What Should I Use to Make My Homemade Mask?
While getting a pair of nylons is pretty easy (for now), questions remain in the public’s mind about the best material for a homemade mask. Here are some tips from mask researchers. Use a thick-weave cotton: In general, thicker, high-grade cotton masks tend to do a better job of filtering out small particles, says Dr. Scott Segal, a professor and chair of anesthesiology at Wake Forest School of Medicine who has been putting various cloth masks to the test since March. His rule of thumb: Hold up the fabric to a bright light or to the sun. If “you can see the light outlining the individual fibers in the fabric, it’s probably not a good filter. And if you can’t, it’s probably going to filter better.” Thin T-shirt material didn’t do a great job in his testing, though “probably anything is better than nothing,” he says. Thicker, heavier-weight T-shirts would …
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