for bigger heads than mine, no pun intended.

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  6. @Barbara. The over-ear type is preferable for almost anyone except for folks like me. But I manage to work the double type well enough.

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  7. I have really tiny ears that won't hold a mask worth a darn, so I adapt everything to go around my head like old time surgical masks. One of our local malls has a FB page where they frequently post found hearing aids.

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  8. N95s have the double loops. They muss up my hair but are supposed to be the most Covid protective mask. I don't wear any of my cloth masks any more; there is just too much virus around. :(

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  9. All the masks look fine AC. I am so much of a stay-at-home person now that I hardly ever need a mask. Luckily I still have some left that I've never used so I feel comfortable with that.

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  10. I have a converter, but find it pulls the mask too far down on my nose. I will look for one like yours.
    And yes, earrings are a whole other problem. One you do not have. Or not that I have ever noticed.
    :-D

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  11. Good work, Sue! She is a catch!

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  12. Strange times with new needs. Lucky you have Sue to fix things.

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  13. I wear bandannas. And wind up looking like a bank robber.

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  14. Daughter Emily made us several varieties of double strand over the head kinds. I prefer them to the ear because I can pull them down in the car or when eating and not worry about what I did with my mask. I think wearing one is much in the future for quite awhile.

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  15. I wonder how long these masks are going to be with us.

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  16. I think mask is going to be around for a while.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

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  17. Remember the Barrel of Monkey game? Those plastic monkeys with the hooked arms? I've seen those little monkeys used as mask holders, one hooked arm for each side loop. The little monkey rides cheerfully on the back of your head.

    But...Sue's given you a more dignified solution, hasn't she?

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