The Discreet Charm of Face Masks

 

I have become a fan of face masks; they make me look younger and when I have my sunglasses on, I think I am incognito.

My friend Marianne is right: I own more face masks than bikinis, obviously an age thing even in beach-loving Rio.  I have also more masks than panties and bras in my closet.  I vividly remember when I wore my first face mask.  It was early March 2020 when the first Covid cases landed on the Brazilian shores, apparently imported from Italy.  We were going to the opera and Silvia, who uses masks at work, gave each of us a humble surgical mask.  Our small group looked odd because few in the audience were masked then.

During the early days of the pandemic, rich countries like the USA and those of Europe were consumed in toxic arguments on the merits of recommending face masks for the hoi polloi.  As experts from these countries were arguing Brazilians, who expect little from their government, made their own decisions and adopted masks to prevent infection.  Rio is famous for its Carnivals and masks are found in many Cariocas’ closets, however the eye mask variety.  Maybe, because Cariocas are used to masquerade balls, they took pragmatically to face masks.   In Rio, a face mask cottage industry sprouted out overnight.  Seeing their parents masked, children wanted their own mask and a colorful children’s mask market developed.  Only Jair Bolsonaro, the Coronavirus-denier-far-right president, refused to wear a mask. 

In parts of Europe and in the United States, face masks became accessories of an ongoing political theater.  The initial flip flops of the medical profession have been used by all sorts of political groups to discredit the protective value of face masks.  I believe that this piece of cloth put on my nose and mouth offers some protection. 

Today, masks are no longer mandatory in the streets of Rio de Janeiro; nonetheless they are still worn by 80% of the Carioca.  Alas, the early mask creativity and diversity is almost lost and even as the pandemic is easing people are increasingly upgrading their face masks to plain- looking surgical and duckbill type N95.  The successive Covid waves in Europe are not lost on people, most of them think that the respite is temporary.  I follow this new N95 trend, but I still wear my colorful printed cloth masks (with a double lining) to work out in our well-ventilated gym.  Hooked over my ears (which now compare to those of Chimpanzee!) I, Daisy Duck, hit the busy streets of Leblon. 

I spice up my face mask life by experimenting with eye enhancement makeup.  I get increasingly creative with my makeup look, eye shadow, kohl and even tattoo gel pencil; the whole paraphernalia of eye enhancement has no secret for me.  On the other hand, skin foundations and lipsticks are drying in my drawers.  At the end of the day, I still save on my beauty budget. Masks also hide these nasty wrinkles around my mouth, a valuable added-value these days.     

Mask and social distancing protect one’s space.  I am not the touchy-feely type and I appreciate no longer being forced to kiss strangers as it is the custom for women in Brazil.  In France, I am very pleased to bump elbow rather than shake hand with people who only occasionally wash their hands.

Face masks’ main purpose is to reduce the chance of infection from Covid-loaded expiratory droplets.  Their other benefit is blocking the bad breath of people one talks to.  Last summer in France, I also found masks useful in the regional trains where contrary to planes, passengers with foul body odors cannot be kicked out.

Coincidentally, in the Middle Age masks were worn to stop inhaling bad odors, the miasma, not to prevent droplets infection.  Doctors then believed disease and epidemics such the bubonic plague, cholera etc. were caused by a miasma, or a noxious form of bad air.  The shape of their masks was not that different from the Donald Duck type, they were beak-like and stuffed with herbs and spices like cinnamon and clove.  The sinister look of the “beak-doctors” was further enhanced by their long black cloaks and hats.  Black was the symbolic color of the black plague then.  Actually, we have no proof that these spooky looking beak-doctors ever existed.

Masks in their modern form started being worn at the end of the 19^th century in the battlefield clinics of Europe to protect the injured from infection during surgery.  But it is in 1918 during the “Spanish flu” that face masks became mandatory for the populace.  It appears that most people went along as it was patriotic to follow rules.  The women who had dedicated themselves to knitting socks for soldiers switched to cloth mask making with the same patriotic fervor.  A number of American kids were seen wearing camphor bags around their necks, probably because the miasma belief had not entirely disappeared.  The war ended before the influenza and consequently many people, especially men, discarded their masks and dissenters and anti-mask leagues popped up.

Historically, Westerners have been much less convinced of the protection value of masks than Asians.  As a matter of fact, it is a Chinese-Malaysian epidemiologist, Dr Chu Lien-Teh, who invented the first surgical mask in 1910 in Northern China during the Manchurian plague.  I discovered this fact thanks to a Google doodle!

It is estimated that mask disposal generates up to 7,200 tons of medical waste daily in American hospitals alone. (MIT, July 2021).  Since Covid-19 may become a never-ending pandemic, I think it is about time the fashion industry develops stylish N95 masks, both user-friendly and reusable to limit their negative environmental impact.